Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1904-01-07

that these people had been s~uffocated
at once by the flow OF gas which came
from behind the asbestos curtain.
AS near as can be estimated at the
present time about 1900 people were
in the theater. Three hundred OF
these were on the first floor. the bal
nee being in the two upper balconies,
and in the Railways back OF them.
Dead Jam the Doorways.
The theater is modelled after the
Opera Comique in Paris. and from
the rear of each balcony there are
three doors leading out to passage
ways toward the front OF the theater.
Two of these doorways are at the end
Of the balcony and one being in the
center. The audience in its rush for
the outer air seems to have, for the
greater part. chosen to fee to the lett
entrance and to attempt TO make It's
way down the eastern stairway lead
ing into the lobby OF the theater.
Outside of the people burned and SUI
located by gas, 1t was In these two
d~oorways on the first and second pal
comics that the greatest loss OF life
occurred. When the iremen enterei
the building the dead were found
stretched in a pile reaching from the
head OF the stairway at least eight
feet from the door back TO a point
about five feet in rear of the door. This
Mass of Dead Bodies
In the center of the doorway reached
20 within two feet of the top of the
passageway. All of the corpses at this
point were women and children. The
fight for life which must have taken
place at these two points is something
that is simply beyond human power to
adequately describe. Only a faint idea
of its horror could be derived from the
aspect of the bodies as they lay.
Women on top of these masses or
dead had been overtaken by death as
they were crawling On their hands
and knees over the bodies OF those
who had died before. Others lay with
arms stretche- out in the direction
toward which lay life and safety, hold
ing in their hands fragments of gar
ments not their own. They were evl
IDENTIFY torn from the clothing of others
whom they had ~endeavored to pull
down and trample under foot as ley
fought for their own lives. AS the po-
lice removed
Layer After Layer Of Dead
in these doorways, the sight became
toe much even for police and iremen,
hardened as. they are to such scenes,
to endure. The bodies were in such
an inextricable mass, and so tightly
were they jammed between the sides
OF the door and walls that 1t was i'm
possible to lift them one by n and
carry them out. The only possible
thing to do was to seize a limb or some
main strength. Men worked at the
task with tears running down their
cheeks and the sobs Of the rescuers
could be heard ever in the hall below
where this awful scene was being en-
acted. A number Of the men we're
compelled to abandon their task and
give ii over to others whose nerves
had not yet been shaken by the awful
experience. AS one by one the bodies
were dragged out of the water-soaked,
~blackened mass OF corpses. the spec
tacle became more and more heart
relNing. There were women whose
clothing was torn completely from
their bodies above the waist. whose
bosoms had been
Trampled Into a Pulp
and whose faces were marred beyond
all power of identification. Bodies lay
in the first and second balconies in
great numbers. In some places they
were piled up in the aisles three and
| four deep, where one had fallen and
others had tripped over the PROSTATE
forms, and all had died where they
lay, evidently snffocated by gas. 9th
| ers were bent over backs Of seats
where they had been thrown by the
rush of people for the doors and
killed with hardly q chance to rise
from their seats. One man was
found with his back bent nearly
double. his spinal column having been
fractured as he was thrown backward.
A woman was found cut nearly in half
by the back of a seat. she having been
forced over it face downward. In the
aisles nearest the doors the scene
were
Narrowing In the Extreme.
Bodies lay in every conceivable atti-
tude, half-naked, the look on their
faces revealing some portion OF the
agony which must have preceded
death. There were scores anu scores
of people whose entire face had been
trampled completely off by the heels
OF those who rushed w them. and in
one aisle the body of a man was found
with not a vestige OF clothing. flesh or
bone remaining above his waist line.
The entire upper portion of his body
had been cut into mince meat ami
carried away by the feet of those who
trampled him; search was carefully
made with the hope of finding his
head, but at a late hour; it had not
been discovered. and all that will evei
tell his friends who he was is the color
and appearance of the clothing on the
lower limbs. and this is in such a con-
dition as to be hardly recognizable.
Fire Escapes not ii Place..
The theater has been constructed
but a short time and all its equipment
was not yet in place. This was I'm
fortunately the case with a fire escape
n tho raar ~ fho h,iIdinu Tho cmofl