The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-07
PROPRIETORS AT FAULT
RESULTS or INQUIRY OF IRo-
 oUoIs HORROR.
Proven That Many of the Exits Were locked and There Was No Dicipline as to Fight
 ing Fire.


 Chicago. Jan. 6-By their own evidence given to-day before Munroe Fulkerson. attorney for the fire department. who Is conducting the investigation into. tho Iroquois theater horror. tho proprietors of the theater showed that a worse con- dition of affairs existed than had here- tofore been thought possible.
 | VIII K. Davis. Harry J. Powers and Thomas J. Noonan, active managers of the Iroquois theater were examined by Mir Fulkerson to-day. All of them plead ed ignorance of any precautjons taken to prevent loss of fife by fire at their thea ter They admitted failure to instruct employees in fighting fire and failure even to provide suitable appliances for use against flames. Their statements were corToborated by the testimony of twenty employees of the theater, none of whom had ever been told his duty in case oe fire.
 Noonan who is the working manager of the tfeater under direction of DAvfs and Powers, admitted to-day that eleven of the theater exits were locked and bolted Two oe these exits, leading to the front of the theater on the ground floor, were locked. three additional ex- ifn on the north eide of tho ground floor were balted. three exits on the north side of the theater on the balcony were belted and three exits on the north side of the second balcony were boited
 The greatest loss of life from the fire was in the first and second balconies. where hundreds of persons were suffo- cated through inability to set out or were tfampled to death while trying 10 do so. Had ,thess three exits tne the balcony been available. according to Inspector Fulkerson, the loss of life must have beeE greatly diminished.
 Noonan declared that no person had been named by the theater managers, to supeFintend the operation of the ventil- ators Of tho theater in case of fire, and that fin conseQuence the flames had been permitted to sweep the place, instead of seeking 8 natura1 outlet through the stage roof It was said by Noonan that George Dusenberry, the head usher, Arch tbald Bernard, chief electrician. and the theater engineer knew how to operate the veu4ilators. It was proven by the ewi. denee oG theAe men. however. that two of them never went upon the stage and that the other never had been told to assume. control of the ventilators in case of fire.
 From figures obtained by noon today It became evident that almost one in three of the parsons who attended the matinee lost their lives. the percentage being a trifie over 31 per cent. The theatre seated L0es and in addition to these 29e had been admitted after all seats were sold, making Ia total of f,s42 persons in the theatre, of whom 69t were killed ' ys
 Manager Noonan declared that the two balconies including seats and people standing held SS9 people. The total num- Der of fatalities In the fire is to date 69i. of whom three were killed on the first floor. This would make. according to Manager Noonan's statement. 5sS deaths out of so persons
 VIII K. Davis testified that he had given no orders to place q fire alarm box in the theatre. that he had given no directions to place a pump upon the stage beyond the fact that any apparatus the firemen wanted should be provided as soon as possible. He declared that he could not say as to whether the building had been finally accepted from the Fuller Company. He admitted that he never gave any iTi- structions to anybody as to what should be done in case of fire. *
 Mir. Powers gave evidence substantially ths same as that Of MT. Davis. 4
 t't' cen ether witnesses who had worked on the stage declared that they never re- ceived any orders from the management us to what thy should do in case of fire.
 That the employees in the front of the house were thrown into a panic by the fire was shown by the testimony off all the stage. hands examined today. Two ushers. each fs years old. declared that they ran on the first alarm of fire and did not return to the theatre until the next day. The stage hands said they all sought safety on hearing that the place was on fire. The formal inquest into the fire will be- gin tomorrow morning.
 Four bodieR of the Iroquois fire victims still remain unidentified.