The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1904-01-06

| OF gas which came from behind the
asbestos curtain.
| AS near as can be estimated at the
present time, about l 300 persons were
| in the theaser. Three hundred Of
these were on the first floor, the re-
mainder being in the two upper bal
comics and in the Railways back OF
| them
The theater is modelled after the
Opera Comique in Paris and from the
rear Of each balcony there are three
| Goors leading out to passaseways 10.
| ward the front of the theater. Two
Of these doorways are at the end Of
the balcony and one being in the CEN
| ter. The audience in its rush for the
outer air seems to have, for the
| greater part, chosen to fee to the left
| entrance and to attempt to make It's
| way down the eastern stairway lead
| Ing into the lobby Of the theater. Out
side of the people burned and suffo-
Gated by gas, 1t was in these two door,
ways on the first and second balconies
| that the greatest loss of life occurred.
| When the flremen entered the build
| Ing the dead were found stretched in
a pile reaching from the head of the
stairway at least eight feet from the
door back to point about five feet
in the rear of the door. This mass OF
dead bodies in the center of the door
way reached to within two feet Of the
top Of the passageway. All OF the
corpses at this point were women
and children.
Beyond Power to Describe.
The fight for life which must have
taken place at these two points is
something that is simply beyond hui
man power adequately to 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 OF
dead had been oyertaken by death as
they were crawling on their hands
and knees over the bodies OF those
who had died before. Others lay with
arms stretched out in the direction
toward which lay life and safety, hold
| ing in their hands fragments of gar.
ments not their own. They were evil
| IDENTIFY torn from the clothing Of 9th
ers whom they had endeavored to pull
| down and trample under foot as they
| fought for their own lives.
| AS the police removed layer after
| layer of dead in these doorways, the
| sight became too much even for ps
| lice and fremen, hardened as they
| are to such scenes, to endure. The
| bodies were in such an inextricable
mass and SO tightly were they damned
between the sides of the door and the
walls that 1t was impossible to lift
| them one by one and carry them out
| The only possible thing to do was to
seize a limb or some other portion OF
the body and pull with main strength
Men worked at the task with tears
running down their cheeks, and the
| sobs Of the rescuers could be heard
even in the hall below where this aw.
| full scene was being enacted. A mum
| Der of men were compelled to aban
| don their task and give 1t over to
| others whose nerves had not as yet
been shaken by the awful experience
Women Trampled to Pulp.
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
| rending. There were women whose
clothing was torn completely from
| their bodies above the waist, whose
bosoms had been trampled into a pulr
| and whose faces were married 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 tripped over the
PROSTATE forms, and all had died
where they lay. evidently suffocated
by the gas. Others were bent over
backs of seats where they had been
thrown by the rush of people for the
doors and killed with hardly 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 seat
she having been forced over it face
| downward.
Agony Written in Dead Faces.
In the aisles nearest to the doors
| the scenes were narrowing in the ex
IRENE. Bodies lay in every conceiv
able attitude. half naked, the look or
their faces revealing some portion OF
the agony which must have preceded
their death. There were scores and
scores of people whose whole faces
had been trampled completely off by
the heels of those who rushed over
them, and in one aisle the body of a
man was found with not a vestige oil
| clothing, flesh or bone remaining
above his waist line. The entire up
| per portion of his body had been cut
into mince meat and carried away by
the feet of those who trampled him
| A search was carefully made with a
| hope of finding his head, but it had
| pot been discovered and all that viii
ever tell his friends who he was i:
the color and appearance of the cloth
| ing on the lower limbs, and this Is IN
such a condition as to be hardly rec
ognizable.
The theater had been constructed
but short time and all its equipment
was not yet in place. This was un
fortunately the case with a fire escape
in the rear of the building. The small
iron balconies to which the iron lad
der was to be attached were up, but
the ladder had not yet been con
structed.
| Fire Escapes Not in Place.
When tke panic was at its height q
great number of women ran for these
fire escapes, only to find as they
emerged from the doorway upon tine
| little iron platform that they were 81
to 30 feet from the ground, fire be
hind and no method of escape in front
Those who reached the platform frs
endeavored to hold their footing and
Dual Life of Clarksburger.
| lnh No .,l,,.