Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1909-02-16
HUNDREDS ARE
ROASTED ALIVE
Bad Fire Destroys
Theatre Costing
Many Lives
EXITS BECOME cL0GGED
Terrified Audience Struggl-
ing to Escape Irample
Each Other to Death

Each Other to Death
Mexico City, Feb. hS.-Between
$50 and 800 people We're burned to
death and many were injured in a
fire which destroyed the Flores thea
tre in the city Of Acapulco Sunday
night. The news OF the disaster
reached this capital yesterday after
noon. telegraph communication with
Acapulco having been destroyed last
night and today owing to the fact
that the telegraph Office adjoining the
theatre was burned and all wires put
out of commission.
I The Flores theatre was a wooden
structure and last night over 1000
people crowded into it to witness a
special performance given in honor
of Governor Damian Flores of the
state of Guerrero, who was visiting
the city at the time. One of the mum.
bers on the program consisted of a
series of moving pictures. While the
operator was exhibiting these a film
caught fire and blaze quickly com.
municated to some bunting which
had been used for decorative pur.
poses.
In an indiscribably short time the
flames spread to all parts of the
structure. There were but three mar.
row exits and tho panic-stricken aud
fence rushed to them, many persons
falling, to be crushed to death, their
bodies choking the way to escape for
others.
| The screams of those imprisoned
were terrifying, Owing to the rapid
ity with which the fire spread and
its intense heat it was impossible to
attempt rescue work and those i'm
prisOned were literally roasted alive
as the fire burned with little smoke
and few were suffocated.
The efforts of the fire department
were confined to attempting to save
the adjoining buildings and the fire.
men succeeded so well the property
loss was small. The telegraph office,
postoffice and custom house were
damaged, but all of the government
records and registered mail were
saved.
Today pitiful scenes of grief were
witnessed on the streets of the city.
Men, women and children wandered
about hunting for relatives or friends.
Many of the dead are from the
first families of the state, the affair
at the theatre being a social event of
considerable Importance and calling
out the wealthiest and oldest families
for miles around. In some instances
whole families were wiped out. The
) municipal authorities today caused
; large trenches to be dug, into these
the bodies We're laid. Identification
has been impossible, most of the bod
les having been burned to crisp. !
LIST OF DEAD
STILL INCOMPLETE
Mexico City, Feb 16.-Because the
fire has destroyed all wire commune
cation at the same time it burned the
theatre at Acapulco no definite in
formation as to the exact number of
people who perished In the flames
has been received through the first
estimate of 800 dead, however, is be-
} lieved to be too high, but a number
of bodies still remains in the ruins
, and until the debris has been cleared,
it is impossible to tell the extent OF
the holocaust. The theatre, which
was an adobe affair, had but three ex-
it's and the style of it's construction,
made it perfect fire trap. More than
, a thousand people were inside, the oc-
+ casion being function in honor of
the visiting governor of Guerrero.
The names started from a burning
film of the moving picture machine
and spread so rapidly as to cut of all
escape. In the rush for the outside,
. the exits became clogged with human
, ity, many being crushed to death on
the floor The victims were all
, roasted, many being burned alive.
f TWO HUNDRED
, BURN TO DEATH
!, Washington, Feb. 16.--No Ameri-
/ cans lost their lives in the fire which
. destroyed the Flores Theatre at Ac-
:. apulco, Mexico, Sunday night, accord
ing to dispatch received at the state
department today from the American
I Consul MooreheaG Over two hun
drde people were burned to death,
according to Moorehead.
ONE HUNDRED AND