Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-02-17
TRAPPED BY FLAMES
Escape Cut Off for Mexico
Theater Fire Victims.
DEAD MAY NUMBER 800
One Thousand Persons in Building
When Panic Started.
NO AMERICANS WERE KILLED
Consul Moorehead Invited to Gala
Performance, But Did Not At
tend-Acapulco Dazed.
TO AMERICANS WERE KILLED

MEXICO CITY. Mexico. via Galveston.
Tex, February 17.-With Acapulco's citi-
zens dazed by the catastrophe of Sunday
night, when between two and three hun
dred Of the best known people of the city
perished in fire In the Flores Theater.
little progress has been made in determn-
aster. No one knows exactly how many
persons were in the playhouse, and
though scores of bodies have been taken
out there remains a mass Of charred and
unrecognizable forms, which makes it
doubtful that any exact statement of the
deaths in the holocaust will ever be
made.
1t is known, however, that no Ameri-
cans persisted The American consul,
| Maxwell K. Moorehead. was invited to
the entertainment. which was in honor
of Gov. Damian Flores, for whom the i'll
fated theater was named. but was un-
able to go. He has notified the authori-
ties. at Washington that none of his
country1nen were in the burned build
Ing.
One Thousand in Building.
One report has it that there were more
than one thousand persons in the theater
when the fire started from the igniting
of a cinematograph film in the hands of
an inexperienced operator With remark
able rapidity the flames spread. and in a
short time the entire building was COM
| pletely enveloped.
The compartment occupied by the cine
matograph operator was directly over the
! main entrance to the building, and be-
| fore the startled spectators could realize
what had happened the only door leading
TO safety was burning tiercely, thereby
cooping the people in the wooden build
! ing Women ia tinted and the men became
| frenzied. They tried to tear down the
| walls. and finding that impossible. there
was mad rush for the blazing doorway.
| the crowd carrying the weaker ones
along with it. Women and children were
| suffocated by the smoke and the heat
| was intolerable
| II was another stampede such as char
| acterized the great IroquOis Theater fire
! Of Chicago. and there are today few FAM
| lilies in the port of Acapulco who are not
| mourning for one more relatives or
| friends. The fire department was on the
scene shortly after the fire started. but
| could do nothing to save the lives of the
| They played their streams of water into
| the building without avail. as the struc-
| ture was of wood. dried by the summer S
| sun and upon which little rain had fallen
| il having been erected but few mont MS
ago The department, however. succeeded
| in keeping the flames within control and
prevented the spread of the confiagration.
which at one time threatened to wipe out
| the town.
Checked Spread Of Flames.
| The telegraph Office, the post office, the
custom house and a number of other
| buildings were near the theater and ex-
posed to the flames. Everything was
moved out of them, including all govern
ment papers and documents. Hard work on
| the part of the fire department. assisted
| by all the available men, succeeded In
keeping the flames within control.
a collection for the benefit of suffering
| families has been started. not only in
Acapulco, but in this city and in other
| cities of the republic.
The greatest loss of life was occasioned.
| according to survivors. by the fall of the
| roof which crashed down on the en-
| ira pped people in what seemed short
| time after the blaze was discovered. Pre-
vous to this the men in the pit had
fought like demons. striking down women
and children in their efforts to escape.
! The fall of the roof, however, stilled the
screams and groans of the fighting, panic
stricken audience
| The firemen and the crowds on the out
side could do nothing to help the people in
| the burning building. and were compelled
| to stand helpless and watch the theater
/