The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1911-08-28
FATAL RUSH
COUSED BY
FOOLISH FEAR
TW8nty-Sk Persons TTamplsd
to Death When CIy Of Fire Is
Raised at Moving Picture Show
lEly Associated Proas.l


| canonshufg Pas Aug 2S Twenty
Six persons we're sufoeated Dc tramp
! led % death, twenty-five we're serious
4ly injured and thirty were loss seti
/ 0nsly hurt in the senseioes panic at
q moving picture show IN the Ganona
burg opera house Saturday night ac
tcofding @ revised figures complies
lSanday night
How foolish the panic was, deycl
oped fully sunday when those IN
VOWED returned TO their senses
enough TO relate just what occurred
lIt transpired that there was no Are
The fatal rush for The exit was due
TO basoless fear
Il developed that not even a spark
dashed The film broke with 4 snap
ping noise and a bright Light vas
thrown on the screen. A frightened
boy imagined Il was fire and uneoa
sei0usly shouted out the death kneli
ot more than score OF persons a4
he started the rush for the eNit.
jumped from bis seat and ran wildly
for The same exit. In a moment
there was q 3ghting, struggling mass
after him
AT the head Of the marrow stairway
which leads to the street, the miner
tripped AIS lie rolled down the
stairs, he swept from their feet many
persons who were waiting their turn
to enter the theater, and soon there
was a horrible pile Of women and
children and d few men at the foot
OF the steps Dnbrowski was prob
ably the first person killed.
1t was all over within short time
The stairway was iammed full from
top to bottom and those behind
could not get out.
Firemen, several policemen and a
few level headed citizens untanglad
the human mass The unhurt and
those slightly injured were pulled
from the top OF the pile. AS they
gained the street, they ran screaming
like maniacs to all parts OF the ,oWh
The seriously injured We're sent nome
or taken to nearby houses AS the
silent forms Of those who had been
suffocated or crushed were Olsen
tangled, the victims, MANY Of them
women ana small children, We're piled
On the sidewalk
Coroner James +, Hoffman has be.
gun rigid investigation. lie arriy-
ed at the scene early Sunday anu
within short time had selected q |
Jury. They were shown through the
opera house by Manager 6 r Fef3n |
son and john G. Morgan, owner OF cue I
building. Measurements taken by the |
Jurors showed tie stairway leading (
10 the second floor OF the building. |
the main floor OF The yera mouse, 70
be only six and one-half feet wide, |
while the doorway q the bottom, was (
not more than eight@ feet high.
OF tho twentysiX dead, thirteen /
were children.
Arthur McPeako, whose name IS
among the dead, was passing the !
when the bodies began to /
pile up at the door The young man /
rushed to the rescue. and WAS drag +
ging % body from the pile when . /
man came hurling ont the transon.
He struck McPeake on The pach. and /
the young mans mock was broken.
Sidney Bittiger was at the periorm
3nce with his hancee, Miss Lulu Fish I
er Before entering the building they
had stopped at jeWelry store nearby
and Rittiger had bought the ring that
was to have been used at their we'd
ling Both We're killed
Wilmer Lane, a member Of the tol
lnteer are department FASTENED to
answer the alarm aud was wording
it the pile OF bodies AZ the entrance
then he came upon The liteless forms
lf his two children, lying beside his
Unconscious wife Samuel Lane,
grandfather of the children, rushed I
oward the stairs. not knowing his
were there. and was
making his way down when he saw q
.hild almost under his feet. As he
.tooped To pick her up he recognized
iis granddaughter, but a thar mo |
neht she was swept from him and
aled He was seriously hurt.