Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1911-08-28
PICTURE THEA1E R
HORROR DUE To
BASElEsS FEAR
FRIGHTENED BOY CAUSED
HORRIBLE CATASTROPHE
Bright Light Suddenly Flashed
On Darkened Screen Start
ed Wild Panic Which Cost
TWenty-Six Lives,

IBy Morning Journal Special LEASED wirei
Canonsburg, Pa. Aug. 27.-Twenty-
six persons were suffocated or
trampled to death. twenty-five were
seriously injured and thirty were less
severely hurt last night, in the sense
less panic at a moving picture show in
the Canonshurg opera house. accord
ing to revised figures compiled to-
night.
How foolish the panic was, de-
veloped fully today, when those In
volved returned to their senses
enough to relate just what occurred
II transpired that there was no fire.
The fatal rush for the exit was due
| alone TO baseless fear. II developed
that not even Il spark flashed The
film broke with a swapping and a
bright light was thrown on the
screen. A frightened boy imagined
it was fire and uneonsciously shouted
out the death knel of more than a
score Of persons as he started to rush
for the exit, Bulus Dubrowski, huge
miner jumped from his seat and ran
| wildly for the same exit.
In moment there was fight, strug-
Cling mass after him.
AT the head of narrow stairway,
which leads to the street, the miner
| tripped. AS he rolled down the stairs
\ he swept from their feet many per-
sons who were waiting their turn TO
enter the theater and soon there was
| a horrible pile OF women and child
rem and few men at tne foot Of the
steps Dubrowski was probably the
first person killed.
1t was all over In a short time. The
stairway was jammed fun from the
| top to the bottom, and those behind
could not get out. 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 town,
| The seriously injured were sent home
or taken to nearby houses. AS the sill
| ent forms Of those who had been suf-
focated or crushed were dlsentangel-
ed the victims, many of them women
and small children. were piled on the
| sidewalk.
Coroner James Il. Hoffman has be-
gun a rigid investigation. He arrived
at the scene early today and within Il
short time had selected n jury.
| Measurements taken by the jurors
showed the stairway leading to the
second floor of the building, the main
| floor of the opera house to be only
six and one half feet wide, while the
| doorway at the bottom Is not more
than eight feet high.
! II Is customary for the manage
ment of the theater to give two or
three performances each evening. and
Saturday the moving picture operator
was about to complete the show when
a film exploded
Dubrowski's wild flight through the
theater and his subsequent stumble
| down the stairs into those entering
the building, was the beginning of the
death struggling jam at the foot or
the stairs. When the doorway had
been filled up, still other persons
walked over the bodies of those VINO
had gone down and breaking the glass
| transom over the door, crawled
through and dropped into the street.
Manager Ferguson tried to stop the
I panic. Accompanied by his wife. he
started for the stairs when the first
alarm was given, but seeing there was
no escape there, he made his way to
the stage Calling loudly to the
| frightened people to follow him, ne
led the way to the rear of the stage
and hundreds went out that way. In
ten minutes the opera house was emp
| ty and in half an hour twenty bodies
| had been recovered. Physicians
came from the town and from nearby
In IA
OF the twenty-six dead, thirteen
were children.
Arthur McPeake, whose name Is
among the dead, was outside
Of the building when the
bodies began TO pile up at the door.
The man rushed to the rescue and
was dragging Il body from the pile
when man came hurling out the
transom. He struck McPeake on the
back and the young mans neck
was broken.
Sydney Rittlnger was at the show
with his fiancee. Miss Lulu Fishe. Be
fore entering the building they had
stopped at a jewelry store nearby, and
Rittinger had bought the ring that
was to have been used at their we'd
| ding. Both were killed.
Among the most seriously Injured Is
Mrs. Minnie Lemon, Of Lawrenceville.
ILL.,, who was visiting friends at Hous-
| ton, near here Mrs. Lemon was n
spectator at the show and was caught
in the crush. Tonight physicians be-
lieve that her mind Is affected on
account OF the narrowing ex-
periences.
hospital and cries almost continuous
| to be saved.