Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-05-19
Neglect and Disaster.

add to the horror. 1t now appears
that the doorway at the foot of the
single staircase which formed the exit
from the second floor of the building
opened inward, and that when the
panic stricken people rushed to escape
the flames they found it impossible to
get free Of the building. They were
packed into a dense mass, and many
persisted for lack of way into the
open.
In 190S two fires. resulting in a ter
rible loss of life. occurred in this
country in quick succession. Janu-
airy 10 of that year theater at
Boyerstown, Pa. on the second floor
of flimsy building. burned and near
ly 200 persons persisted. In this case
a single stairway impeded the flight
of the people and many died in the
panic crush.
On the 4th of March in the same
year a schoolhouse at North Collin
wood, near Cleveland. Ohio, was
burned. and ia children. lost their
lives, most of them lin the crush at
the exit. In that case the doors opened
outward. but were of such construc-
ton. With narrow op@ings and block
ing framework. that The children fell
at the threshold and others were piled
deep upon them.
Some years before an opera house
in Vienna. Austria. burned with a
frightful loss Of life due chiefly to the
fact that the doors Of the building
opened inward, ands the frantic people
! were packed against them so tightly
that the firemen bad to chop their
way through, the ayes killing many
in the opening Of a passage.
At the Iroquois fire in Chicago De-
cember so, 1908, 602 people were
killed. In that case scores lost their
lives by a blockade at the doorway
! owing to the fact that step inter.
i vened between the auditorium and the
! lobby, within a few feet Of the street
and safety.
All these happenings have had their
/, lessons for the guidance of those who
build and inspect structures of a pub.
| lie character, buildings used by the
people for amusement or other pur-
poses. Yet there are hundreds, pos
sibly thousands. Of places in this coun-
were at Collinwood, at Chicago. at
Vienna and at Charleston. S. c., where
the lessons have not been learned and
applied. 1t is a simple matter to hang
door the right way, but this item Is
neglected. because those who are re-
sponsible do not think to take that
precaution against the possibility.
which they regard as remote. of a
panic stampede. 1t would seem that
few people think ahead to the point Of
provision against disaster. The chances
of tragedy are always to most minds
remote" despite the numerous illus
trations so shocking in their emphasis
of the more than possibility. of the
probability, of such happenings.
It would seem that Immediately, all
over the country, in the light of this
South Carolina horror, there would be
an examining Of the doorways Of
buildings of assemblage, large and
small, to make sure that none of them
could ever be the occasion Of a panic
lam in the future. But herein lies the
awful aspect of the waste of life in
these needless disasters, that the les
sons are not learned, and these simple,
easy, inexpensive precautions are not
taken. Laws are sometimes passed in
states requiring inspections and pre-.
scribing remedies for these evil con-
ditions, and then these laws are neg.
lected, ignored. unenforced-and sud
denly tragedy occurs. Who is to
blame?