The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 31, 1903, Page 1

- ] TEE sz'rn," p i Forecast made at Saj Fran- | cisco for thirty hours endIEE .. midnight, December 31: | San Francisco snd vicinity— | A—_“ Cloudy. unsettled weather | i \ Thursday; probebly rain: brisk | ‘ {' \ to high southerly winds. | X A. G. McADIE, '.__‘,_—;.L District Forecaster. > ’ N v TEE THEATERS. . ~“Blue Jeans.” ‘ California—*“Are You & Mason?” v{-Central—“The Dairy Farm.” Fischer's—"I. 0. U.” Grand—*“The Minister's Son.” Orpheum—Vaudeville. ‘The Chutes—Vaudeville. Tivoll Opera-House—"Ixion.” Columbia—"“The Girl With the Green Eyes.” | | * ( I XCV—=0. 31, X H 1 530 | | | 232 {3 | Grand Total Hideous Catastrophe Over-| whelms a Chicago Mat- inee Audience. Sl Harvest of Death Is Com-| plete 10 Minutes After Cry of “Firel” Special Dispatch to The Call. Dec. 30.—Ch cago is stunned to-night by the More e in the history of the country. while hundreds were >d to death by one an- other hundreds are | , with lumbs broken and | Every undertaking es- | bodies, many of which OF FLAME. ed. Mothers pa and 1selves hoarse at the antics of vas in the middle of the play some, had just concluded the " cried a little chap in the front tongue of flame shot out from Children clapped their and the whole audience was t and caught a bit of in- | the center of the stage. In- ‘ 1 of flame and in a moment | broad wave of fire, which i u 1 weird effects. | GAS TANKS EXPLODE. { from the the audience that there t asbestos curtain was to work. 1 stood out on the t smoke burst from the top arch of the stage om of the curtain. Before the audience le roof of the auditorium was ablaze. in the flies on the sides of the theater and fumes beat down in a cloud of death from ey ery | Fear, uncontrollable and terrible, reigned. 1 ht like wild beasts, filled only with a desire protection. Little babies slipped from their mothers’ arms, n instant their lives were crushed out by the crowd. Girls from the balconies and lay crushed and dying on ended their miseries. FIERCE BATTLE FOR LIFE. E than one thousand persons in the orchestra seats, ccess to the doors, gradually made their way té most of them threw aside wraps, pocketbooks;hats ing that seemed to impede them in the rush for life alcony and gallery the destruction wrought The flar}e and smoke, gathering on these up- caught the victims before they realized the ful} extent danger. « work red incredible that the little tongue of fire could lap » quickly and reach out after them like a stroke of T'hen, when the full meaning of the disaster came es, they fought and battled with one another led like stampeded animals, with the smoke carl- Everything was plunged into absolute dark- iendly lantern showing them the way ott f death | : X | ’ THEATER BECOMES MORGUE. : outlines of the theater, the beautiful plush arched windows with their stained glass, the state- Continned on Page 7, Columns 2 and 3, S e MR S T LONG LISTS OF THE DEAD D MISSING ‘Partial Roster of| the Identified Victims. il CHICAGO, Dec. 30.—Fol- lowing is a partial list of the dead. { Where no other address is given the residence is Chicago: Hortense Lang, aged 16. Irene Lang, aged 11, sister of Hortense. Their mother escaped. E. A. Wilson. Anne Fitzgibbon. Mrs. W. T. 'Marsh. Miss Hattie Stratton, Alpena Mich. Louise Bushnell. Mrs. A. Lake, 35 years old; identified at morgue. Miss A. Donaldson, 18; identi- fied at morgue by telegram found in her purse. Mrs. Patrick P. O’Donnell wife of President O’Donnell of the O’Donnell Brewing Com- pany. R. H. Coults. Miss Howard. Miss Ross, daughter of Dr. Ross. Florence Axnam, Rosemond Schmidt, Elvira Olson, Helen McCaughan, Helen Howard | Lily Powers,’ Riah A. Maker, a {club of high school girls who were in the balcony. Mrs. F. A. Morrill. A Mrs. A. Sumin. Miss Edith Norfon of Onton- agon, Mich. Mrs. Harabaugh. C. W. Forbush and family. Anna Sterling. Three men employed on the flies: on the stage; names un- known. Florline, a German aerial per- former; taken to hospital; died in ambulance. Ethel Blackman, 13 years old, daughter of Harry E. Blackman, freight department of Marshall Field & Co., living at Glen- ville, TIL Mrs. Cavanaugh of Indiana avenue. Unknown boy, 8 years old. Two unknown women: met death by jumping from the rear fire escape while their garments were aflame. Louise Buchray. Marie Walsh, aged 3. Mrs. Thomas D. Maloney, wife of a plumber. Miss Spencer. . Ethel Jones, daughter of S. P. Jones; attended the theater with brothers and sisters, two of whom were missing and three account- ed for. It was reported at Vaughan's seed store, where the body of Miss Jones was. taken, that the mother, an invalid dropped dead when she received IS ‘ Continued on Page 5, Column 4, - MASSES OF DEAD GOKE THE EXITS AND FILL AISLES CHIEF 0;‘7"? CHIAFO TEs TS SCENE AT THE IROQUOIS THEATER CATASTROPHE IN CHICAGO AT THE TIME OF THE GAS TANKS' EX- PLOSION, DRAWN FROM A TELEGRAPHIC DESCRIPTION, AND OF FAMOUS FIRE MARSHAL WHO DIRECTED THE HEROIC EFFORTS OF THE FIRE FIGHTERS AND RESCUE FORCES. o LOBETS Bodies of Victims Locked in Death’s Embrace Are Piled From Floor to Top at Main Entrance. CHICAGO, Dec. 30.—The fire in the Iroquois Theater broke out during the second act of the play “Mr. Bluebeard,” which was the first dramatic production present- ed in the theater since its erection. The company, which was very large, escaped to the street in safety, nearly all of the players, however, being compelled to flee into the snowy streets with no clothing but their stage costumes. A few members of the company sustained minor injuries, but none was seriously hurt. Accounts of the origin of the fire are conflicting, and none cer- tain, but the best theory given is that an electric wire on the lower part of a piece of drop scenery suddenly broke and wasgrounded. \ The fire spread rapidly toward the front of the stage, causing the members of the chorus, who were then engaged in the performance, to flee to the wings with screams of terror. The fire in itself up to this time was not serious, and pos- sibly could have been checked had not the asbestos curtain failed to | work. CURTAIN FAILS TO LOWER As soon as the fire was discov- ered Eddie Foy, the chief come- immediately done. It descended about half wdy and then stuck. The fire thus was given practically a-flue through which a strong draft was setting, aided by the doors, which had been thrown dian of the company, shouted to | lower the curtain, and this was|: 4 . i in the rear of the hall shouted open in the front of the theater. With a roar and a bound the flames shot through the opening over the heads of the people on the fest floor and, reaching clear up to those in the first balcony, caught them and burned them to death where they sat. Immediately following this rush of flames there came an explosion which lifted the entire roof of the theater from its walls, shattering the great skylight into fragments. As soon as the flames first ap- peared beyond the curtain a man “Fire! fire!” and the entire audi- ence arose as one person and made for the doors. 1t is believed.that the explosion Continued on Page 5, Column &, |