The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 1, 1904, Page 4

FRANCISCO CALL, FRIDAY POLICE ARREST ATTACHES OF IROQUOIS THEATER -— — - - - — - — e 3 b —_— oo HICAGO, Dec. 31.—Twelve employes of the Iroquois HICAGO, Dec. 31.—There is still a-w ide variance of '“P‘Qt/rn as to the cause of the Iro- C Theater were arrested to-night on orders issued by | H quois Theater disaster. Members of the “Mr. Bluebeard” company and employes of the Chief of Police O'Neil. The charge against them is that | fic theater assert that an explosion started the fire.. In this they are contradicted by scores of being accessory to manslaughter. They will be held pend- ‘ . of survivors, who say that some-time hefore the explosion vn‘cm‘re.ll they saw flames crce_'»ing he verdict of the Coroner’s jury. Among them are: Will- along the highly inflammable material appended to the wings of the stage hev are of the arleton, ge manager: Edwarfl Cummings, carpenter ; | opinion that the fire was started by sparks from ai arc light. A sensational story was in circu- ¢ ]. Andrew, R. M. Cummings, E. Engle, Thomas Mec- | lation to-day as to the reason for the failure of the attempt to lower the ashestos curtain, which Queen and S. J. Mazoni. The last five are stage hands and | would have kept the lames confined to the stage hacl it not stuck when hali-way down. It sceneshifters. After being taken into custody by the police | | was declared thata fire inspector found that a wire had been st rett_"wevl om the back of the f the men told Chief O'Neil that they had been re- 1 stage to the rear of the theater, to be used in one of the features of the sec act—an aerial by 1 connected with the theater to leave Chi- | flight over the audience. -When the curtain was lm\'ercd‘ as :';ar»n: t re it could go no fur- v later admitted that the advice was given by As- ther. - Members of the company assert that the cause of the failure to lower the curtain was sistant Stage Manager Plunkett. . : | that the draught due to the opening of the doors caused the curtain to hulge out and render it - b0 - | unmanageable. —— a3 R — —& Mansiaughter Charge ||Ghicago Hovor. St Against Stage Employes. e Prompt Action of Po-|| ice Checkmates Flight. Continued From Page 1, Column 3 was William the did not know but said he started He he blaze, but pull down r loose that blazing then spread unable was AGE HANI )S TO BLAME. S in creating the audience the flames out r far more to in the manage- The beliewv: I s the action of the audience the draught which was the f the disaster. 1 may rom the evidence now took the On arriv- iry first we mner Buck the orner the spears and f stage r armor us n t Biuebeard.” A 180 pieces of sc duction were sr scenery ha the stage. T ghts, one caused confusion near the stage INADEQUATE PROTECTION. the vas found 2 seat. An inspec- fire escape at the north end of the ¢ times as The ended to the top | zallery test loss of life oceurred. ( ted to he balcony several pla of speciators sped through these openings t er floor WERE THE DOORS LOCKED? An inspection was made of the exits eading fire escapes, and the jurors were id that the bodies of the | dead were piled ten f high in front | he theater hose ¢ ere locked somebody crimina negligent,” said Juror “ine The cxite are too small anyway,” said Juror Mever, as he measured the the »ars leading t fire escapes. At the concix of the inspection of ne theater it ecided to continue ne inquest until next Thursd A few of the questions to which the, ury will endeavor to obtain satisfac- »wy answers at the inquest are Were the steel doors leading to the fire escapes on the first and second bal- conies locked when the fire broke out?| e locked, were they opened by the attendants?” was it impossible to lower the s curtain?” | Gid the management permit | > of arc lights in the flies. with | no device to prevent carbon sparks ig- | niting the borders of the scemery and he curtain? i “YWhy did the ushers, as alieged, shut | all the doors and urge the audience to | remain seated after the fire broke out, | instead of doing everything nossible to empty the house?” POLICE MAKE ARRESTS. Orders were issued to-night by Chief ©"Neil to find members of the company | and other theater employes who were | Coroner’s jury. witpesses of the fire. This order will | mean, the police say, that in all more Anna Brant and Daisy Beauttes, were than twenty arrests will be made,) chiefly among the dancers and mem- bers of the chorus, who were crowdedl { ered.. | Chicago on short notice. | four CROWDS VISIT THE MORGUES | TO SEEK DEAD| A N Continued From Page 1. Colamn 1. » laden with | | Trade were likewi i Chicago’ ephone service has never before bee to such a test as from 4 o'clock erday afternoon until 4| o'clock this afternoon. Every avail- | able operator was pressed into service and for hours it was impossible to ob- n connections with some of the out- assistants their powe apply infor- cerning the dead and in- t i times the number of vai € the Coroner’s office could 1 d the e Coroner’s office Crowds L day and that arrangement n be so that the; could iew 1} bodies without dela The licants W promptly upplied with permits, which they showed to the police and which admitted them to any vita of valuables and riptions were by policemen med over to the | Coroner. Among these were fully a | dozen watches, and in ev the watch had stopped at 3 iock. The fire started about 3:15 VAIN SEARCH FOR WIFE. T Donaldson. a loop chief for the 1\ Telegraph Company, | telegraphic st of | ts harvest of death, un- |g are his own wife was among | s the missing. When he went home | and found that she had gone to the | theater he hurriedly returned and | searched for her through the morgues and in the hospitals, but to-day had ret found the least trace of the miss- Adele Philipson, 8 years of age, was one of the children struck down and | trampled to death. Her body was re- | moved by the firemen and taken to a | drug store. There the child was seen by her mother, who had escaped unin- jured became hysterical, ags r the | body. tried to | the woman believe the little girl | escaned death. Mrs. Phillnson} child’s e | in the wings when the fire was discov- According to \‘u‘;;m#r Treager, a large placard had beeh placed in the hotel where a large number of the ac- togs are staying, ordering that all mem- | bers of the company be ready to leave | Believing that this was a move to keep witnesses from testifying before a Coroner's jury, the arrests were decided upon. Late to-night, in addition to the ax- rest of the stage manager and six others, detectives arrested Willlam Plunkett, assistant stage manager, and members of the ‘‘Moonlight Chorus,” The chorus is made up of eight men and eight women and was about to appear on the stage when the fire started. Those arrested in addition to Plunkett were: Willlam Stack, Sal- | ue! Bell, Victor Bozeart and Edward Wines. The vrisoners were taken to the Har- rison street police station and locked up. Plunkett was charged with man- slaughter and the members of the chorus_with a violation of a part of | the municipal code of Chicago, pro\‘id—‘ ing for the holding of witnesses for a Two members of the chorus, Misses arrested and taken to the Central po- lice station. After questioning by the police they were released. PROMIN CHICAGO RESIC THE IROQUOIS FIRE OR ARE CARING F'OR THE KILLED !/ AND THE INJURED. WHO DISPLAYED HEROISM AT NDERING HERCULEAN AID IN R was led v and did not learn the truth for two hours Forem among the remarkable was that of Winnie Gallagher, s of age. The girl occupied a in the third row on the main yor and that she was able o make her way through the struggling mass of stronger and elder persons is con- a remarkable by the police. Un- ted the girl made her way over heads of terror- cken persons scaped. When she reached’ the clothing v torn almost KICKED A DOOR OPEN. Among the first persons to escape were Joseph Grabam and Doroth: Bour, two childreg. They were in the parquet, fifteen rows from the ch fire ¢ the saw the scenery c lefth4nd side of the stage.” 1 { the boy. “Eddie Foy came to th front of the stage 1id told us to ¢ i, but we decided we would g (8 i right away. Four women faintec near me and nearly -all the others med dezed and just sat still. We got up and kicked the door open. I lot of others could have come, they had not been scared. outeide until they brought out and then we went think if stood d man 100, We a de home. A party Mr F Lucy ank; 10 consisting of rn, her two cirildren cears oid, and Willie, Harriet Woife, 10 of Ludwig Wolfe ness man, and maker, is missing. family searched hospitals and morgues, old, daughter millionaire busi dress- “entire a Miss Burke, a Wolfe's il night through the but failed to fird a trace of any members of the part | 3 Graeme Stewart, Republican na- tional committeeman from Illinois, spent the entire night hunting for Mrs. F. M. Fox of Winnekta, Ill., and her three children. Mrs. Fox is.ihe daughter of W. M. Hoyt, who s, president of the W. M. Company, one of the wealthiest con- cerns of the kind in the West. Mrs. ¥ox was taken home, but none of the children was found. said the handkerchief of Hoyt Fox, 12 years old, had been found in the pocket of a suit upon the body of a boy at Rolston’s morgue. There I3 no doubt that it is the boy, although the features cannot be identified. There was a pathetic scene at Rol- ston’s morgue when the body of John Vaningen, 18 years old, of Kenosha. Wis., was identified. Friends of the Vaningen family had spent many hours searching at the request of Mr. and Mrs. Vaningen, who were injured. To-day four of the Vanimgen children who are believed to have perished in the fire had net been accounted for. They are Grace, two years old: Dotty, five years old; Mary, 13, and Edward, 20 years old. NUNS SEARCH FOR DEAD. One of the saddest of the many scenes enacted in the Thompson restaurant, pear the theater, where many of the Hoyt Grocery M ewart | aren?” he asked. the Rev. J. L. Hollinger of Ontonagon, Mich., for Edith Horton and her sister, young girls, who in company with one of the convent sisters had attended the performance. The body of Edith Hor- ton was found in the restaurant, many of the nuns breaking down and weep- ing bitterly at the sight. The other Horton gir! and the sister who accom- panied, them were not found. ; Charles Dexter of the Boston baseball club and Frank Houseman, the old Chi- cago second baseman. with families, occupied a box. Both claimed that but for the presence of mind of Eddie Foy the death roll would have been doubled. When the panic began Dexter and Houseman each made for and manned a door leading into the alley on the north gide of the theater, The people from the balconies had already com- menced jumping to the ground floor when Houseman and Dexter forced open the doors, and they were com- 1 to lift away the maimed and the d in order-o permit of exit from the sround floor. Houseman, having es- corted his party out, took a position at is door and kept it from choking up veople through. Finally, forced aw by the flames, Houseman got into the alley just in time to hear the agonized voice of a woman from the window in an upper gallery shriek, “Catch ma!” As the woman screamed she jumped, and Houseman, catching her to the hest of his ability, broke her fall to the ground and she walked away uninjured. ENTIRE FAMILY LOST. Clinton C. Meeker, a clerk in the reg- istry division of the postoffice, living in the suburb of Irving Park, has prob- ably lost in the fire his entire family, consisting of his wife, two daughters and two sons. A friend called Mr. Meeker on the telephone at 4 o'clock in the afternoon and asked him if any of his family had gone to the theater. He answered that so far as he knew none of them had left home. When he reached the house, however, he found only his mother-in-law there.* Where are Mabel and the chil- “They have gone to the Iroquois Theater,” was the reply. “I dropped right down on my knees,” said Meeker, “and prayed that God might spare them.” To-day Meeker had partially iden- tified the bodies of his wife and two daughters. Ile failed to find any trace of his,twé6 sons. All night long search was kent up for Marv Dorothy Gartz, 12 years old, and Barbara Gartzy 4 vears old, who attended the theater with their aunt. Mrs. Adelaide Hoptfelt. To-day their bodies had not been found and there secems to be no doubt that the chil- dren have perished. They are daugh- ters of A. F. Gartz and the nieces of R. T. Crane. the millionaire manufac- turer of this city. Mrs. Hontfelt was taken from the thea severely - burned about: the head and shoulders. The children are dead and injured were taken imme-|pelieved to have been caught in the diately after the fire, was-the search by crush coming down from the balcony a party of priests and nuns, headed by ! and to have been trampled to death IAN PRINCE CABLES SYMPATHY PRU BERLIN, Dec. Harrison. Chicago: Wish to ex- press deepest sympathy on ac- count of terrible catastrophe at Iroquois Theater. Please let me know of missing and if some of my acquaintances among them. What a terrible beginning of the | new year many good citizens of | Chicago will have! PRINCE HENRY OF PRUSSIA. 31, — Mayor - floor. Walter Zeisier, 17 years old, son of Mr. and Mrs. Sigmund Zeisler, among the missing. He is a nephew | of Fanny Bloomfield Zeisler, the fa- mous nianiste. | FAIL TO REVIVE VICTIM. Over one girl in Thompson's restau- | rant’ the doctors labored hour. | Phey loosened her dress and two of | them waved her arms up over her i head and slowly brought them down | again in an attempt to induce artificial respiration. Every moment or two one of them listened with his stetho- scope for her heart beats. .no sign of a burn.on her. She could not have been more than 16 years old |and when thev forced her eyelids apart her brown eves were yet bright. . said one doctor. Stimulant after siimulant was tried and last of all nitro-glycerine, but all | proved useless, and in the end the doctor gave up. Not far away a nurse doctors labored over a boy. minutes he opened his eyes. up. and two After ten | “Watcher doin’ to me?” | tioned. “Taking care of you,” said the doctor. “Tell us your mame. “I ain’t goin’ to have any one tellin’ my mother about this of me. I'm all right, I am. it was.” “I'm the most grateful man in Chi- cago,” said John A. Thompson. who owns the restaurant. “My sister was in the theater with my two children. John, aged 9. and Ruth, aged 7. almost got to the door -with both of them when Ruth disappeared. My sister told me she knew that the chiid must be safe. but I ran around like a maniac for an hour before I found her. How it happened I don't know. but she ran back into the theater and out under the stage through the stage entrance.” o s S SORRE- SR A TS POLICE GUARD THEATER. Thousands of Anxions Relatives Vain- Iy Attempt to Gain Admittance. CHICAGO, Dec. 31.—By order of Cor- oner Treager the theater charnel-house was to-day placed under a tight police guard. No verson could enter without a written order from Chief of Police O'Neil, who was notified that he would be held responsible for keeping the building in the exact condition in which it was left by the sweep of the flames. Thirty patrolmen were stationed ac; the front of the building and twenty men guarded the rear, while within were thirty more officers, the whole in- terior, including the stairways and fire- Continued on Page 5, Column 1. on the staircase leading to the main is | . | 181 |ost, its warmest sympathy and heart- | giaie Department There was | “‘She is too perfect a creature to give | It was a fire, that's what | She | Tpss | ympathetic CHIEF WASHINGTON. Hon. Carter Chicago: In I extend, people of Chicago through | | trophe which 1 | THEODORE ROC Harrison, common | | our people throughout this land Messages Pouring Into the Stricken City. SELSi B A OF NATION EXPRESSES GRIEF Dec. 31— Mayor, with all to the | deepest you, my sympathy in the terrible catas- as befallen them. )SEVELT. CHIC ay messages of sympa d in by telegraph on t di P e announced to-night: It may be that before | this trouble a few p found to be in need, b be able to give Co ceived from Mayor of th | and from dozen. le of Chicago and offe that aid herself. GO, Dec. 31.—All during the thy to the peo- rs of aid pour he Mayor. He “I have received many offers of aid. | deemed we get through ersons will be ut Chicago will Most of those killed and injured, now iden- 1 | tified, can be abundantly cared fc | From E. . Willard, actor, Londo | was received the following [' " “Deepest sympathy with citizens | mourning.” | Messages of condolence were re- llins of Boston e executives of cities between Louis and New Dr. Lueger, Mayor of Vienna, Aus- tria, sent the Mayor Harrison “The cit ty administration of { count of the | through which hundrec | { | felt’ condolence.” i seicli Canada Expresses Pre , Dec. 31. r General telegraphed to Presic asking him to convey regret of the people of great calamity which so many home: STARTS ON SAD | Professor Stillman, ater fire at Chicago. Dr. Stillman left scene of the disaster. Miss Stillman, with Minna Stillman, who lives in South Chi the aunt was severely foliowing cablegram of Vienna expresses to t terrible of « left for Ch { October to spend a year with an aunt | to Chicago on ac- theater fire ds of lives were found Rezret. —~Lord Minto, ada, to-day Roosevelt the Mayor dent to and citizens of Chicago the profound | a for the bereaved Canad: had in Chicago. JOURNEY. Stanford’s Acting President Hurries to Chicago for Dead Daughter. STANFORD UNIVERSITY. Miss Cara Stillman, '03, daughter of | head partment of chemistry and at present | ment acting president of the university, Was | gonal sympathy of the Russian one of the victims of the ter Dec. 31 ¢ the de- ble the- Word was re- ceived of her death this afternoon and | assured the Hmbassador that immediately her sis ago last cago. All thres had seats at the theater, but C4ra alone | was killed. The sister was unnurt, but | Miss | injured. Stillman’s body was found late yester- after by friends. At Stillman was very wei | last spring. | bers of the Greek |’ Kappa Alpha Theta. | GRIEF MAR CHI Prairie avenue. ed. He was taken to t | Hospital, covery. Mcuaughlin's Buenos Ayres. He is a sophomore class of the Gunsaulus home. residence this evening. Owing to his condition all invitatis to the cere- mony were recalled only the im- mediate relatives the bride and groom were present. letter day afternoon and was identified soon Miss She | graduated in the department of history Both sisters were mem- | sorority of | Stanford | known. WEDDING. | Sorrow Reigns in the Home of Dr, « Frank W. Gunsaulus. CAGO, Dec. 31.—Sorrow reigns if | the.residence of Dr. Frank W. Gunsad- lus, the noted divine, w ho lives at 2618 William McLaughfin, 19 years of age. a nephew of Mrs. Gun- saulus, was one of those severely hirn- he Presbytérian where the attending ysi- s | clans entertained no hope for Ais re- i killed and two severely injured in a home is in member of the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, and was spending his holiday vacation at the He w. nessed the marriage of Miss Martha Gunsaulus to Henry Hamilton Shueler, | tendent, burned on head and hands in which took place at the Prairie avenue | rescuing five gWils; August Zaconi, as to have wit- the Sympathy of All Europe. P XOE A Great Britain’s* King and Queen Send Telegrams. PR, —King Edward have sent tele- LONDON, Dec and Queen Alexandra 31 grams of sympathy for the sufferers {of Chicago fire to the United | St s Government rough Foreign | Minister Lansdowne | _ The following message which Lord Mayor Sir James T. Ritchie of London tr through the th consternation and | which prevail throughou polis over the disaster | “MANSION HOUSE LONDON, Dec. | 81.—The citizens of London offer their deep sympathy and sincere condolence W ican people at the awful loss of life in Chicago. T. RITCHIE Lord Mayor." eign toples of inter- n here to-day in the yrror over the Iroquois.Thea- ragedy The editions were rly be t. Th counts the adly panic were read by the English people with peculiar and horror, for the pant m is now at its height and t »ndon thea- ters are daily crowded by women and hildren. T of yesterday oubtless will many 1doners m sen e usual Christm The s »mnrent sympathetically on wh Globe terms “one of the most e disas- ters of its kind in the hundred Globe thinks that in outset there could have been ne Juate fire appliances or else that work, and does not bel country any theater would be “so utterly hel “The scheme of exits, Mall ( e, “a practically worthi The St. James any Te ghastly holocaust “hicago teaches the wisdom of the al ordinance which requires th proof curtain to be lowered once e vening to in- T tminster tte points te the vle regul th which Ch de coinci a great and thinks it only shows how to public security are the ater regulations, which so often are pressive To the Lord Mayor’'s message of sym- pathy, which also was transmitted to the United States Embassy and for- warded to the State Department at Washington, Embassador Choate re- “ “T have received your tender mes- sage of condolence in behalf of the citi- zens of London to the people of the United States in the tragic calamity at Chicag 1d thank you most sineerely. 1 have transmitted it to Wasluagton. CHOATE. Sir n says sympathy best expr helping the unfortu- nates, a fund is opened in Chicago to assist those who have beem adwinners he will or $1000. deprived of their gladly contribute $500 Receives a Cable= n From the Lord Mszyor. HINGTON, Dec. 31.—The fol- | lowing telegram has been received at the State Department frém* Embas- sador Choate at London, dated to-day tize of London. 'through the d Mayor, offer their/deep symrathy and sincere condolence With Lie Ameri- | can people in the awful loss of life at the Chicago fire.” The following cgblegram has been forwarded by the §tate Degartment to Embassador Chogte at London ‘Assure Lord Mayor and citizens of London of the hgh appreciation of their sympathetic message in this hour of sorrow. LPOOMS, Acting Secretary.” Count Cassin/, the Russian Embas- sador here, went to the State Depart- to-day and expressed the per- Em- | peror for the people of the United | States in their hour of affliction. Loomis the ex- « for the | pressions of the Emperor were deeply appreciated and a message to that ef- Miss | fect has begn cabled to St. Petersburg. | - > Recalls Disaster at Ring Theater. | VIENNA, Dec. 31.—The catastrophe at Chicago has aroused the most pain- ful interest ani thé utmost mpathy | everywhere, tb Viennese having a | keen recollection of the disaster at the Ring Theater in 1881, when many per- song lost their lives. P Arouses Berlin Fire Department. BERLIN, Dec. 31.—The evening pa+ | pérs express horror and sympathy over {the Chicago catastrophe. The fire de- | partment here announces that it will ! immediately make a fresh study of the local theaters ————————— JUMPS FROM THIRD STORY WINDOW AXND IS KILLED Employe in a Chicago Factory Loses His Life While Trying to Escape From a Burning Building. CHICAGC, Dec. 31.—One man was fire in the factory of the United States Feather Company to-day. Loss, $50,- 000. The dead: DANIEL PHALEN, foreman: badly burnéd and jumped from third-story window, erushing skull. The injured: Carl Mever, superin- burned on head and body. The building, a six-story structure, contalned a large number of employes, but all except the three named escaped 4+ without severe injury.