The San Francisco call. [volume], December 31, 1903, Image 5

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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Incomplete Roster of Victims^ of the Catastrophe Car
ries the Names of 'Hundreds.
Continued From Paje 1, Column 7.
Wave of Fire
Kills Many in
Their Chairs
Continued From Page 1, Colunin.\,4.
Continued on Page 7, Column 2.
Ray Greenwald.
George Sexton, Beloit, Wis.
Walter Thatcher.
Mrs. A. Alexander.
M. B. Rhimes.
William C. Bentall.
Hannah Welfeld.
Miss Laura BoIIe.
Josephine Philat.
Theodore Robert, Woodford, 111.
Mrs. Edna Wllcox.
Bessie Zimmerman.
Jessie Linemeyer, Evanston. III.
. Adele Regenburg. .
. Arthur Carille, . member of "The Bil
lionaire" company, Illinois Theater.-
William- Ahern. -
Helen Dewey, 18 years old.
Ida Cunningham. *
Mrs. S. Stockard, address unknown.
Barlow Clayton, 12 years old.
Bicker Glenn. 14 years of age.
I Dora Mitchell.
¦ Mrs. Anna Dixon.
Leah Dlxon.
Edna Dixon.
Efla Dubois. .
C. G. Mucker..
Mabel Mucker.
Zella Mucker.
Claire Mucker.
Russell Mucker.
Carlton Mucker.
M/R. McKay. ¦
Joseph Beznek and wifeV
Archie and Robert Hippach, boys.
Helen, Marian and Catherine Long,
children, of Geneva, III.
Mrs. F. H. Stafford.
Emma Carban.
Lewis Brewer.;
' Mrs. Hilda Holmes.
Mrs. Susan Turney.
Mrs. Barton and daughter.
Lillie Gass.
been one of box party.
D. Russ, address 'unknown.
•j Mrs." Frank Berg, son and daughters
Olga and Rosalind; were in balcony.
Mrs. : Joljn Guthardt and daughter
Eliza; .were in balcony.
- Mrs. Kavanaugh, supposed .to be
among unidentified dead at the Morgue.
Mrs.-R. Reis and. two children.
Mrs. Rose Bloom.""
Hazel Brown.
Mrs. Bailey.
Mrs. McKenna and son.
" Belle Prinney.
Florence Hutchins, Waukegon, 111.
Mary and Barbara Gartz, children of
A. F. Gartz, treasurer of the Crane
Elevator Company.
Colored nurse of Gartz children.
Miss Jennie French, Kirkvllle, Mo.
Miss Do-lly Reid.
Miss Reid.
Miss Mary Forbes. Mrs. Hull's maid.
Mrs. McGill and daughter Jane.
Mrs. Steinninger.
Mrs. Emily Fox, mother of Hoyt
Fox, and her son and daughter, all
lived at Winnetka, 111.
.Lucille Meade. Berwyn.
Miss Foulke, Berwyn.
Edward and Louise pee, children 1 .
Joseph E. Cullison.
John Holland, Des Moines.
Miss Nina Hansen.
• Mrs. Mary Tarlet and two daugh
ters.
Mrs. David Kennedy, Freeport. 111.
H. Ludwig, wife^and two daughters of
Norwood Park.
Mrs. E. Jones.
Elva Fowler.
Mrs. Duva!.
Mrs. A. Roaken of Zanesville, Ohio,
and two daughters. .
Miss Bessie" Chapman, aged 19 years.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Miss Nina Chapman of Cedar Rapids,
Iowa, sister of above.
Miss Anna McChristie.
Mrs. Charles Hickman.
Mrs. Agnes Newman and son.
Mrs. - William Bartlett, son and
daughter, j j
Elsie Meyer. West Grossdale, 111.
Mrs. Pearl Wunderlich. •
Mrs. Rainier, Burlington, Iowa.
Mrs. Edward Frazier. /
Mrs. Koll.
Mrs. Folly and five children.
May Marx.
Nellie Hart.
Maude Smith, Desplainea, 111.
Marcus Smith.
Willie and Frank Gam, children.
Mrs. ElIaHust.
Flora Gark.
Lena Hoffheintz.
Mrs. Francis Kircher.
Miss Electa Sylvester.
Clara Willis.
Mrs. Willis Wagner.
Harriet Wolf, daughter of L. Wolf,
the millionaire.
Margaret Devine.
Ruth Beyersoth, Evanston, 111.
John Miller, address unknown.--
Julia Brewster.
Contfnucd on Pa£C 7, Column 4.
"It was almost incredible the speed
with which the flames ran through the
scenery, and, although I was but a
eecond after Miss FJmore in jumping
over the railing of our box in front of
the stase it was a mass of flames. As I
rtartrc! up the aiF.le a man rushed into
me and knocked me down. I was eo
terror-stricken that I grew weak and
«nk into one of the orchestra chairs,
«rd after that I hardly remember any
thing. In some way I reached the en-
''Th"n there came a great roar and
a great draft of air a.nd the flames
phot out over the parquet of the thea
ter until it fpmpd to me as though It
must reach the very front walls of the
building. There were but few men in
the audience. !,ut I saw several of them
pulling and pushing women and chil
dren aside as they fought like maniacs
to reach the exits. I saw a number of
little children trampled under feet and
none of them arose again. In the bal
cony the scene was lieyond my power
to describe. There was a hijr, black
crush of human bodies, each one seem
ingly fighting everybody else. The bal
cbny Wft» fo steep that many fell be
fore they had left the first four rows
<-f seats. The exits to the fire escapes
were choked, and those in the rear
rushed with all the strength they pos
s'?s^d upon those who were nearer the
doorp.
MEN FIGHT AS DEMONS.
"I could .^e th<» little plris and boys
In the orchestra chairs pointing up
ward to the slowly moving lines Of
f.am^s. One cf the stape hands, wear
ing overalls, nppeared before the foot
lights and r-Quested the audience to
keep their seats, as there was no dan
ger. • Eodi<* Foy then hurried to the
front of the ptace and commanded the
people to remain calm, saying that if
they would keep their seats the danger
would be averted. The curtain, how
ever, still burned, pieces of the smol
dering clotli falling into the orchestra
pit. An effort was made by the stage
hands Ur arrange the curtain so that
the blazinp fragments would not drop
into the rit.
"I looked over the faces of the audi
ence and remarked ho-.v many children
v.ere present. I could see Aeir faces
filled with interest and thei*- eyes wide
open as they watched the burning cur
tain. Just then the people in the bal
cony rose to their feet and crowded
forward to get a better view of the
fire. Eddie Foy rushed to the center of
the stage and waved his arms in a ges
ture, meaning for the people to be seat
ed. At that instant a woman in the
rear cf the place screamed 'Fire!' and
the entire audience of women and chil
dren rose to their feet, filling with un
controllable terror. In another instant
there was a confused roar made by a
thousand people as they rushed from
the Impending danger. On the stage
the chorus girls, who had aroused my
admiration by their exhibition of pres
ence of mind, turned to flee, but many
• •f thpm were overcome before they
could take a step. Several of them fell
to the floor and I saw the men in the
cast and the stape hands carry them
off the stage. Miss Elsie E'more was
the first to leave our box. The uphol-
Fterinsr «-n the railinpf vas then on fire
and wo were compelled to brush frag
ments of the burning curtain from our
clothing in order to prevent them
catching fire.
THE PANIC INEVITABLE.
Waiters and cooks from Thompson's
restaurant, which adjoins the theater
on the east, rescued fifteen people by
raising a ladder from the roof of a
shed to a •window in the rear of the
building, around which window a mass
of screaming women and children were
congregated. C. Little, the head cook,
mounted to the tor> of the ladder and
to!d them to jump into his arms. Fif
teen women and children did this and
were passed dawn to the other men on
The ladder below them. One woman
attempted to jump into his arms be
fore he was ready to take hold of her
and she fell to the alley, fracturing her
pkuli. dying instantly.
One of the marvelous escapes that
was made by the members of a thea
ter party Is given by Miss Charlotte
Plamadon of Chicago. The party was
made u;> of a number of society people
— Miss ;Elsie Elmore of Astoria, Or.;
Miss Mary Peters of Columbus, Ohio,
and Miss Josephine Eddy of Evanston,
111. Mis? Plamadon was the first of
her party to notice the fire, which
crawled alnnc the top of the drop cur
tain. She railed the attention of an
other member of her party to the blaze
and they all watched it. Miss Plama
don said:
CHICAGO. Dec. 30.— Bishop Muldoon,
with a prayer on his lips, his coat nff.
worked among tho injured ksd dying
inside the theater. He was passing
the theater when the panic started and
rushed In to lend a helping hand. He
climbed into the fftillery and there di
rected the work of rescue. Firemen
and policemen rushed upon him to get
him out, but he remained sroong the
suffering while the smoke and flames
came closer to him. At the top of his
voice he begged the people to put their
trust in God and to calm themselves.
His overcoat, coat and hat v.cre held
by a friend in front of me theater.
The Fight of the Bifhop gave courage
to many of the Roman Catholics who
vrre injured and they received sacra
ments from him on the scene. Sheriff
Barrett, who saw Bishop Muldoon tak
ing his coat off and going into the
theater to help in the rescue work, fol
lowed in his steps. Firemen and police,
after the first rush was over, tried to»
pet the prelate to leave, t>ut he would
not. When danger threatened all from
.the north vail, which might drop at
any moment, the police. Sheriff Bar
rett and the firemen by force led him
nut.
WAITEBS SAVE FIFTEEN.
Sr«*"ial Dispatch to The Call.
Risks His Life to
Assist Fire's
Victims.
Bishop Adminis
ters Sacrament
to Dying.
EXPLOSION OF GAS TANKS SENDS SEA OF FIRE THROUGH DOOMED PLAYHOUSE
Relatives of Vic
tims Battle With
the Police.
Strive to Gain En
trance to the
Theater.
CHICAGO. Dec. 30.— Rarely in the
history of Chicago has its peqple been
so stirred as by the calamity of to-day.
Next to the Chicago fire, it is the
greatest castrophe that has ever oc
curred here, and the speed with which
it came and went seemed for a brief
period to appall the business section of
the city. The news spread with great
rapidity and in a short time hundreds
of men, women and children were rush
ing toward the theater.
The building in which the calamity
occurred stands midway between State
and Dearborn streets, on the north side
of Randolph street. Although every
available policeman within call of the
department was Immediately hurried
to the spot and men placed in lines
from the ends of the block, allowing
nobody to enter Randolph street from
either Dearborn or State, it was found
for a time almost impossible to hold
back the frenzied crowd that pressed
forward, many of them having friends
or relatives in the theater and being
anxious to learn something of them-
POLICE WIN PKAISE.
The conduct of the police was beyond
all praise. The officers held their
ground firmly and gently pushed back
all who sought to gain an entrance to
the theater, although in some instances
frantic men, anxious to look for their
loved ones, actually beat the officers
with their fists in their rage a* being
prevented.
In spite of the efforts of the police,
however, a large number of persona
succeeded in breaking through the
lines and entering the theater, and, in
many cases, did heroic work In rescu
ing the injured and carrying out the
dead. Among these was Alderman W.
H. Thompson, who, unaided, carried to
the street the bodies of eight women.
The first newspaper men upon the
ground also carried out many of the
dead and injured.
The building was so full of smoke
when the firemen first arrived that the
full extent of the catastrophe was not
immediately grasped, until a fireman
and a newspaper man crawled up the
stairway leading to the balcony, hold-
Ing handkerchiefs over their mouths t>>
avoid suffocation. As they reached the
door the fireman, whose vision waa bet
ter trained in such emergencies, seized
his companion by the arm, exclaiming:
Continued on Pace 0, Column 2.
.Pretty papeteries in beautiful. boxes — •
envelopes and paper tied with silk rib
bons. ..Good for New Year's. Sanborn.
Vail& Co. • — ¦ • •-
ever\' conceivable attitude, half
naked, the look on the faces re
vealing some portion of the
agony which must have preceded
their deaths. There weie scores
and scores of persons whose en-,
tire faces had been trampled com
pletely off by the heels of those
who rushed over them, and in
one aisle the body of a nian was
found with not a vestige of cloth
ing, flesh or bone remaining
above his waistline. The entire
upper portion of his body had
been cut into mince meat and
carried away by the feet of those
who trampled on him. A seafclf
was made carefully with a hope
of finding his head/ but at. a late
hour to-night it had not been dis
covered andair that will tell his
friends who he -was is. the coloc
and appearance of the clothing
on the lower limbs, and this is in
such a" condition as to. be hardly
recognizable.
In the aisles nearest to the
doors the scenes, were harrowing
in the extreme. Bodies lay in
In the first and second balconies
bodies were piled up in the aisles
three and four deep, where one
had fallen and others tripped over
the prostrate forms. All had died
where they lay, evidently suffo
cated by gas. Others were bent
over the backs of seats, where they
had been thrown by the rush for
the door, and killed with hardly
a chance to rise from their seats'.
••One man was found with his
back bent nearly double, bis spinal
column 'having been fractured as
•he. was thrown backward. A
woman was found cut nearly in
half by the back of the seat,, she
having been forced over, it face
down.
As the police removed layer
after layer of dead in those door
ways the sight became too much
even for police and firemen, hard
ened as they; are to such sights,
to endure. The bodies were in
such an inextricable mass and so
tightly were they jammed be
tween the sides of the door and
the walls that it was impossible
to lift them one by one and carry
them out. The only possible
thins: to do was to seize a limb or
some other portion of the body
and pull by main strength.
Men worked at the task with
tears running down their cheeks;
and the sobs of the rescuers could
be heard even in the hall below
where this awful scene was being
enacted. A number of the men
were compelled to abandon their
tasks and* give it over to others
whose nerves had not as yet been
shaken by the awful experience.
' As one by one the bodies were
dragged out of the water-soaked,
blackened mass of corpses the
spectacle became more and more
heartrending.
There were women whose cloth
ing was torn completely from their j
bodies above the waist, whose
bosoms had been trampled into a
pulp and whose faces were marred
beyond all hope of identification.
BODIES PILED IN AISLES
clothing of others J whom; they
had endeavored to pull down and
trample under foot as they fought
for their own lives. ¦,
SCENE ' SICKENS /RESCUERS
TWO HEROIC RESCUERS AND
THE LOCATION OF THE
DOOMED THEATER.
ter of the doorway reached to with
in two feet of the top of the pas
sageway. -All of the corpses at
this point were those of women
and children. The fight for. life
which must have taken place at
these two points is something
that it is simply beyond human
power to describe. Only a faint
idea of its horror could be de
rived from the aspect of the
bodies as they lay.
Women on top of these masses
of dead had been overtaken by
death as they were crawling on
their hands and knees over the
bodies of those who had died be
fore. Others lay with arms
stretched out in the direction
toward which lay life and safety,
holding in their hands fragments
of garments not their own. They
were evidently torn from the
W. J. Davis, manager of the
theater, said after the catastrophe
that if the audience had remained
seated and had not been ex
cited by the cry of "fire!" not a
single life would have been lost.
This, however, is contradicted by
the Statements of the firemen, who
found numbers of persons sitting
in their seats, their faces directed
toward the stage, as if the per
formance were still going on. It
is the opinion of the firemen that
these persons had been suffocated
at once by the flow of gas which
came from behind the asbestos
curtain.
As near as can be estimated
at the present time about thirteen
hundred persons were in the the
ater. Three hundred of these
were on the first floor, the remain
der being in the balconies and in
the hallways back of them. The
theater was modeled after the
Opera Comique in Paris and
from the rear of each balcony
there were three doors leading out
to passageways toward the front
of the theater. Two of these
doorways were at the end of the
balcony and one in the center.
The audience, in its rush for the
outer air, seems to have chosen,
for the greater part, to ike to the
left entrance and to attempt to
make its way down the eastern
stairway leading into th» lobby
of the theater. Except for those
burned or suffocated by gas it
was in these two doorways on the
first and second balconies that the
greatest loss of life occurred.
DEAD MASSED IN DOORWAY
When the firemen entered the
building the dead were found
stretched in a pile reaching from
the head of the stairway at least
eight feet from the door back to
a point about five feet in the rear
of the door.
This mass of bodies in the cen-
was caused by the flames coming
into contact with, the gas reser
voirs of the theater, causing them
to burst.
DIE IN THEIR CHAIRS
the -tidings of her daughter's
death.
"Mrs. King, wife . of John C.
King, attorn ey. - •
Lillian Philippson; 6 years old;
identification uncertain. '
Boy, 17 years old, lived at La
fayette, Ind.
William Rattley; died in hos- ;
pital.
William M. Reed,, lawyer.
Waukegan, 111.'
Roy Fox;- body; at morgue.
Mrs. L; H. Butler; at morgue!
S. W^ardman; at morgue. •
Edmund W. Morton, agent
Wagner Electric Company, St;
Louis.,
— -'. Newby.
• J. A. Kockems. •
'Mrs.. Stern..:
Donaldson, address unknown.
V HeV.* .George' Howard 'Dudley, • pastor
or All j Saints Cbjjrch. f
- Miss J. H. Dodd of Delaware, Ohio,
visiting friends at Wheaton, 111. %
Miss V. Delee, daughter of. the late
lieutenant of police. ; '•-
W. W. Hooper, Kenosha, Wie.
Five children of H. S. Van Inger of
Kenosha.' Father became separated
from. them and is among the injured.
Mrs. John Minewigging, wife «r Ald
erman. • • ' *
Mildred Merriam, 3 years old; rescued
by father, but died on reaching the
streef. ' ,
Bernice Bailey, at Morgue.
Mrs. A. M.. Mandel, identified by ring.
C. A. Winslow, commercial traveler,
of Three Rivers, Minn. '¦¦•
Donald Wells, name on handkerchief.
Burr Scott.
Fornetta Peterson.
Harvey Kieley, Laclede avenue, St.
Louis.
Thomas Coutell.
Emperly Hall.
Thomas J. Flanagan, 6292 College
avenue, Indianapolis.
Mrs. M. A. Henry.
Rose K. Rogers, identified by card in
purse.
H. P. Moore. -: r ;
C. L. r Cooper.
May Curran.
"Martin," a boy of 15 years.
H. W. Williams.
B. Regenberg. ..
Ella Linden.
¦ 1 i cn 111 n tx f a. uoy,
Walter B. Eisler, identified by watch.
Muir, first- name not learned;
member Traveling Passenger Agents'
Association; carried check No. 12,231.
Mrs. Emma Brinckley, identified by
her father at the Morgue.
Mrs. C. E. Erickson and son and
daughter, Aurora, 111.; were in balcony.
John Fltzgibbon.
¦ William Gunsaulus, nephew of Dr.
W. W. Gunsaulua.
Edna May Swift, daughter of L. A.
Swift. .
. Mrs. Arthur Bergh and son.
Mrs. M. Stark, Des Moines, Iowa.
Mrs. O. J. TuthlH, Des Moines.
Mrs. M. Fredericks.
Emma Olson, accompanying above.
Mrs. Charles Page.
. Mrs: Spechte. \ .
- Mrs. t Mary Ray. ,
. Lena and Anna Moak, Watertown,
Wis.
Irma Werkoff.
Edna-M. Farney.
W. T. Boyce, wife and daughter.
A. F. Gartz. -
G. : W. Breckner, - supposed to have
Following is a -list of the missing.
Where no address is given the'resi
dence is Chicago: « '
P'rank Dooley, son of Magistrate
Dooley.
Joseph Kingsley and his mother. ".;'**i
Mrs. Lulu Greenwald and son.
Henry Boehl. ,
! Richard and, Allen Hoist.
j Harold 7 Martin, Pullman, 111. , . ;
John Holland.'. .. .
I Lulu S^habbard.^ * •
W.N. -Sprang. 1 *' . • '» '
; Charles H. Koll.
'Mrs. Dawson, address unknown.
< William Butl/ *
I Robert Martin, young son of Princi
pal Martin of Pullman School.
I John Van Ingen, Kenosha, "Wis.
I Walter Bessinger, died at. hospital.
I Margaret Buerman, died at hospital.
; Mrs. Leo Wolff, Hammond,- Ind.,
died at hospital.
. . Alice. Kausman, died at hospital.
Helen HowarcJ, died at hospital.
; Helen Cooper, died at hospital.
¦ B. E. Gould, died at hospital.
Walter B. Zeisler, son of Dr. Zeisler
of the University of Chicago, .who is
now in Europe.
[Mortimer Eldbridge.
Helen Beyersloth, Evanston, 111.
Rev. Henry L. Richardson. x . ;
Louis Kisner and wife, said to have
belonged to "Mr. Bluebeard" com
pany.
. Lester Doty, son of L. B. Doty of Il
linois Steel Company.
Mrs. A. N. Mendel, wife of retired
banker.
Walter D. Austrian, aged 14, son of
Joseph D. Austrian, president of the
Lake Michigan Transportation Com-;
•pany. / _ - ..•-'-- -
Fred Sawyer.
. ¦ J; Graham (identified by under
clothing). •
William McGary (body at morgue).
Leander Deffendorf,. Lincoln 111.
Died nt hospital.
Paul Windes, body at morgue.
Mrs. Morton Fox, Winnetka, 111.,
body at morgue.
Annie Moak, body at morgue.
Walter P. Packer, body at morgue.
•Tames McClelland.
Pauline Geary, body at morgue.
Unidentified man, with', watch en
graved *'E. D. M.," body at morgue.
. Sidney Fox, body at morgue.
Mrs. C. D. Bartlett, Bartlett, 111.,
body at morgue.
Mrs. John Adeneck, Bartlett, 111., sis
ter of above; body at Morgue.
Gertrude Falkenstein, Bartlett, 111.,
niece of Mrs. Bartlett; body at Morgue.
Mrs. W. T. Boise, body at Morgue.
' Mrs. William' 1 Dawson, Barrington,
III. ; body at Morgue.'
William 'Buertel, body at Morgue.
Mary T. Gartz, body at Morgue.
Louise Buschwah, died at hospital.
Leigh Holland, body at Morgue.
Warner S. Edill, Kankakee, 111.
Herman' Eisenstadt.
Unidentified girl, at Morgue, wore
medal inscribed "Georgia."
Carrie Sayor, body at Morgue.
Harry Hudson, member of' '"the Bil
lionaire" company; body at Morgue.
B. E. Gould, Elgin, 111., clerk of Cir
cuit Court of, Kane County; died at
hospital. His wife was injured.
Mrs. W. A. Spring, body at Morgue;
identified. by. letter from husband.
Fred W. Leatin, body at Morgue.
Beane Boise, body at morgue.
- Mrs. J. H. Stringier, Lowell, Ind.,
body at morgue.
• C. M. Bickford, body at_ morgue.
Unidentified woman, wearing ring
marked "E. K., October 20, 1874,"
body at i morgue.
C. R. Barheim, body at morgue.
Esther Barker, body at morgue. ¦
Edward L. Van Ingen, Kenosha,
Wist
.Elizabeth Hart and Mattie Martin,
Evanston, 111., reported dead by Evan
ston police, but whereabouts of bodies
not given.
LIST OF THE MISSING.
THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, THURSDAY. DECEMBER 31, 1903.
5
ADVERTISEMENTS.
9 Thursday, 31 December, 1DC3. ° \
\
Birdseye
maple dresser
~ Something about birds-
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Among the vast assort-
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which are no£ shown else-
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Xew Wiltons in beautiful
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At Union Square