THE FIRE AT CHICAGO.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume LIV, Issue 2836, 5 January 1904, Page 2

THE FIRE AT CHICAGO.

The deaths at the theatre fire excsed fix hundred. The outbreak occurred during a *-J matinee. The audience was mos'ly com posed of motheri with their children. The - managers attribute the fire to the birai-g of a calcium t<»nk. Bodies were fou-d _trei_u irq eight feet beyond the balcony door to- •»■ wards the staircase and piled within two feet of the oeiling of the pa.sage. The faces

of scores of tho dead had been badly tramp- * led on. Many actresses engaged in th<bbb.uß fled t» an alley behind tbe the_tn-, lightly clad and suffered severely from the cold. The panic amongst the amateur firemen * on fihe stage exceeded that .of the audience. , A leading c&meaisn pluckily tried to stem the pinic. _, 8-ores of bodies were naked, and the faces indistinguishable owing to trampling, * Bishop Fallows, who helped in the wrrk of rescue, declared that the sights were more ..gruesome thin those of a bloody battlefield, M. Miss Hamondore's party escaped from the by wall.ing.over a pile of those wto ,had fainted almost within reach of safety. _> A dozen thieves were arrested for pl_n#3ering the detd, Scores of chorus girls and sixty mpers escaped through a coal hole in the basement. Tho livery stables strikers have agreed to a truje for ten days in order to bii'y the Buhop Muldoon climbed into the gallery and begged the peple to trust in God. He absolved the dying. The theatre was in daikness when the fire «- commenced, with the object cf increasing the effect of a scng which was being sung, Within ten minutes all the mischief had been done, th accordaide with the Mayor's supges--4 tion, the New Year in tii.i ng° was usherel ** in in silence. There were no peals rung nor stesm whistles blown. Bu=inesß will be Suspended tomorrow for the funerals. There are four thousand famili's in mourn" ing. Edward Bnd Qieen Alexandra, the ■London Ocunty Council, Sir Thomas Lipton and President Loubet lnve sent mes-ogis cf sympathy. The origin of the fire is a mystery. The st. gp mart _er ard a numl-er of others connected with the theatre have been arrested on oha-ges of being to — manslangh'er, As a retult of the Chicago fire, wi-iespre .d discussion is precceding in London as to ihe safety of English theatres. The c*>nßfn?u<) of opinion iB that the risk has been reducer! m to a minimum. The city officials of Chicago declare that theie is evidence of grave neglect and reck less disregard of Mia public safety at the Iroquois Theatre. There were no automatic ••prinklers and no fire alarm bex. and it is doubtfnl whether the firepro-f curtain was tSeally asbestos. The Mayor, in nor sequence of the report furnished by the Commission of Inquiry, hss ordered the g of nineteen Chicago theatres for non compliance 2»lth the regulations. Twelve a rests have flßen made and others are probable, in crn sequence of the officials of the theatre urging likely witne_.es to leave Chicago.