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About The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 1904)
IVkCook Tribune F M KIMMELL Publisher MCOOK NEBRASKA v3 Brief Telegrams The salary of the president of the American Base Ball league is 10000 Robert Catcrson of New York re cently purchased the far famed gran ite mountain of Texas In Paris a youth attempted kill his father in order that as a widows son he might escape conscription Coins are classed according to their state of preservation as proof un circulated fine good fair and poor John Sharp Williams the new dem ocratic leader in the national house of representatives rarely if ever loses his temper According to the census taken by the prefecture of the Seine there aro at present in Paris 41350 Italians 42 000 Belgians and 32500 Germans Arthur Cnamberlain of Binningham England a nephew of Joseph Cham berlain has been touring Canada part ly on business and partly on pleasure Plans are being made to erect a monument to the philosopher Kant in Berlin to be unveiled on the occa sion of the 100th anniversary of hi3 death in 1904 The queen of Holland has just ap pointed an Englishman Rev Kirsopp Lake of Lincoln college Oxford a the ological professor at the famous Dutch university of Loydeu F N R Martinez the musical and art critic of tne New York World died after a months illness iesulting from paralysis Mr Martinez was born in San Francisco in 1849 Consul Louis Kaiser writes from Ma zatlan Mexico June 16 1903 that that port has been declared open by Pres ident Diaz All restrictions on traffic have now been removed President Roosevelt sent Miss Sarah U Provost the principal of the Cove Neck school at Oyster Bay a check sufficiently large to give every pupil a handsome Christmas present Resolutions have been adopted by the chamber of commerce of Pensa cola Fla urging representatives of Florida in congress to vote for the rat ification of the Panama treaty Orders have been received at San Francisco from Washington by local transport officials to get the troop ships Sherman and Newport in readi ness for service immediately The pope has issued of his own ac cord a note on the subject of sacred music In churches recommeviSlng the Gregorian chant The note will be published in the Osservatore Romano William P Frye of Maine boasts ot being the only great grandfather 9 the United States senate a girl baby having arrived at the home of his grandson William Frye White in Washington Premier Seuden of New Zealand is being criticized for unloading his rela tives on the government It is said that he and eight of his relatives are rawing an average of 25000 each in salary The congregation of the propaganda has received information that Arch bishop Chappelle will visit Rome in the near future for the purpose fo ob taining a definite settlement of church questions in Cuba and Porto Rico The striking union miners arrested at Telluride Colo some time ago charged with vagrancy are said to have been all released and ordered to go to work or leave town They have not as Zet complied with the order Announcement was made of the ap pointment of C M Waters as superin tendent o the division of salaries and allowances of the postoffiee depart ment to succeed George W Beavers to take effect January 1 next Mr Waters is now acting superintendent of the division Bishop Thomas Bowman of East Orange N J the oldest living Meth odist bishop who has just passed his S6th birthday has just made public a story in which he tells how he warned President Lincoln that he was in dan ger of being assassinated by John Wilkes Booth five days before the trag edy occurred The club of Seattle com posed of 314 of the most prominent Jews in that city has sent messages of appeal to President Roosevelt the members of the Washington delegation in congress and William R Hearst of New York asking aid and intercession in behalf of the Jews who are in dan ger of massacre in Kishineff Prof Giovanni Livi director of the state archives of Bologna which town is the principal center of Dantes fame has founu a parchment dated 1323 on which are two pen sketches represent ing Dante crowned in Bologna This discovery will prove of great interest to those who are searching for an au thentic portrait of the poet Sir John See the premier of New South Wales has added a new phrase to the political vocabulary Urged to bring pressure to bear upon the commonwealth government in a cer tain cause he replied yith a worried end irritated air that he might just - - A XT 1 - as well sneeze against Lunuucjr In leaving his residuary estate to his sons only Mr A Holmes a Bing ley England brewer said he did so not because his sons were dearer to him than Ms daughters but because ho considered that men have a harder struggle In life NEARLY SIX HUNDRED DEAD DECIDEDLY THE WORSE PLAY HOUSE CALAMITY THAT EVER OCCURRED IN THIS COUNTRY BURNING Of AN OPERA HOUSE SN CHICAGO An Appalling Loss of Life Through Burning Smoth ering and Being Trampled to Death Chicago in Mourning Over the Awful Catastrophe CHICAGO Women and little chil dren fought in vain for life at a firo in the Iroquois theater the newest largest and safest theater in Chicago Wednesday afternoon December 30 The theater was crowded by a mat inee audience mostly of women and children In the midst of the perform ance while the stage was alight with beauty and color the first alarm of fire was given and the next instant a great wave of flame shot out over the theater The resulting scenes were indescribable Hundreds were trampled to death in the mad rush to escape from that blazing furnace Many bodies were scorched and black ened by the flames after the life had already been trampled out Several people were burned to death others were suffocated by gas thrown into the auditorium by the explosion of a gas tank but by far the larger ma jority perished in the wild stampede for safety The Are broe out during the sec ond act of Mr Blue Beard which was -the first dramatic production pro duced in the theater after its opening The theatrical company which was large escaped nearly all of them however being compelled to flee into the snowy streets with no clothing but stage costumes A few members of the company sustained injuries but none were severely hurt Origin of the Fire The accounts of the origin of the fire are conflicting and none of them certain but the best reason given is that an electric wire near the lower part of a piece of drop scenery sud denly broke and was grounded The tiro 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 possibly could have been checked had not the as bestos curtain failed to work As soon as the fire was discovered Eddie Foy the chief comedian of the company shouted to lower the curtain and this was immediately done It descended about half way and then stuck The fire thus was given practically a flue through which a strong draft was set ting aided by the doors which had been thrown open in the front of the theater With a roar the flames shot through the opening over the heads of the people and clear up to those in the first balcony caught them and burned them to death where they sat Modes of Exit The theater is modeled after the Cpera Comique in Paris and from the rear of each balcony there are three doors leading out to the front of the theater Two of these doorways are at the end of the balcony and one be ing in the center The audience in its rush seems to have for the greater part chose to flee to the left entrance and to attempt to make its way down the eastern stairway leading into the lobby of the theater Outside of the people burned and suffocated by gas it was in these two doorways on the first and second balconies that the greatest loss of life occurred 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 dead bodies in the the eyes of firemen policemen and res cuers when they were able to enter the ill fated theatre The dead lay in tangled heaps five and six- feet high Here and there were found masses of crushed flesh tnd bone which were once men and women but were trampled out of all semblance of human shape At the doorways of the first and sec- sight became so sickening that po licemen and firemen hardened as they are to horrible scenes turned away in horror The bodies were in such an inextricable mass and so tightly Avere they jammed between 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 thing to do was to seize a leg or arm or a piece of clothing and pull with main strength dragging several entwined bodies away to gether As the bodies were dragged out of the water soaked blackened mass of corpses more m horrifying sights were disclosed There were women whose clothing was torn completely from the bodies above the waist whose breasts had been trampled into a pulp and whose faces had been marked beyond iden tification In the auditorium there was no such number of dead in any one spot but bodies lay in the first and second bal conies in great numbers In some places corpses were piled up in the aisles three or four deep where one had fallen and others tripped over the prostrate forms These had died as they fell evidently suffocated by gas Killed in Their Seats Others were bent over backs of seats where they had been thrown by the rush of people for the doors and killed without a chance to escape from their seats One man was found bent backwards nearly double his spinal column having been fractured by the rush A woman was found cut nearly in two by the back of a seat over which she had been forced face downward berore she could enter the aisle The faces of dozens of people had been trampled in by the heels of scores of others who rushed over them In one aisle the body of a man was found with not a vestige of clothing flesh hair or bone remaining above the hips nothing but bones Even the skull was gone Rarely in the history of Chicago has its people been so stirred as by the calamity The speed with which it came seemed for a brief period to appal the business quarter Every available policeman within call of the department was hurried to the spot and the men were placed in lines at the end of the block They tried to prevent anyone entering Randolph street from either Dearborn or State streets It was found for a time al most imposible to hold back the frenzied crowd that pressed forward many of them having friends or rela tives in the theater The First Ghastly Discovery The building was so full of smoke when the firemen first arrived that the full extent of the catastrophe Yas not immediately realized It was not grasped until a fireman and a reporter crawled in the stairway to the bal cony holding handkerchiefs over their mouths to avoid suffocation The two men tried vainly to get through the door which was jammed with dead women piled higher than either of their heads All the lights of the theater were out and the only illumi nation came through the clouds of smoke that hung between the interior of the thester and the street The two men immediately hurried below and informed Chief Musham of the fire department that the dead bodies ter of the doorway reached to within were piled high in the balcony aud two feet of the top of the passageway All of the corpses at this point were women and children The fight for life which must have taken place at these two points is something that is simply beyond human power to ade quately describe Only a faint idea of its horror could be derived from the aspect of the bodies as they lay Horrible Scenes bcenes ot unparalleled horror met proinpt assistance must be rendered if any of them were to be saved The chief at once called on all his men to abandon work on the fire and to go at once to the rescue The building was so dark and the smoke so thick that it was found impossible to ac complish anything until lights had been obtained More than 200 lights were quickly carried into the build ing and the work of removing the bodies was begun One large truck ordinarily used for conveying freight to depots was so heavily loaded with dead in front of the theater that the two draft horses attached to it were unable to start and the police were compelled to as sist by tugging at the wheels Dead will Reach Six Hundred Later reports give estimates that ond balconies the greatest loss of life will probably bring the dead up to occurred Here bodies were found in a six hundred The City Press associa pile which reached from the head oftion discontinued all attempts to keep the stairway five feet from the door track of the number of dead bodies to a point as far in the rear of the at the morgues the fact being palpa exit In the center of the doorway ble that the effGrt was more produc corpses were piled until the portal was tive of error than genuine informa choked to within two feet of the top On too of this grewsome pyramid were found women who had been stricken by death while crawling over the bodies of those who had been caught and crushed to death In their hands they held bits of garments not their own Some were almost nude Bodies were Piled in Layers As the police removed layer after layer of dead in these doorways the tion owing to the confusion incident to the removal of bodies and the dazed condition of those in charge from overwork and lack of sleep The rec ords at the morgue showing the issue of burial permits at the coroners of fice was substituted as a less unsatis factory method of- keeping the death count A Sad New Year On New Years day funeral slons were moving through the snow covered streets to various cemeteries while the throng about the various morgues and undertaking establish ments seemed almost as large as ever The scenes here were the same as those of Wednesday night and Thurs day night Many men appeared at the door of Rolstons and Jordans morgues Friday afternoon who had been on their feet for forty eight houi3 constantly searching for those they had lost The greater number of dead are in those two places an I nen who had viewed the ghastly rows of corpses before and had gone on i unavailing search to every morgue and undertaking room in the city to which the dead from the theater had been taken came back ence more to Rolstons and Jordans almost in de spair but hoping against hope that they might have overlooked their dead in the great number that had crowded the tables and floors on Thursday morning In some cases they were un successful in many others they were not Practically all of the bodies which admit of careful identification have been carried away and of those which remain the majoritv arc in such a condition that only the most minute and careful Inspection will be able to reveal their identity to those who knew them best The Fatal Building W A Merriman western manager for the George II Fuller company the concern which erected the Iroquois theatre to a press reporter made the following statement concerning the construction of the building The Iroquois theatre was built with safety as the first consideration All the building ordinances were adher ed to in every detail and more than that there were additional safe guards thrown about until I do not hesitate to state there was no theatre building in the country freer from danger The exits were numerous and all the work which our company performed was absolutely fireproof After making a very tjreful examina tion of the building since the lire I find that the structure as erected still stands intact Saturday brought out the legacy of the awful calamity and the prediction that the list of fatalities in the Iro quois fire will run to over GOO when information is complete The latest statement of dead at the various morgues is 5G4 and it is stated at the various hospitals and hotels to which the injured were re moved that of the 157 who were in jured probably one third cannot live The missing at this writing is esti mated at 314 but it is expected that many of these will be accounted for probably a large majority of them Chicago in Deep Gloom It is no extravagance of language to say that the city is stunned by the overwhelming tragedy which was en acted when the theater which housed Mr Bluebeard became a chamber of horrors indeed There is the deep est woe in hundreds of homes deep sorrow in a thousand others and a pity beyond the potency of words to convey in all The first streak of daylight which shone on the snow covered streets found the morgues still the sorrow haunted center of many searchers Theer are husbands searching for their wives wives searching for their husbands frenzied parents seeking their children so many or whom lost their lives and in some instances wide eyed children still dazed from the horror of their experience groped distressedly about in search of father or mother A Sad Sunday who desired to bury their dead were unable to do so The unprecedented demand for hearses and carriages would have been enough in itself to task to the very utmost the resources of the undertakers but the heavy snow that has fallen during the last two days has increased their difficul ties enormously All of the cemeteries in Chicago are miles from the busi ness center and residence districts and with good weather and the streets m passable conuition it is a matter of several hours to reach one of them Sunday when every hearse was in urgent demand it required about twice as long to reach a cemetery as under normal conditions Arrange ments were made by the undertakers to have as many funerals as possible held in the early part of the day in order to allow if possible the use of the hearse for a second funeral in the afternoon In a number of cases mis was uone Dut tnere were in stances where the families who were to wait for the return of the hearse were disappointed and were com pelled to defer the burial of their loved ones until Monday It is not expected that there will be any fur ther trouble in this direction as the streets to the cemeteries are now in such conditon as to permit of the passage of funerals in almost the or dinary time Dead List Increases The list of dead was increased to 58S Sunday by the death of Leroy Rainbold a boy of 4 years who was severely burned and died in St Lukes hospital Of the ten bodies at the county morgue four more were iden tified Sunday The injured of whom there is any record now number 103 although the number of those who were slightly hurt would swell this number greatly Numbers of people went to their homes after the fire without report ing themselves to the police as in jured Outside of the numerous funerals that were held in the city Sunday It was the first day of rest the city has known since last Wednesday after noon Less than twenty persons call ed at the office of the chief of police for permits to visit morgues and few people were at the hospitals John Schmidt the stage hand who Ms said to have left open the reflector which prevented the asbestos curtain from descending is still sought by the police lie is believed to be in hiding in the city but the chief of police received an intimation from his friends that Schmidt will be ready when he is wanted as a witness a the coroners inquest next Thursday Coroners Investigation Beginning at 9 oclock Monday morning Coroner Traeger and tha jury impaneled to sit at the inquest will resume its task of collecting cvh dence in the theater building Av exhaustive examination fo the build ing will be made and particular at tention will be paid to any violation of the building ordinances that n3y be found In accordance with the re quest of the members of the jury a sight seers and even watchmen will be excluded from the building while examination is in progress The jury has said to the coroner that they do not wish any person to hear the ques tions that they may put to anybody as they fear publicity will intcrforo with the thoroughness of the inquiry Because of the unlimited scope that the coroner intends to give to the in vestigation it is expected that the work of taking testimony will con sume several weeks Contractors and all others who can give expert testi mony will be summoned and the cor oner has issued a notice to all per sons who were in the theater and who made their escape that he would be glad to have them appear and give their testimony IN AID OF RUSSIAN JEWS President Has Received Reports from Consuls in Russia WASHINGTON Simon Wolf ot this city who has been active for several days in his endeavors to in duce the United States government to make representations iO Russia look ing to the protection of the Jews of Kishineff had an interview with President Roosevelt At its conclu sion Mr Wolf said that at the re quest of the president himself he could not discuss the interview for publication It is known however that Mr Wolf was informed that prior to his pre sentation of the matter to the state department the president had direct ed tho United States consuls in Rus sia to inform this government u there were any likelihood of a repetition of the Kishineff massacres of last spring The replies to that inquiry thus far received have been reassuring in their tone Moreover they indicate that the Russian government is fully alive to the reports of possible trouble at Kishineff on January 7 In view of that fact it is assumed that the Rus sian authorities will take if indeed they have not already taken steps to prevent a recurrence of the massa cre NO WAR IN THE NEAR FUTURE Optimistic View of Situation Enter tained at Rome ROME Following the reports from the far east rather an optimistic view concerning the difficulties between Japan and Russia is entertained in of ficial circles here It is not believed ftiat a conflict will take place in the near future not only for climatic rea in Chicago and for the first time in I bwe Tu8Sf Js 1 thfi hlstnrv of thp pilv nil rf tho nonnlo J is believed that Russia will first consolidate her war ships in the cast with her volunteer fleet in the Mediterranean which lat ter now number nine vessels The vessels of the Mediterranean fleet have purposely kept apart so that no idea might be given of the character or strength of the squadron In political circles the opinion pre vails that the attitude of the United States will have an effect on whether France and Great Britain remain neu tral RUSSIA PLACES RUSH ORDER Cudahy Packing Company to Supply Meat for Army DE3 MOINES la The Cudahy Packing company of South Omaha is just in receipt of a rush order for 1000000 pounds of extra mess meat for the Russian army The shipment must bo made from South Omaha so as to reach San Francisco before Jan uary 20 On that date two Russian ships will be prepared to sail from that port with the beef on board It is learned in Omaha that the same ships will also carry a large amount of other supplies which are now on their way or in preparation for ship ment in various parts of the United States All of these supplies it is said are for the war department of Russia China to be Reckoned With NEW YORK The British govern ment is noting with the closest atten tion and keenest interest the quite uncommon energy now being shown by the Chinese in making warlike prep arations under the guidance of a large number of Japanese instructors cables the Heralds St Petersburg correspondent This has grown serious as to come into the first line of Russias calculations broadening out the situation on quite lines COMPLETELY RESTORED Mrs P Brunzel wife of P BruazeTi stock dealer residence 311 Grand avc Everett Wash says For fif teen years I suffered with terrible pain In my back I did not know what it was to enjoy a nights rest and arose In the morn ing feeling tired and unrefreshod My suffering sometimes was simply inde scribable When I finished the first box of Boans Kidney Pills I felt like a different woman I continued until I had taken five boxes Doans Kidney Pills act very effec tively very promptly relieve the ach ing pains and all other annoying diffi culties Fostcr Milburn Co Buffalo N Y For sale by rll druggists price 50 cents per box White Pallbearers for Black Woman All the pallbearers at the funeral of Jessica Ormand an old colored mammy of Atlanta Ga who died the other day were white men who had known her when she was a slave Several or them had bees nursed by her in their infancy 100 Reward 100 The leaders of thN paper wilt be pleisad to Icara that Uiero In ut leant one dreaded disease that science has been able to euro to all lta stages und i tint la Catarrh Ilalia Cuturrh Cure Is tho only posltlve cure now known to the medical fraternity Catarrh being a constitutional disease rerpilrea n constitu tional treatment Haifa Catarrh Cure Is taken In ternally ectlUR directly upon the blood and tnucou surfaces of tho system thereby destroying bo foundation of the disease and glvlnz the patient atruuKth by building up the constitution and a wlsttni nature In doing Its work Tho proprietors have mnoh faith In Its curative powers that they offer One Hundred Dollars for any case that It falls to cure Send for list of testlmonUls Adircs F CHSXEr CO Toledo O Sold by drilssts 75c Halls Family fills are tho best A genius is a man who refuses to believe in the impossibilities of other people AIllHons In Oats Salzers New National Oats yielded In 1903 In Mich M0 bu in Mo 235 Iju in N D 310 bu and in 30 other states from 150 to 300 bu per acre Now this Oat if generally grown in 1904 will add millions of bushels to the yield and millions of dollars to th farmers purse Try it for 1904 largest Seed Potato and Alfalfa Clover grow ers in America Salzers Sneltz Beardless Barley Home Builder Porn Macaroni Wheat Pea Oat Billion Dollar Crass and Ear liest anes are money makers for you Mr Farmer JCST SEXO THIS XOTICE AXD IOC in stamps to John A Saizer Seed Co La Crosse Wis and receive in return their big catalog and lots c farm seed samples W N U Sweet Potato Bread Place one pint or lukewarm water in the mixing bowl add one table spoonful of butter one level tablc spoonful of salt half a cup of good yeast or a half compressed yeast cake which has been dissolved in four table- spoonfuls of lukewarm water sift in one quart of flour beat well and stand in a warm place over night In the morning bake four sweet potatoes scoop out the pulp and mash through a sieve into the sponge beat well arl add sufficient flour to make a soft dough Knead lightly roll out and cut into biscuits Place these in greased baking pans and very lightly halve in a quick oven twenty five min utes When the biscuit is half done take from the oven and brush over with the white of one egg beaten with one tablespoonful of water Place again in the oven until thoroughly done Southern Sweet Potato Pudding Wasn and boil two pounds of sweet potatoes very soft but not soggy Mash the potatoes while warm and add one cupful of butter and beat the mix ture until very light in color Beat four eggs very light with one cup of white sugar and stir into the other mixture stirring rapidly Add grated nutmeg to taste half a pint of sherry wine one pint of rich milk and the grated yellow peel of one rich lemon Mix turn into tne pudding dish and bake in a quick oven Delicious KNOWS NOW Doctor Wss Fooled by His Own Cscer for a Time Its easy to understand how ordi nary people get fooled by coffee when doctors themselves sometimes forget the facts A physician speaks of his own ex perience I had used coffee for years and really did net exactly believe it was injuring me although I had palpita tion of the heart every day Finally one day a severe and al most fatal attack of heart trouble frightened me and I gave up both ta aud coffee using Postum instead and since that time I have had abso lutely no heart palpitation except on one or two occasions when I tried a small quantity of coffee which caused I severe irritation and proved to me I must let it alone When we began using Postum it seemed weak that was because we did not make it according to t tions but now we put a little bit of butter in the pot when boiling and al low the Postum to boil full 15 minutes which gives it the proper rich flavor and the deep brown color I have advisod a great many ot my friends and patients to leave off coffee and drink Postum in fact I daily give this advice Name given by Postum Co Battle Creek Mich Many thousands of physicians use Postum in place of tea and coffee in s i their own homes and prescribe it to patients Theres a reason A remarkable little book The Road new to Wellville can be found in each package v j z - - i r J c