Pittsburg Gazette Times -- August 27, 1911 SHOUT OF "FIRE" IN JOKING SPIRIT

Chief of Police Swan Says One Who Started Canonsburg Panic is Unknown.

DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDING

"Sight a Terrible One," Says Rescuer-Proprietor’s Warning Was Not Heeded.

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CANONSBURG, Pa., Aug. 27,- The building in which the panic occurred is known as the Morgan Block. It is a brick structure, three stories high on Pike street and four stories high in the rear, owing to the slope of center street. The first floor is used as storerooms, with a door in front leading to the theater and offices on the third floor.

The entire second floor is given over to the opera house with exception of a few offices in the front part of the structure. The stairway leading to the auditorium is 6 1/2 feet wide and has 26 steps. The door at the entrance is 8 feet high. At the top of the first flight of stairs there is a large lobby.

From this hall a wide entrance leads to the main auditorium. A stairway on one side leads to the balcony. The main auditorium has a seating capacity of about 700 and the balcony seats almost 300 more. The main stairway is the only flight leading to the street. There are four fire escapes. One fire exit leads from the dressing room and another from the stage. The other exits, on the side of the building, meet at the top of another fire escape, while there are also two other single exits on the same side of the building.

"We do not know who the person is who called 'fire' in the theater last night," said Chief of Police Samuel Swan. "We heard it was a young foreign boy in the gallery and that he did it in a joking spirit, but we cannot verify this. We do not know if the person who started the panic is dead or alive. From the different reports I have received, the shout must have come from the gallery. I was on the scene within three minutes of when the panic broke out. By the time I reached the entrance of the theater there was a mass of bodies 10 feet high. It was fully an hour and a half before we could get the passageway cleared."

W. A. McBurney, a Civil War veteran, who was assisting in removing some of the victims during the panic, said: "I went through some of the bloody battles of the war, but they were nothing as compared with the conditions here last night. I hope I will never again have to witness such a sight as long as I live."

"There is no building inspection ordinance and no building inspector here," explained Burgess W. H. Dunlap Sr., "and the only investigation of the disaster that will be made are those of the coroner and the state factory inspectors." Tonight he said: "This is an awful thing. For years people have been saying that something would happen at the opera house, but I do not really believe that they ever thought their predictions would come true."

"God knows that I felt sure that the place was safe. Would I have brought my wife and three children in if I ever for a moment thought there was any danger?" said C. F. Ferguson, the proprietor of the theater. "That person who shouted 'Fire!' is the murderer of the many who lost their lives. If the people had only heeded my warning all would have been saved."