Pittsburgh Gazette Times -- August 27, 1911 TWENTY-EIGHT PERSONS DEAD IN CANONSBURG THEATER PANIC

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As the struggling ceased it became easy to enter the auditorium. But in the excitement over the accident it was found that many of the injured ones had been hurried to their homes. Physicians were called for those carried out. Three were taken to the Canonsburg Hospital at the outset and then the bodies of the dead began to come out. Finally these were cleared and the rescuers began looking for more of those who were hurt.

Taken from Fire Escape.

Many of the ### injured people had been lifted from the escapes and hurried to their homes where physicians were called to attend them. Others were unable to move and had to be carried out. In the excitement no record was kept of them, and physicians were obliged to fly from one house to the other as they were called.

C. L. McCorckle, a druggist of Pike street, who was in the theater at the time the explosion occurred said:

"I saw the people in the audience rise to its feet and being near the door I made a rush for the entrance. I met others trying to get in the place as we went out and I saw the rush was inevitable. I didn't know who started the shouting, except it came from the top gallery."

"It was almost impossible for the crowd to go trough the passageway from the galleries to the stairway as fast as they came. The stairs are not narrow, but they are not well arranged for hurried exits and the jam followed. The children appeared to be the worst sufferers as they were unable to care for themselves and the older people were too excited to think of them. I counted seven dead in the entrance as I got away from the building."

From others at the theater when the fire and explosion started, it was learned that few of the audience noticed the explosion until some one in the gallery started the cry of fire. It was as if a match had been touched to a keg of dynamite, for the general rush of the entire audience for the main exits was terrific.

The alarm of fire soon brought the firemen to the scene and they raised ladders to the fire escapes and helped many from them, but the rush was too great for the firemen to contend with.

Walk Over Prostrate Forms.

The rush of those in the gallery to the narrow stairway was scarcely begun when some one tripped and fell. Others followed and then in a few moments the enclosed stairway was packed with prostrate persons while those coming behind them climbed over the mass of humanity and reached safety, literally walking on the fallen men, women and children.

The dead were found mainly in the narrow exit. Of the injured taken to the hospital, five were reported seriously hurt and it was stated at a late hour that one had died. One authority declared that 22 bodies had been taken from the theater and were in the morgue. How many more were taken to their homes or were being cared for near there in improvised morgues was not then known.

Practically the entire population of Canonsburg gathered in the street surrounding the theater in a few moments and seemed terror-stricken and madly desirous of doing something, but unable to act. Nearly all those killed or injured were residents of Canonsburg, and this brought the terrible affair home to the townspeople.

In addition to the moving picture entertainment tonight, the theater was giving a short vaudeville bill with professional entertainers. The actors and actresses were in the rear of the stage and were practically unaware of anything wrong until the rush began and the screams were heard. They made for the fire escapes that led from the dressing rooms and escaped unhurt.

Operator Lost Sight Of.

No account was given of the fate of the moving picture operator. It appears that the explosion at the moment he had put on the second of the two pictures. It hard not even started when the flash came. When the cry of fire started at the top gallery, few on the first gallery or main floor paid any attention, but when the rush of feet was heard and the cries from those falling down the long stairway became pronounced, the coolness of the remainder of the people in the audience deserted them and they abandoned themselves to the wild rush for exits.

There was practically no damage to the building. The picture machine and films were all that were lost, so far as property is concerned. The loss of life is the most severe that had ever occurred in Canonsburg in all of its long history.

Heroic Piano Player

Persons who were in the nickelodeon and made their way out safely recalled later that the greatest heroism had been shown by Miss Mary Craig, the piano player. When the first cries of fire struck terror through the audience and numerous persons started to make their way out, Miss Craig stepped on the piano stool and begged everyone to keep their seats.

"There is no fire, I tell you," she cried beseechingly, "absolutely none. I can see from here and it’s only a broken film. You don't think I'd stay if there were any danger, do you?"

then the picture was thrown on the canvas again, but an instant later came more cries of fire. This time there was a rush. Everyone had risen from their seats and they were fighting their way toward the door.

Miss Craig saw she had one chance, a single one, to calm the frenzied audience and avert a panic. Though she is only about eighteen years old, and a resident of Pittsburgh by the way, she calmly sat down before the piano and started a lively air that was heard even in the street. In the confusion the music was drowned out. Still the girl pounded the keys, keeping on the loud pedal. Gradually it was having an effect. At least several hundred persons who had not managed to get out saw the girl's heroic activities and calmed somewhat. Still they refused to stay in and guided by Miss Craig hurried over fire escapes out of rear windows.

Boys Start the Panic.

It is believed now that the cries of fire came from Paul Mastick and Frank Byereski, two boys who were in the gallery and who later were found among the other dead at the bottom of the stairway. Several person who were in the gallery partly identified in the two dead boys the ones who had uttered the cries.

John McCullough, the film operator, said tonight that there was absolutely no fire in his booth. A film broke, that was all, and an instant later he had the film on the reel and running again.

Babe Tossed to Safety.

J. W. Reese of Central avenue was standing at the corner of Central and Pike streets opposite the opera house in the crowd that gathered when news of the disaster spread. Before he could lower the ladder attached to the fire escape he saw a woman carrying an infant in her arms climb through a window on the Central street side of the theater on the fire escape. The frantic crowd in the theater, finding a new means of escape other than the main stairway, was surging at her back to find a way to safety. Others had crowded on to the fire escapes, but she pushed through to the rail, hesitated a moment, and, realizing both she and her baby probably would be crushed to death, she tossed the baby to the street, 50 feet below. The child was caught in its descent by Reese and, uninjured, it was carried by him to a nearby fruit stand to be cared for.

Reese then lowered a ladder, part of the fire escape, that led from the platform of the escape on the second floor to the street, enabling those seeking safety by the fire escape to descend to the street without jumping.

Child Smothered by Mother.

In lowering the ladder, Reese lost sight of the mother who had taken a gambling chance and had thrown her baby to the crowd below, and her fate is not known.

When rescuers, removing the bodies of victims of the panic, came to the body of Mrs. Harry Kelly, they found she was dead. Her life had been crushed as hundreds massed into the narrow stairway. Clasped tightly to her breast was the woman's five-year-old son, Carl. There was not a bruise or a scratch on the child, and he had been smothered as the mother held him tight to her, to keep him safe.

Cool Head Saves Lives.

When the panic started C. F. Ferguson, owner of the building, was on the main floor, near the front, with his wife and two children. Seeing there was no fire, and the great danger if they left their seats, Ferguson stayed with his wife for a short time, instructed her and the children to keep their seats, they did so, even after Ferguson left the building, by means of a fire escape, to direct the work of holding back the crowd. Later, after the building had been emptied, Ferguson returned to the auditorium where his wife and children still sat, uninjured.

Heroic Athlete Killed.

Arthur McTeake, 22 years old, of East College avenue, Canonsburg, was passing the theater when he heard the first shrieks of the panic-stricken crowd. Rushing into the theater he dragged a number of women and children to the street below, and then he returned to the building to continue his rescue work. McTeak, who was well-known ###