Various Reports of Who Started The Panic
The Washington Post -- August 27, 1911 BOYS CAUSED PANIC
Police today declared that they had sufficient evidence to convince them that the cry of “Fire!” which caused the panic, was emitted by two boys in the gallery, and that they would likely be taken into custody before tomorrow
The New York Times -- August 27, 1911 25 DIE, 50 HURT IN THEATRE RUSH
The man who raised the cry of fire has not been identified. It is thought that the cry was probably given by a drunken man, as some of the miners who come to town on Saturday evening imbibe freely. To the drunken panic of others of the same sort is attributed to the mad trampling of women and children in the scramble to get down the narrow stairway.
The Pittsburgh Sun -- August 28, 1911 MANAGEMENT IS ABSOLVED FROM BLAME
An Italian boy, who needlessly cried “Fire,” a man whose foot unfortunately slipped at the entrance to the Morgan Opera House Saturday night, were the cause blamed by Deputy Inspector Patterson at the conclusion of his inquiry into the disaster held this morning.
Mr. Patterson agreed with Mr. Ferguson that the flash of light caused by the changing of the films was no cause for alarm. Ferguson stated that he had offered $500 reward for the arrest of the person who had started the trouble and that he had been informed by a man sitting in the gallery that two Italian boys sitting next to him had yelled. He claims that a crowd rushing in from the street blockaded the stairway after the excitement started.
Pittsburg Gazette Times -- August 27, 1911 SHOUT OF "FIRE" IN JOKING SPIRIT
"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.
Pittsburgh Gazette Times -- August 27, 1911 TWENTY-EIGHT PERSONS DEAD IN CANONSBURG THEATER 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.
William Scott of Houston testified to being in the Opera Hous3e when the last two acts of the first show were on. A crowd was entering and one was leaving. Witness said her leaned on booth in balcony; saw a little flash, and some ###, possibly a colored man behind him, shouted “fire’” and the crowd began to rush out, many people crying fire.