From two women who sat within a few feet of the stage when the fire broke out in the theater, and who remained calm enough to observe the actual beginning of the holocaust, there came one of the most thrilling and significant stories of that afternoon of panic.
Mrs. Emma Schweitzler and Mrs. Eva Katherine Clapp Gibson, of Chicago, were the two women who told this story. They occupied seats in the fifth row of the orchestra circle. Mrs. Schweitzler was the last woman to walk out unassisted from the first floor. Mrs. Gibson was carried out badly burned.
"The curtain that was run down," said Mrs. Schweitzler, "was the regular drop curtain painted with the 'autumn scene,' It was the same curtain that was lowered before the show started and the same one used during the interval following the first act. No other curtain was lowered.
"As soon as the drop curtain came down it caught fire. A hole appeared at the left hand side. Then the blaze spread rapidly, and instantly a great blast of hot air came from the stage through the hole in the curtain and into the audience. Big pieces of the curtain were loosened by the terrific rush of air and were blown into the people's faces. Scores of women and children must have been burned to death by these fragments of burning grease and paint. I was in the theater until the curtain had entirely burned. It went up in the flames as if it had been paper, and did more damage than good."
"So far as could be observed from the audience, the asbestos curtain was not lowered at all," said Mrs. Schweitzler. "I was particularly interested in that 'autumn-scene' curtain because I paint oil pictures myself.
"Before the show started I sat for a long time examining the painting. From our seats in the fifth row we could see every detail. The 'autumn scene' was done in heavy red and in order to get some of the effects the artist had to use great daubs of paint, smearing it on pretty thick in some places. I am certain that the backing was common canvas and if this was so it must have been covered with wax before the paint was put on. This same curtain came down after the first act, so I had plenty of time to know it.
"When the fire started my first feeling was that the stage people were acting recklessly. For several minutes the fire was no bigger than a handkerchief. A bucket of water would have saved the lives of every one. But there seemed to be no water on the stage.
"One of the stage hands first took his hand and then used a piece of plank to smother the flames. It kept spreading. After Eddie Foy had made his speech the 'autumn scene' curtain came down. 'Pull down the curtain,' was all the cry I heard. They did not say 'Pull down the asbestos curtain,' nor was there any mention of any fireproof curtain. The 'autumn scene,' with its highly inflammable paint, came down, and it was like pouring fire into the people's faces. It was a great piece of bungling—far worse than if no curtain had been lowered at all.
"It has been said that noise and panic-like screaming followed the burning of the curtain. This is absolutely not true. The whole place was almost gruesomely silent.
"Mrs. Gibson and I were half way in from the aisle and had to wait for many to go out before we started. At the aisle some one stepped on Mrs. Gibson's dress and she fell to the floor. Men, women and children trampled over her, and having done all I could I started out. In the lobby I begged some men to return for Mrs. Gibson, but they said it was no use. The curtain by that time was burned up."