"When the fire started I went right to the first exit and out on the fire escape platform. When I got to the door there were flames and a great deal of smoke coming out from a window that was near there, and we couldn't go out at that time, so we waited for a few seconds, and the fire died down. Then we went down the fire escape to the alley.
"Many other people escaped by the same means before us—at least I should judge there was, because we saw a number of hats and furs and things of that sort on the steps. There wasn't anybody coming down in back or in front of us while we were going down."
GAS EXPLOSION HOURS BEFORE THE FIRE.
That the explosion of a gas tank came near destroying the Iroquois theater a few hours previous to the performance on the opening night, about a month before, was testified to by John Bickles, 6711 Rhodes avenue. According to Bickles, a gas tank under the stage exploded with such force that flames shot over an eight-foot partition. It was only after a hard fight on the part of employes of the theater and the fact that there was little inflammable material near the fire that the flames were subdued. Bickles stated that he did not know what sort of a gas tank exploded, as he did not inquire of the other employees. At the time he was standing in a room opposite the one in which the gas tank exploded.
"The flames leaped over an eight-foot partition, but did not burn me," said Bickles. "I went on to the stage soon after the explosion and the next day was discharged by the George A. Fuller company, builders of the theater, by whom I was employed as a carpenter. There was no work was the reason. There were a number of actresses and sewing women in the theater at the time of the explosion. The first performance was to be given that evening and everybody was making ready. I was the person who fixed the wall plates for the skylights, but I never saw them after they were finished."
From Bickles' testimony it seemed the George A. Fuller company had kept a number of its men in the theater after it was occupied by the Iroquois Theater company. They were completing unfinished details. The fact of the fire, he said, was hushed up.
PANIC AMONG THEATER EMPLOYEES.
Gilbert McLean, a scene shifter, at work on the stage when the fire started, told of the failure of the fire extinguisher to put out the blaze, and declared that the failure of the fire curtain to drop was due to a misunderstanding among the men in the flies who were supposed to operate it. Then men appeared not to know what was wanted and lost priceless time hesitating. McLean's story would indicate that the stage employees ran away long before the audience knew that there was danger. Speaking of the efforts of the stage fireman to put out the blaze soon after it started in the grand drapery, McLean said:
"If the extinguisher had been effective he could not have reached the fire at that time, though the part he did reach did not seem to be affected at all. Then there was a commotion, everybody was running back and forth, and I yelled as loud as I could to send the curtain. I saw the men did not understand the signal; they were signaling from the first entrance then by a bell. I could hear the bell ringing and I could see the fly men, as they called them, and saw they didn't understand. I yelled as loud as I could and they did not seem to understand me or to know why the curtain should be sent at that time, as it was not the regular time for the curtain.