"I first saw just a little bit of flame, which was on the right hand side of the first entrance on the west, the first drop of the curtain. It was just above the lamp that was reflecting on the moonlight girls. It was a calcium light. I went back and got in my place with the pale moonlight girls and the boys came out and sang their lines. Then we eight girls went on the stage—as we always did—went down to the front of the stage—and going down stage I saw the flame getting larger. Mr. Plunkett, the assistant stage manager, was in the entrance, ringing for the asbestos curtain to come down. He rang the bell until we reached the front of the stage, where we went on singing. We sang one verse of 'The Pale Moonlight' song, and then Mr. Foy came out and spoke to the audience. What he said I don't know, and then Miss Williams fainted. She was one of the 'pale moonlight' girls, and stood alongside of me. She was taken out, and then Miss Lawrence and myself were the last girls to leave the stage. I went downstairs to notify the girls down in the basement in the dressing rooms. I called to them that there was a fire, and advised them to run for their lives. Nobody was coming up then. Then I went out of the regular stage door entrance."
Ethel Wynne, New York City:
"When I was about to make my exit I noticed a very small flame to the right of the stage at the first entrance. It was really above the short fellow—a little gentleman, rather—who stands on the bridge. This flame was above his head. When he noticed it he put both hands up to get the burning material—just grabbed up to get the material that was burning. But the flame was away beyond his reach.
"The calcium light is below that, and it appeared to me as though it was the side of the curtain where the curtains are drawn up, or something. The flames spread very rapidly. I remember seeing Mr. Plunkett very plainly in the first entrance and hearing bells ringing for the curtain to fall. I said to Miss Dupont and Miss Williams, 'The curtain will fall in the meantime, the bells have rung.' We went to the back to make our entrance and the bell still continued to ring. I remember very plainly that I heard some one yell, 'Drop the curtain.'
"I noticed clearly that the curtain was caught, and it must have been on our left. It came down on the right hand side. The flames were going up very rapidly. I very foolishly lost my reason and walked back to the back steps, where I had made my entrance. From there I unfortunately had to watch the awful sights that we know of. I don't know to this hour how I got out of the burning theater."
Gertrude Lawrence, 5 West 125th street, New York:
"I was the leader of the octet, and I was on the platform going to meet my partner when I first saw the flame. I went on working as usual, down to the front, and paid no more attention to it because I thought it would soon be out. It was on the right hand side of the stage, above the stage. I noticed there was quite an excitement on the other side, but I went on working. I thought if there was an awful fire there would be a panic, and I thought by working I would quiet the people. Then I turned and saw the flames and went up the steps, there looking back and seeing the audience in the awful panic. Then I went out the usual stage door."
Daisy Beaute, 178 West 94th street, New York:
"I was standing in the third wing ready to go on, and I saw a flame on the left hand side, facing the audience, from the draperies above the first entrance on my right hand side. It was in the draperies clear at the top of the arch in the stage opening. We kept on dancing, but Miss Williams fainted. I ran for my life without waiting to see anything more."
Miss Edith Williams, the member of the octet who fainted on the stage, swooned again soon after she took the witness stand. Deputy Coroner Buckley had just administered the oath and asked the young woman to be seated, when she fell backwards. The fall was broken by a stenographer, and the woman saved from serious injury. She was assisted to the witness room and revived. Another witness was called.