Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 November 1893 — BOMBS IN A THEATER. [ARTICLE]

BOMBS IN A THEATER.

DASTARDLY ANARCHIST OUTRAGE AT BARCELONA. Infernal Machines Thrown from the Gallery Into the Midst of the Large and . Fashionable Audience Fifteen Persons Killed—Wild Struggle to Escape. Deed of a Dastard. A dynamite bomb thrown by alleged anarchists into the midst of a crowded theater is the latest outrage and disaster to be recorded in Spain. The Liceo Theater, cn the Eambla de Capuchines, the Italian opera house, in Barcelona, was filled the other night with an audience estimated to have numbered about 4,000 people. The opera “William Tell” was being performed for the first time after a long interval. While the performance was proceeding two dynamite bombs were suddenly hurled from the topmost gallery into the midit of the stalls on the floor of the house. One of the bembs exploded with a terrible report, which shook the theater to its foundations and scattering death and destruction upon all sides. The second bomb, happily, did not explode, having fallen in the lap of a lady. For a moment the Liceo was filled with smoke and dust, falling glass, and plaster, which caused a horrible rattling din, which increased the feeling of terror and wild panic which animated the vast audience. The terrified crowd, fearing that at any moment another bomb might be thrown into their midst* completely lost all sense of control; all regard for women and children seemed to vanish, and there was a mad rush for the doors. Men and women fought with each other as they crushed weaker ones beneath their feet in the effort to escape from the dynamite shaken theater, leaving the wounded and dying behind them, tended < nly by a few of the braver heads, who remained faithful to their dear ones. In this mad rush many old people and children were severely injured through being trampled under foot, while others were severely bruised and crushed by the crowd. Tho stalls presented a terrible sight; the part where tho bomb exploded was a mass of splintered wreckage.

Fifteen Dead Bodies Found. When the wreckage was in some degree cleared away there were found fifteen dead bodies, of which six were those cf men and nine the corpses of women. The bodies of the unfortunate ladies lay close together, their brightcolored evening dresses, laces and jewelry, gloves, hats and other finery drenched with blood and torn in the the most fearful manner. It is reported, soon after the examination of the dead, that a largo proportion of the killed belonged to one family who had taken a number of tickets, it is presumed forming a theaterparty in henor of the birthday of one of those lying there shattered to death by the anarchist's bomb. The stairs and corridors were next searched for dead and wounded people who fell victims to that terrible rush for the doors which followed the explosion. Upon the stairs and in.the corridors three persons were found dead and a large number of seriously injured people were picked up. Throughout the night the theater was surrounded by a crowd of people who were with difficulty kept back by a strong body of police. Immediately after the explosion all the houses inhabited by suspected anarchists were searched and several arrests made. Gen. Campos, soon as he was informed of the outrage, immediately wired to Madrid, and government messages monopolized the wires for the remainder of the night. Among the dead is an American named Figueras.