Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 74, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 February 1909 — 300 PERISH BY FLAMES IN THEATER [ARTICLE]

300 PERISH BY FLAMES IN THEATER

Disaster In a Mexican Playhouse. AMERICANS LOSE LIVES Started When Film of Picture Machine Catches Fire. MANY ARE CRUSHED IN PANIC Performance Given In Honor of Governor of Guerrero.

Mexico City, Feb. 16.—Three hundred persons were burned -to death when the Teatro Flores of the city of Acapulco was destroyed, several Americans being among the victims. The telegraph office was burned and there was much confusion. For these reasons the news of the disaster was kept from getting out of the city until early this morning. The Flores Theater was a wooden structure and over one thousand crowded into it to witness a special performance given in honor of Governor Damian Flores of the State of Guerrero. One of the numbers of the program consisted of a series of moving pictures. While the operator was exhibiting these, a film caught fire and a blaze was quickly communicated to some bunting which had been used for decorative purposes. Only Three Narrow Exits.

In an incredibly short time the flames spread to all parts of the structure. There were but three narrow exits and the panic-stricken audience rushed to them, many persons falling to be crushed to death, their bodies choking the way to escape for others. The screams of those Imprisoned were terrifying. Owing to the rapidity with which the Are spread and its intense heat it was impossible to attempt rescue work and those imprisoned were literally roasted alive, as the fire burnei.with little smoke and few were suffochted. The efforts of the fire department were confined to attempting to save the adjoining buildings arid the firemen succeeded so well that the property loss was small. The custom hopse and the postoffice were damaged slightly. Pitiful Scenes On Street. Today pitiful scenes of grief are witnessed on the streets of the city. Men, women and children are wandering from place to place hunting for relatives or friends. Many of the dead are from the first families of the\state, the affair at the theater being a social event of considerable importance and calling out the wealthiest and oldest families for miles around. In some instances whole families were wiped out of existence. The municipal authorities today caused large trenches to be dug and into these the bodies of the dead were laid. Identification of the dead has been Impossible, the bodies having been burned in most cases to a crisp. Telegrams sent to the American consul at Acapulco asking for the names of the American dead have not been answered. Acapulco, on the west coast of the State of Guerrero is one of the three important ports of the Pacific coast of Mexico. Nearly all of the steamer lines make it a port of call and the harbor is accounted the best in Mexico.