The Canonsburg Theater Disaster
It was a fearful calamity that occurred at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, August 26. A moving picture film exploded, a little fire flashed up, one terror-stricken man shrieked "Fire!" and the whole mass in the theater rushed pell-mell for the doors. The fire was put out; but the people, in endeavoring to reach the open air, became congested on the stairs, and the strong trampled down the weak. Twenty-six lives were lost, and sixty injured. Fully one half of the dead are children. The story is told of one young man who secured his marriage license on the way to the show, who sought to defend his soon-to-be bride and two little children, but was deliberately killed, and the rest trampled to death. The bravery of strong men seems to have been conspicuous by its absence.