S. A. Lane Fought His Way Back into Room, After Being Trampled Down
PEOPLE JUMP FROM GALLERY
Samuel A. Lane, whose two grandchildren perished in the fatal crush on the stairway, was in the Opera House when the panic started, and at one time was pushed down on the floor, but succeeded in getting his feet again. He was with his two daughters, Edith Marion and Olive, and he probably saved them from death or serious injury.
Mr. Lane tells a thrilling story of that awful mass of humanity in the hallway, where men and women struggled for their lives, and where children as well as adults were trampled down by those who fought frantically to secure a pathway over crushed and bruised humanity to find a way to safety.
Mr. Lane said:
"I accompanied my daughters to the Opera House. At the end of the first play I left them in their seats in order that I might go out and do some shopping. I told the girls to sit still until the crowd had got past, rather than try to force their way through the thronged aisles. I thought this best because Edith has a weak heart and I did not want her to be pushed about.
"I had reached a point partly under the balcony when the panic broke loose. And I want to say that I do not believe that there would have been a panic at all had not people in the balcony began jumping to the floor in the main room. They jumped in the aisles and they jumped on people pushing their way to the rear of the room. This made thing still worse. The people were pouring into the aisles and everybody was frantic to get out. I was carried along with the crowd. From the rear of the room down to the ticket office my feet didn't touch the floor. There were people piled in one awful mass.
"After I had reached the landing near the ticket office I found people were jumping from the stairway leading from the balcony. Here I succeeded in getting a little out of the worst of the jam, but I had time to glance down the stairway leading toward the street. It was awful. Clothing was torn off people; hats were falling all around, and pocketbooks were dropping. I never saw anything like it.
"I succeeded in getting back into the hall, and after a time I found my daughters, and at last got them into Mr. McBurney's office, which is on the same floor as the hall. Here the injured were being brought, and here people were in a dying condition.
"In the hall I saw a little girl trampled down. Whatever became of her I do not know. Later I saw the effects of the dreadful crush. Shoes lay upon the floor; there were stairs of human blood, and stockings, hats, caps, pocketbooks and watches."
Mr. Lane was not with his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Wilmer Lane who was badly injured and whose two children were killed.