1911 — Aug 26, fire scare, trampling and suffocation, Opera House, Canonsburg, PA —  26

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 1-23-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–26  Chicago Daily News Almanac/Yearbook…1912.  “Theater Panic at Canonsburg, PA.” p. 252.

–26  Industrial Commission of WI. “Why the State Regulates Buildings,” Safety Engineering, 1914, 284.

–22  National Fire Protection Assoc. “Loss of Life in Theatre Fires.” Quarterly, 24/1, July, 1930, 76.

–26  Syracuse Herald  (NY). “26 Are Killed In Fire Panic…Theater,” Aug 27, 1911, p.1.

–26  Wickware, Francis G. (Ed.). The American Yearbook 1911, V. 2, p. 838.

Narrative Information

Chicago Daily News Almanac/Yearbook…1912: “Theater Panic at Canonsburg, PA. While a picture show was in progress in the Canonsburg (Pa.) opera house on the evening of Aug. 26, 1911, a cry of fire was raised when the picture machine clicked and caused a bright flash to be thrown on the screen. This led to a panic and the spectators rushed to the narrow exit. One of the men in the crowd tripped and fell on the stairs. Others were pushed over him and in a moment the stairway was filled with a mass of struggling men and women, of whom twenty-six were killed and nearly sixty injured. There was no fire and the disaster was really inexcusable.”  (Chicago Daily News Almanac and Yearbook for 1912 (Vol. 28).  “Theater Panic at Canonsburg, PA.” p. 252.)

Safety Engineering, 1914: “Panic at Canonsburg, Pa. Moving picture theater on second story.  A slight defect in the machine caused false alarm of fire.  People were jammed in narrow stairway; 26 dead, 25 seriously injured.”  (ICW. “Why the State Regulates Buildings,” Safety Engineering, 1914, 284.)

Newspaper

Aug 26: “Canonsburg, Pa., Aug. 26…Twenty-six persons were killed and more than sixty injured to-night when a moving picture film exploded in the Canonsburg opera house.  Immediately following the flash of the film, some persons shouted ‘Fire’. There was a rush for the exit and in a moment there was a writhing, screaming mass of humanity, ten feet high, in the narrow stairway leading to the entrance of the theater.

Panic Inexcusable.

”The panic, it is said, was inexcusable. Most of the dead were smothered.  A majority of the audience was composed of women and children. In the fierce rush for the exit they were thrown from their feet and trampled. Others were thrown upon them and those at the bottom of the human pile were stifled and crushed to death.

Sight Staggers Firemen.

“When two volunteer fire departments reached the theater the sight staggered them. Those of the audience who had escaped from the building and other spectators drawn to the scene were rushing about the front of the building.  No person, it seemed, was making any effort to aid the struggling mass within the theater. The firemen pushed into the building and practically threw the struggling inmates into the street.

Dead at Bottom of Pile.

“As they regained their feet they ran shrieking in terror about the streets. As the firemen neared the bottom of the pile they began to bring out the forms of the injured and later came to the dead.
The dead were laid in a row along the sidewalk. Relatives fought and struggled to break past the guards and reach the victims….

Town Terror-Stricken

”Within a few moments after the film flashed and the panic started, the fire whistles were blown, practically the entire population of the town responded and packed in narrow Pike street, from which the fatal theater lane leads. All of them were apparently terror-stricken and could give little aid. The only cool persons were the firemen and the several members of the police force. This town is about twenty miles from Pittsburgh.

”John McCullough, operator of the moving picture machine, had just thrown the subject of the next series of pictures on the screen when the film exploded and the asbestos cabinet was filled with flames. For several moments the audience numbering upwards of 1,500, was totally unaware of the accident and the operator heroically fought down the flames and succeeded in extinguishing them. Then, his hands burned… and almost suffocated, he opened the door of the little box and staggered out. With the opening of the door a cloud of smoke burst into the auditorium.”  (Syracuse Herald. “26 Are Killed In Fire Panic…Theater,” Aug 27, 1911, p.1)

Sources

Chicago Daily News Almanac and Yearbook for 1912 (Vol. 28). “Theater Panic at Canonsburg, PA.” Chicago:  Chicago Daily News Company, p. 252.  Google digitized. Accessed 1-23-2025 at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=Q24aAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Industrial Commission of  Wisconsin. “Why the State Regulates Buildings,” Safety Engineering, Vol. 28, No’s 1-6, July-December, 1914, p. 283. Accessed 9-22-2017 at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=a9YMAAAAYAAJ&dq=editions:LCCNsc80000582&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s

National Fire Protection Association. “Loss of Life in Theatre Fires.” Quarterly, Vol. 24, No. 1, July, 1930, p. 76.

Safety Engineering. Vol. 28, No’s 1-6, July-December, 1914.  NY: Safety Press, Inc., 1914.  At:  http://books.google.com/books?id=a9YMAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:LCCNsc80000582&lr

Syracuse Herald, NY. “26 Are Killed In Fire Panic At Moving Picture Theater,” 8-27-1911, p.1.  At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=21543331

Wickware, Francis G. (Ed.). “Chronology and Necrology.” The American Yearbook 1911, V. 2, p.  692. New York and London: D. Appleton and Company, 1912. Digitized by Google. Accessed 1-23-2025 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=qZMLAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false