Store, Ville Platte, LA –25-28

lornajarrettblanchard November 22, 1919

–25-28 Blanchard estimate.[1]

–50 Galveston Daily News, TX. “Fifty People May Have Died in Blaze,” 11-23-1919, p.1 & 21[2]

–28 Fort Gibson New Era, OK. “28 Dead in Louisiana Fire,” 11-27-1919, p. 4, col. 6.

–28 Galveston Daily News, TX. “In Passing of Another Eventful Year…,” 1-1-1920, p. 16

–28 Galveston Daily News. “Probe of Ville Platte Fire Origin to Start at Once,” 11-25-1919.[3]

–28 St. Landry Clarion, Opelousas, LA. “Twenty Eight Die in Ville Platte…” 11-29-1919, p.1.[5]

–25 Barlay, Stephen. Fire: An International Report. 1973, p. 25.

–25 Daily Free Press, Carbondale, IL. “25 Die in Dance Hall Fire,” 11-24-1919, p. 4.

–25 Lyons, Paul Robert. Fire in America! 1976, p. 146.

–25 NFPA. “Dance Hall Holocaust at Ville Platte, La., ” Quarterly, V13/N3, Jan 1920, p. 285.

–25 National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996.

–25 National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. 1983, p. 137.

–25 New York Times. “25 Killed, 15 Hurt, in Dance Hall Fire…,” 11-24-1919, p. 15.

Fire Deaths: (10-16)

–16 St. Landry Clarion, Opelousas, LA. “Twenty Eight Die in Ville Platte…” 11-29-1919, p. 1.

–14 Fort Gibson New Era, OK. “28 Dead in Louisiana Fire,” 11-27-1919, p. 4, col. 6.

–10 New York Times. “25 Killed, 15 Hurt, in Dance Hall Fire…,” 11-24-1919, p. 15.

Trampling/Crushing/Suffocation Deaths: (12-15)

–15 New York Times. “25 Killed, 15 Hurt, in Dance Hall Fire…,” 11-24-1919, p. 15.

–14 Fort Gibson New Era, OK. “28 Dead in Louisiana Fire,” 11-27-1919, p. 4, c. 6.

–12 St. Landry Clarion, Opelousas, LA. “Twenty Eight Die in Ville Platte…” 11-29-1919, p. 1.

Narrative Information

NFPA: “Special Report compiled from data supplied by State Fire Marshall W. M. Campbell.
(Member N. F. P. A.)

“On the evening of November 22, 1919, twenty-five persons lost their lives in a fire which destroyed a two-story frame building, the upper story of which was used as a dance hall,[6] while the first floor comprised a grocery and restaurant of doubtful reputation, a clothing store and a motion picture theatre. The fire had its origin in the grocery and restaurant. It appears that the wife of the proprietor was warming some coffee at a kerosene oil stove when the tank ran dry. She instructed a boy employee to fill the tank, which he did from a can at the back of the store. When he reattached the tank to the stove, she again lighted the latter, but the burner immediately exploded, scattering burning oil over the stove and floor. She took a broom to beat the fire out, while the boy fetched a bucket of water, emptying it over the broom, which by this time was on fire. The water spread the flames, and the boy, becoming terrified, ran out of the building.

“A high school pupil who was also present testified that he pulled the stove away from the partition by which it stood. A hole about five inches in diameter had been burned in the partition wall, and several men coming out of the card room endeavored to extinguish the fire by a further use of water pails. Remembering that his mother was in the picture theatre next door, the boy went to fetch her, and found smoke already coming through the partition wall. The people in the theatre were advised to leave quietly, and all of them escaped.

“In the meantime the fire, working its way up inside the partition wall, burned through the floor of the dance hall about in the middle of the building. At once there was a rush for the only stairway, and the panic-stricken dancers found themselves jammed in the stairway and confronted by an equally panic-stricken crowd which was madly fighting its way up in an insane attempt at rescue. The result was a scene of indescribable horror; many of those who escaped were only able to get out by walking on top of those who were already jammed in the stairway. Finally the staircase collapsed under its human burden, causing the partition wall which separated it from the clothing store to give way. Those who were not already dead or badly injured were then able to reach the street through the store.

“…the building burned to the ground, the efforts of the local fire department having no effect upon the fire. Although there seems to have been considerable delay in sending in the alarm, the department was severely criticized for its slowness in getting to work. It was alleged that, even after the delay, if the department had shown a reasonable degree of efficiency, the blaze might have been controlled without loss of life.

“The facts that a dance hall should have been permitted in the upper part of a highly combustible structure, the lower story of which was occupied for mercantile purposes and the display of motion pictures, that the hall should have been left without any other means of exit than the inadequate stairway on which the “jam” occurred, and that, with such conditions obtaining, so little thought should have been given to the provision of adequate public fire protection, form a sad commentary on the indifference of the American people to the value of human life.” (NFPA. “Dance Hall Holocaust at Ville Platte, La., ” Quarterly, V13/N3, Jan 1920, p. 285.)

Contemporary Newspapers, Chronological:

Nov 23: “Ville Platte, La,, Nov. 22.—Fifty persons are believed to have perished in a fire here tonight, most of them women and children, when a building in which a dance was being held on the second floor caught fire and a frantic, panic-stricken crowd fought its way over the weaker. Nineteen are known to be dead and the search for bodies continues through the night….The number of injured is mere guesswork, as many of the people at the dance were from the country.

“A narrow stairway leading from the dance hall became a death trap when it collapsed before half of the crowd had fought their way down it, the only exit. Several of those who were cut off from escape by the stairway perished when the burning building collapsed.

“Explosion of an oil heater in Martin’s dry goods store on the first floor of the Deville building started the fire. The dancers, many of whom had come from the rural districts of Evangeline Parish, were upstairs in the building, but did not heed the alarm until the dance floor was in danger.

“Ville Platte, the parish site of Evangeline Parish, is about sixty miles west of Baton Rouge, and is on the Texas & Pacific Railroad between Eunice and Bunkie.

“From the Martin store, which was in a far part of the building from the dance hall, the flames spread rapidly to a motion picture theater, a confectionary and a restaurant.

“When the crowd at the dance realized the danger a mad rush for safety jammed the stairway, and while men, women and children screamed and fought the stairway crumpled beneath many and hurled several victims into the fire.” (Galveston Daily News, TX. “Fifty People May Have Died in Blaze,” Nov 23, 1919, p. 1.)

Nov 23: “Ville Platte, La., Nov. 23.–Several mothers sacrificed their lives to save their children in last night’s fire horror, which cost not less that twenty-five in dead and fifteen seriously injured, mostly women and girls. Survivors of the fire today described the devotion manifested by these women to their young ones as of the most inspiring sort.

“The ball given on the second floor of the Deville Building last night, had hardly begun before the frightful disaster happened. An oil stove in charge of a 12-year-old boy, who was making coffee in a rear room of the P.D. Martin grocery store, which was in the Deville Building, exploded and the flames spread quickly before the 300 people attending the ball on the second floor could begin finding their way to safety.

“The flames had risen high. A panic ensued, a majority of men, women, and children in the crowd making a concerted rush for the one exit, with the result that the stairway became virtually blocked, a barrier of struggling, terror-stricken people cutting off the ones inside.

“Shrieks and moans of the weaker ones being crushed and trodden underfoot filled the air. Fifteen of the twenty-five known dead were killed in the panic. Self-sacrificing mothers of about twenty babies had come to the ball chaperoning their daughters. Latest accounts are that every infant was saved, though several of the mothers perished. Their safety was secondary to that of their offspring. Some of them passed their babies forward with the aid of other persons in the jammed exit until the infants were out of the building. Others deliberately flung the wee ones over the heads of the human wall that cut off the means of egress.

“First reports indicated that the babies were lost, which would have placed the total lives lost at about fifty, but this was due to the great confusion that prevailed.” (New York Times. “25 Killed, 15 Hurt, in Dance Hall Fire…,” 11-24-1919, p. 15.)

Nov 24: “Pine Prairie, La., Nov. 24.—Loss of life in the dance hall fire at Ville Platte will exceed 25 persons, according to reports. Twenty-five persons were injured. All were trapped in the dance hall on the second-floor, and when they realized the danger, a mad rush for safety jammed the stairway, men, women, and children screaming and fighting as the stairway crumpled beneath them….Most of the bodies have not been removed from the ruins. It was estimated that more than 100 young people were at the dance and that less than half escaped. Among the known injured is Mayor Vigrine.” (Daily Free Press, Carbondale, IL. “25 Die in Dance Hall Fire,” 11-24-1919, p. 4.)

Nov 24: “Ville Platte, La., Nov. 24. – Duffy Martin, owner of the grocery and restaurant in which the fire started that caused the death of twenty-eight persons in a stampede from a dance hall on the second floor of the building Saturday night, could not be found today. Investigation by the state fire marshal’s office and by District Attorney R. Lee Carland of Opelousas as to whether the disaster was due to criminal negligence will be started at once, according to messages received by local authorities today.

“All day long funerals were held at the church here and the bodies carried to the rural graveyards of Evangeline Parish. Of the dead only six were men. Twenty-two were women and children, seven less than 15 years old.” (Galveston Daily News, TX. “Probe of Ville Platte Fire Origin to Start at Once,” 11-25-1919, p. 3.)

Nov 26: “Twenty persons, mostly women and girls lost their lives in a panic caused by a fire in a dance hall in Ville Platte, La. Sunday night. The stairway leading from the hall was narrow and many were crushed to death.” (Journal and Review, Aiken, SC. “Latest News,” 11-26-1919, p. 11, col. 1.)

Nov 26: “Waterville Sentinel. Were there no men at that dance at Ville Platte, La., where most of the dead are women and girls and the rescuing of the babies was done by women?” (Daily Kennebec Journal, ME. “Where Were the Men?” 11-26-1919, p. 6, col. 6.)

Nov 27: “Ville Platte, La.—Twenty-eight persons are dead, victims of fire and the trampling feet of 300 terror-stricken fellow dancers who sought in a mad rush to get out through a single small exit when they learned the building was in flames below. Fourteen were crushed to death when the narrow stairway leading from the dance hall collapsed, while a like number perished above in the flames.

“Twenty bodies of girls and young women and eight bodies of men were recovered, victims of the fire which occurred from the explosion of an oil stove while a dance was being held on the second floor of a frame building. Among the dead are members of many prominent families. Some of the corpses were charred beyond possibility of identification.

“The fire started on the ground floor and swiftly enveloped the dance hall, causing a wild panic. The only exit was a flight of narrow stairs, which became choked in an instant. Not a few of the victims were trampled to death, while others, stumbling over prostrate forms, hurled into the flames below. A large number of the dancers recognizing that they were trapped and that only death waited them on the stairway, leaped from windows, escaping with injuries more or less serious.

“Ten bodies were burned beyond recognition, and identification was possible only through remnants of clothing and jewelry.

“Several mothers who were chaperoning their daughters saved twenty babies in a nursery room of the dance hall but themselves perished according to one report. While those attending the dance were fighting in panic to reach the one exit, a narrow stairway to the side street, and relatives and friends in the street were struggling to get up the stairway to rescue members of the trapped crowd, mothers seized their babies and hurled them over the heads of the surging men, women and children into the arms of men below.

“Some persons who were snatched from the fighting heap at the foot of the stairs died in the hands of men carrying them high over the heads of the crowd in the street.” (Fort Gibson New Era, OK. “28 Dead in Louisiana Fire,” 11-27-1919, p. 4, col. 6.)

Nov 29: “Twenty eight people perished in the flames which destroyed Deville’s dance hall in Ville Platte Saturday night [Nov 22], final reports from the horror stricken town announce. Sixteen died from burns, while twelve expired as the result of injuries received when the burning stairway collapsed an from suffocation. The known dead [25] are:

Miss Anna Roberi,

Mrs. Octave Daire,

Miss Etta Daire,

Miss Ellena Guiliory,

Curley Soileau,

Mrs. Odette Soileau,

Mrs. Durand Soileau,

Miss Lizo Soileau,

Andrew Vidrine,

Miss Lil Fontenot,

Miss Armide Ortego,

Calver West,

Odette Veillion,

Jean Baptiste Demourelle [Demoureile?],

Mrs. Eusebe Manuel,

Paul Manuel,

Mrs. Theodatte Soileau,

Miss Attille, Soileau,

Miss Aza Deville,

Miss Delphine Fontenot,

Evans Soileau,

Miss Alice Vidrine,

Miss Atrice Deville,

Mrs. Moise O’Connor,

Mrs. Cyrus Foret.

“….As the fire wrought its deadly havoc, the call for help went out to nearby towns. Eunice, Bunkie and Opelousas responded. More than a hundred automobiles and trucks carrying doctors, nurses and helpers went from this city to the aid of the stricken town. Those, with the local workers, extricated the charred bodies from the ruins as soon as the fire permitted them to approach.

“Besides the twenty eight dead, fifteen were injured….Thus far there have been no fatalities among the injured.

“Suffocation caused the death of several of the twenty eight, as their bodies, when taken from the mass of ruins, gave no indication of having been burned or showed no signs of injury….” (St. Landry Clarion, Opelousas, LA. “Twenty Eight Die in Ville Platte Flames…” 11-29-1919, p. 1.)

Sources

Barlay, Stephen. Fire: An International Report. Brattleboro, VT: Stephen Greene Press, 1973.

Daily Free Press, Carbondale, IL. “25 Die in Dance Hall Fire,” 11-24-1919, p. 4, col. 2. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=97106816

Fort Gibson New Era, OK. “28 Dead in Louisiana Fire-” 11-27-1919, p. 4, col. 6. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=158249329

Galveston Daily News, TX. “Fifty People May Have Died in Blaze,” 11-23-1919, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=46220408

Galveston Daily News, TX. “In Passing of Another Eventful Year, Its History,” 1-1-1920, 16. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=42334478

Galveston Daily News, TX. “Probe of Ville Platte Fire Origin to Start at Once,” 11-25-1919, p. 3, col. 6. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=42334245

Journal and Review, Aiken, SC. “Latest News” [Ville Platte, LA Dance Hall explosion and fire], 11-26-1919, p. 11, col. 1. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=113140306

Lyons, Paul Robert. Fire in America! Boston: National Fire Protection Association, 1976.

National Fire Protection Association. “Dance Hall Holocaust at Ville Platte, La., November 22, 1919.” Quarterly of the NFPA, V13/N3, Jan 1920, pp. 285-287. Digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=-Q8bAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996. Accessed 2010 at: http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=1352&itemID=30955&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fire%20statistics/Key%20dates%20in%20fire%20history&cookie%5Ftest=1

National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. Quincy, MA: NFPA, 1983.

New York Times. “25 Killed, 15 Hurt, in Dance Hall Fire…,” [Ville Platte, LA]. 11-24-1919, 15. At: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10E1FF93B55157A93C6AB178AD95F4D8185F9

St. Landry Clarion, Opelousas, LA. “Twenty Eight Die in Ville Platte Flames Saturday.” 11-29-1919, p. 1. Accessed 9-26-2017 at: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88064250/1919-11-29/ed-1/seq-1.pdf

[1] Later newspaper reports (later than the day after) clearly identify the gender of 28 fatalities. Out of conservatism, and because we have seen the names of just 25 fatalities, we include the estimate of 25 used by NFPA and others, though it appears that there were 28 deaths.

[2] Not used as high estimate. As NYT report notes, this estimate was based on first reports which included the deaths of babies, later reported to have survived.

[3] “Of the dead only six were men. Twenty-two were women and children, seven less than 15 years old.”

[4] Cites” “Newspaper reports of dancehall fire killing 28.” For the newspaper reports cites: Chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.

[5] Within the article the names of twenty-five “known dead” are listed.