1895 — Dec 27, Fire Panic, Trampling, Front Street Theatre, Baltimore, MD              —     23

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 1-22-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–27  Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac 1905. “Great Fires, 1904. Other Notable Fires,” XX, p. 477. 

–27  The World (New York). “Was It Not A Crime?”  December 29, 1895, p. 16.

–24  Frederick News (MD). “Trampled To Death,” Dec 28, 1895, p. 1.

–24  Washington Post. “24 Deaths in a Panic.” 12-31-1895, p. 12 (cited in Larson. “Shouting Fire.”)

–23  Baltimore Sun. “Audience Blamed…Coroner’s Jury…Front Street Theatre…” 12-30-1895, 10.

–23  Baltimore Sun. “No Performance at Front St. Theatre.” 1-2-1896, p. 8.

–23  Baltimore Sun. “Previous Local Disasters…Old Front Street 23 Died.” 4-28-1907, p. 8, c.2.

–23  Chertkoff and Kushigian. Don’t Panic: The Psychology of Emergency Egress, 1999, p. 1.

            –14 were children

–23  New York Times. “Cry of Fire in a Theatre…” 12-28-1895, p. 1., col. 1.

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

–22  The World (New York). “Death In A Panic.” Dec 28, 1895, p. 1.

Blanchard note: We show 23 deaths despite reporting of 22, 24 and 27 deaths by sources noted above in that our search of Baltimore Sun articles through January 31, 1896 showed 23 deaths, as did a April 28, 1907 Baltimore Sun article.

Narrative Information

Chertkoff and Kushigian: “On Friday, December 27, 1895, the United Oriental and Dramatic Company of Boston was to perform the opera Alexander, in Yiddish, at the Front Street Theatre in Baltimore, Maryland. A capacity crowd of about 2,700 people had come to see Alexander. Most of the audience were Jewish immigrants, mainly from Poland and Russia, and their families.

“The Front Street Theatre was a large, old building. The main entrances, four in number, were on Front Street.  Each entrance had two sliding doors. Inside the lobby, to the left and right, were two staircases ascending to the first and second galleries. The stairways to the first gallery were about 10 to 12 feet wide, and the stairways to the second gallery were about 5 to 6 feet wide. Each staircase had one sharp turn. The inner doors to the auditorium were swinging doors that opened both ways.

“The theater was lighted by gas, and there had been recent problems with leaking gas. When the opera Alexander was performed there on Christmas night, the first of two performances, some people became ill from inhaling gas, one person even lost consciousness. During a rehearsal on December 26, the smell of gas was again quite pronounced. The problem was brought to the attention of A. S. Miles, a director and treasurer of the company owning the theater. He had his nephew, William Miles, handle the problem. Although the nephew allegedly had some knowledge of pipe fitting, he was not a plumber. William worked on the gas pipes, mending some leaks and installing some new brackets.

“On the night of December 27, 1895, the smell of gas was apparent to many in the theater long before the 8:00 P.M. curtain time. Employees tried to find the source of the leak, but without immediate success. They continued to look.

“At 8:00 P.M., the lights were dimmed, and the orchestra began the overture. As the overture was coming to an end, a stagehand named Will, carrying a lighted candle in order to see in the dimmed theater, was searching for the leak in the first gallery. When the candle came close to the source of the gas leak, either a cracked pipe or a loose connection, a highly visible jet of flame appeared.  The flame, fed by the gas, continued to burn. A number of people cried, ‘Fire!’

“When the overture was completed, stage carpenter Matthew Cavanaugh received the signal to raise the curtain. As he was doing to, he heard a commotion in the audience. According to Cavanaugh:

At first I thought it was caused by a fight, but when the curtain got half way up I saw the little flame in the gallery. It was not more than a foot long and couldn’t have done any harm, as it was against a brick wall. Young Miles and I ran to the cellar and turned off the meter leading to the leak. This put out the flame. There was no cause for alarm, but the cry of fire seemed to come from all parts of the house. (Those leaking pipes, 1895, p. 10)

“Matthew Cavanaugh and William Miles, the person who had tried to fix the leaks previously, turned off the gas to the main part of the house. Suddenly, there was darkness. The darkness was not quite total, however, because lights on the wall in the upper part of the house were controlled by a different meter. Miles then turned off the gas to the footlights and the circle. The meter that controlled the gas to the lights in front of the building and the corridors was in a different part of the cellar. Someone else turned off that meter.

Many rushed for the exits. Those who originally hesitated soon joined the surging crowd. The actors on stage shouted to the crowd in Yiddish and in English that there was no danger, but few paid attention to them.

“The one special policeman in the building, Simon Otto, was standing in the orchestra section at the rear of the middle aisle when the exiting began. There were ushers in the orchestra section, where there was reserved seating, but there were no ushers in the galleries, where seating was by general admission. Otto and the ushers tried to calm the people and regulate the flow, but with limited success. Otto went out to the gallery stairs and tried to control the crowd there.

“Otto described the situation: 

I saw several persons trampled underfoot. Their bodies came sliding down the steps under the trampling of hundreds of other persons. Several persons jumped over the railing at the steps and escaped in that way. I was knocked down, but managed to get upon my feet again unharmed. (Theatre employees, 1895, p. 8).

“The stairs were especially dangerous. They were narrow, and the steps increased the risk of a fall.  If someone fell, the surge of people from behind would make it difficult to avoid stepping on or tripping over the person on the ground.

“The gas was turned on again, but the return of light did little to calm the people. People pushed their way forward, trying to escape the nonexistent fire. Jams occurred at the front entrances, halting the egress into Front Street.

“The full horror of what people experienced during the rush to exit is reflected in the following descriptions by survivors:

Then the people all made a rush for the doors. I became frightened and started to get up, but was knocked down, trampled on and pushed about the floor like a bunch of rags. My skirt was torn off, my cape lost, and I was nearly suffocated by persons walking on me. (Went back for his wife, 1895, p. 8)

When I reached the stairway the pressure on me was terrible. Women were screaming, children crying and men pushing in a wild effort to get out. It was horrible. Nobody knew what had happened. I felt the crowd pushing and shoving me and then I fell, and remember nothing more until I recovered consciousness at the bottom of the stairs.  (Told by young girls, 1895, p. 8)

Suddenly I heard someone yell ‘fire,’ and I grasped little Sarah by the hand and told her to sit still, but when I saw everyone trying to get to the door, I also tried. Just as we got to the door we were thrown down and the crowd trampled on us both. I began to feel dizzy when someone grabbed me by the hair and pulled me out on the pavement. I cried out for Sarah, but I got no answer and thought that perhaps she, too, might have escaped. [Unfortunately Sarah Seigle, 10 years old, did not escape alive.] (Sarah Seigle’s death, 1895, p. 8)

When I reached the entrance I was horrified at the sight there. People were packed into the opening. Many appeared to be on their heads, while others were piled up. The firemen and patrolmen were working nobly, and it was not long before a passage was effected. Besides a few bruises, I am all right.  (Various experiences, 1895, p. 8)

“Someone had called the fire department, and firefighters and police soon arrived. The police cleared the jams at the front entrance, allowing a flow of people out onto Front Street.

“Often relatives or friends were separated in the rush to exit. Outside, they sought one another.  Some parents, unable to locate their children, attempted to reenter. The police and firefighters tried to restrain them.

“The crowd outside massed around the front exits, and the police were unable to establish control.  The police ordered a fire engine hose turned on the crowd. The force of the water dispersed the people, driving them away from the front of the theater.

“The police entered the theater and faced the horror of 23 dead bodies. These people had been trampled to death, suffocated by the exiting crowd. The majority of those killed, 14 of the 23, were children, 14 years of age and under. Perhaps as many as 100 others were seriously injured.

“A jury of inquest was convened. They reached the conclusion that the cry of fire was ‘without foundation’ and that there was no ‘just ground’ for the ‘stampede,’ because the gas leakage was minimal and could have remained burning for hours without danger. If the audience had remained seated, no one would have been injured, but instead the audience became panic stricken. Blame rested entirely on the audience.

“Why did the audience become panic stricken? The Baltimore Sun offered one possible explanation: ‘The audience was composed almost altogether of Russian and Polish Jews. They are naturally of a very nervous and excitable temperament’ (Out went the gas, 1895, p. 8).”  (Chertkoff and Kushigian.  Don’t Panic, 1999, pp. 1-3)

Newspapers

Dec 28: “Baltimore, Md., Dec 28. – In a senseless panic, caused by a defective gas burner and a foolish cry of fire, at the old Front Street theater last night, twenty-four people were killed, two fatally injured and ten more seriously hurt. Thus far but thirteen of the dead have been identified….

“Almost all the victims are of Polish nativity and Hebrew extraction….

“The theater, which is probably the oldest in the city, was filled from it to dome with people who had assembled to listen to Hebrew opera, which has been given in the old house twice a week for the past month. It is supposed that there were at least 3,000 people within the walls when the curtain went up on the first act, while the capacity of the house is less than 2,500.

“Ten minutes after the curtain rose one of the attendants went up to the second tier to light a gas jet which appeared to have been extinguished. As he applied a match the light flared up, and it was seen that there was no tip to the burner. The jet was in plain view of the greater part of the audience, but as the glare from it showed against the wall some on in the gallery shouted ‘Fire! Fire! Fire!’

“’In an instant there was a mad scramble for the door. The-vanguard of the terror stricken multitude reached the entrance on Front street, pushed on by the howling, shrieking mob behind them. There those in the foremost rank were compelled to turn to the right and to the left to reach the double entrance way, built in the form of storm doors. Passing through these doors they reached a flight of steps leading from each door downward to a landing, from whence a broad stairway of moderate height would have carried them into the street and to safety.

“The steps leading from the doorways are but about five feet high, but the landing at their bases is narrow. Down these the frightened people hurled themselves in the frightful struggle to reach the open air and escape the certain death they thought was behind them.

“As the crowds from the two doors reached the landing, they met. There was a brief struggle, and then someone lost his or her footing and fell. In a moment the crowd, pushed with irresistible force from the rear, crowded upon the prostrate form and began in turn to stumble, reel and presently to fall upon the floor under the myriads of feet coming from behind. In less time than it takes to tell it the landing was packed twenty or thirty deep with the panic stricken multitude, and the hundreds behind them, were straggling over them to reach the street.

“The tumult attracted an immense crowd from the outside, many of whom tried to gain entrance to the theater, thus adding to the confusion. A dozen policemen hurried to the scene and pushed through the doorway to the writhing mass on the landing  Among the first to reach there was Officer E. J. Kelly. Forcing his way in through the main doorway he grasped a pair of arms and pulling with all his might dragged a woman from under the surging crowd, dead from suffocation. Again he reached into the mass of humanity and pulled out a boy about 7 years old. He, too, was dead, also from suffocation, with scarcely a bruise upon his body.

“The other officers, by this time reinforced by a dozen of their fellows, dragged out the prostrate ones, passing them to those on the sidewalk. Ambulances carried the dead to the morgue and the most seriously injured to the hospital.

“When the mass on the landing had been cleared away the frightened mob inside were quieted down sufficiently to enable the police to clear the theater. Then it was found that there had been no danger, and that not a soul would have been injured had the audience but remained seated.

“As has been stated, all the dead and injured are Polish Hebrews, and few of them have friends or relatives who are able to speak the English language sufficiently well to make themselves understood, or enough knowledge of the ways of this country to know where to go to look for their lost ones.  The dead are of all ages from mere infants to gray haired men and women. All were killed or injured in the terrific crash on the fatal landing, not a casualty having happened inside the house, although tee crush there was tremendous.

“The old theater building, which was opened in 1829, has been considered unsafe for years. It was in this theater that Lincoln was nominated for his second presidential term, and it was here that Stephen A Douglass was nominated by the Democrats…”  (Frederick News (MD).  “Trampled To Death,” Dec 28, 1895, p. 1.)

Dec 28: “Baltimore, Md., Dec. 28. – Twenty-four people were killed, two fatally injured and ten more seriously hurt Friday night in a senseless panic at  the old Front Street theater. A defective gas burner burst in a blaze, a woman cried ‘fire!’ and the tragedy followed.  Most of the victims were Poles…..

“The United Oriental Opera and Dramatic company, of Boston, under the management of A. Schongold and Abram Tansman, was billed to present the Jewish opera “Alexander” and the theater was filled with a motley throng. About 2,500 persons were in the house when the orchestra began playing the introductory.

“A strong odor of gas was noticed in the second gallery of the theater and one of the attaches of the place was seen hunting for the leak with a lighted torch. Suddenly a jet of flame flashed out as the torch came in contact with the punctured gas pipe. Cries of “Fire” were heard in the upper galleries and in an instant the excitement became intense. Someone rushed to the gas meter and turned off the supply, plunging the main body of the house into darkness. The stage jets alone remained lighted, being fed through another meter….

“Strong Trample the Weak.

“The strong men in the rear of the panic-stricken mob climbed upon the shoulders of those in front, crushing the weaker men, women and little children to the floor to be trampled to death by those still further in the rear.  For several minutes the wild fright continued. Then a few policemen forced a passage-way to the main entrance and began dragging forth those who were jammed in the doors. A rushing stream of humanity flowed out on Front street until all those who were able to move reached the open air.” (Stevens Point Daily Journal, WI. “Tramped To Death,” 12-28-1895, p. 4.)

Dec 28: “Front Street Theatre is in the centre of the Polish-Hebrew section of the city, and the audience was composed almost wholly of people of this race. News of the panic spread as if by magic, and in an incredibly short time it seemed as though the entire body of their compatriots was at the scene.  Many of them had friends and relatives in the audience, and were in consequence as wildly excited as those inside. They pressed up to the doors and tried to force their way through the panic-stricken ones who were trying to force their way out, with the result that neither crowd got further than the corridors between the outside and inner doors.

“There, in a small space for so vast a throng, a terrible fight for life took place. Men lost their senses and trampled upon others – men, women and children – in the mad struggle to reach and save their own loved ones. To add to the horror, the lights went out.

“In the meantime an alarm of fire had been turned in, and the firemen now, under direction of Assistant Chief McFee, prevented still greater loss of life by turning streams of water on the crowd of frantic people trying to force their way into the already packed entrances….

“The bodies of five children and two women was found just inside the door-way below the second gallery stairs. In another heap at the foot of a stairway were two young men and several girls, all maimed and crushed. The girls were unconscious when carried out and one died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. One of the men had both legs broken.  Most of the injured were unable to state their names in English. Eleven bodies were taken to the City Hospital and seven to the Morgue.

“It is said that in the confusion following the panic several children, some dead and others in a dying condition, were taken by relatives to their homes or houses in the immediate neighborhood ….

“One heroic mother, in trying to save her babe in arms and a two-year-old boy, was crushed to death, while the children escaped serious injury.

“A man who tried to save some of the women and children said that in the rush down the stairs men actually leaped over the heads of the women and jumped upon little children. He fought back several large men in the fearful struggle and thus prevented them from crushing children in front of them.

“Some of the dead and injured women had nearly all their outer clothing torn off….

“In the midst of the panic a dozen policemen, attracted by the shrieks of the crowd, appeared on the scene and, using their clubs on those outside, pushed through the doorway to the writhing mass on the landing. Among the first to reach them was Officer E.. J. Kelly. Forcing his way In through the main doorway he grasped a pair of arms and pulling with all his might dragged a woman from under the surging crowd, A glance at her face showed that she was dead from suffocation. Again he reached into the mass of humanity and pulled out a boy about seven years old. He, too, was dead, also from suffocation, with scarce a bruise on his body. The other officers, by this time reinforced by a dozen of their fellows, dragged out the prostrated ones, passing them to those on the sidewalk.

“In the case of nine bodies taken to the Morgue, death had come in each instance from suffocation. Of those taken to the City Hospital fifteen are dead, two more will probably die….

“Front Street Theatre is an. Old, tumble-down affair, on the west side of Front street, between Gay and Low streets.  It has not been used for theatrical purposes for several years, but has recently been the scone of many glove contests under the auspices of the Eureka Athletic Club.

“The means of egress were confined entirely to the two narrow doorways upon the stairways leading down to the narrow landing upon which to-nights tragedy occurred, and the house has long been considered too unsafe to be put to public use.”  (The World, NY. “Death In A Panic.” 12-28, 1895, p. 1.)

Dec 28: “Baltimore, Dec. 28.– The deaths resulting from the Front Street Theatre panic last night now foot up twenty-seven, while of the injured five or six are likely to die. The Morgue, however, is clear, all the ghastly array of disfigured human forms which lay there last night having been identified and taken away….

[Fatalities are listed. Their ages are:  48 (male), 4, 6, 26 (male), 6, 8, 6, 14, 20 (female), 10, 22 (female),  30 (male), 12, 10, 22 (female), 6, 38 (male), 21 (male), 12, 7, 17 (female), 8, 18 (female), 25 (male), 11, 7, 38 (male). Several of the listed injured, mostly children, were listed as “probably will die.” – such as: “Rosenfeld, miss, aged twenty-four…both legs broken and ribs crushed. Rosenfeld, Sarah, aged four, crushed and bruised; will die.”]

“The scenes at the Morgue were heart-rending. A weeping throng of over 500 surrounded the building and gave evidence of their grief in piteous wailings….The windows were pushed up so often by the mob outside the Keeper Weber had to nail them down….

“Manuel Kremer gazed on the battered and bruised body of his son Samuel, aged thirteen.  Another agony awaited the father. In another compartment were two dead children. Kremer leaned over the heads of the crowd.  Then he pushed them aside and peered into the sightless eyes of his five-year-old daughter, Rebecca….

“Not a small amount of the blame for the calamity attaches to the theatre employees, who were cognizant of leaking gas in the building several days ago. On Christmas Day three actors were overcome by it on the stage. M. Scapario, the manager of the company that performed there last night, notified Treasurer Miles, of the Maryland Theatre Company, of the leak, but the treasurer, it is said, paid no attention to the complaint. All this will be presented at the inquest. There is already talk of damage suits.

“The miserable old theatre, as it stands to-day; looks almost as though it had been especially constructed for a deathtrap. The floors are all high pitched, the aisles are narrow, the seats close together, the staircase narrow. A flight of steps at the inside entrance leaves little or no space for a foyer, if such a dignified term could be applied to the shabby old playhouse.

“The audience was composed entirely of Russian Hebrews, the opera being ‘The Prince of Jerusalem,’ sung in the Hebrew language. There people are of a highly excitable nature, and once panic-stricken it was impossible to control them. So far as can be learned, not a single voice was raised to assure the crowd that there was no fire. On the stage Mat Cavanaugh had just pulled the lever that sent the curtain up when the cry of ‘Fire!’ was heard. The actors tried to quiet the audience, but their voices were unheard or unheeded. The audience was instantly converted into a throng of maniacs. Then Cavanaugh and the actors did the only thing that was then possible. They jumped down from the stage and pulled people out of the rear of the crowd and urged them to escape by way of the stage. At least fifty people were sent out this way, but it seemed as if none in the crowd, of their volition, thought of the stage entrance as a way of escape. 

“In the meantime the people were thrown into additional panic by someone turning off the gas, leaving the theatre in total darkness. It might have been expected that this would indicate to them that there was no fire, but it increased rather than abated the panic.

“Under ordinary circumstances the theatre could be freed of its audience in about eighteen minutes. Ten minutes at the outside would allow the largest crowd that could be gotten in it to find its way to the street. It was upward of half an hour last night before the crowd was gotten out of the lobby. Almost every man and woman had to be forcibly disentangled from the jam.

“An evidence of the crush is the large number of shoes that were found by the police after everything was over. A little Hebrew man came to the police station this morning in search of a shoe that he had lost. It was an almost new congress gaiter that fitted him tightly, and it had been pulled from his foot when the police drew him out of the crowd. After the crowd had been dispersed three patrol wagons with loads of clothing were sent to the station-house. This consisted of hats, cloaks, shoes, petticoats, neckties and collars innumerable, and in the collection almost every article of apparel that is worn by man or woman….The inquest will begin to-morrow morning.” (The World (New York). “Was It Not A Crime?” 12-29-1895, p. 16.)

Dec 30, Baltimore Sun: “A jury of inquest impaneled to sit in the case of Jennie Henckle, 209 Albemarle street, one of the twenty-three victims of last Friday night’s panic, met yesterday morning at 10 o’clock at the central police station, Coroner Alexander Hill presiding over the investigation….” (Baltimore Sun. “Audience Blamed. Held Responsible by the Coroner’s Jury for the Front Street Theatre Panic” 12-30-1895, p. 10.)

Dec 30: “Baltimore, Dec. 30. – An inquest over the victims of the Front Street theater disaster was held yesterday, and the coroner’s jury found that no one was to blame except the people in the audience who lost their heads and brought on the panic. Two men also testified that in their opinion the cry of ‘fire.’ Which brought on the panic, was raised by thieves for the purpose of robbery. It was brought out that various articles were stolen during the frightful crush, including a great portion of the box office receipts for the night, a pair of diamond earrings, which were snatched from a woman’s ears, and a large number of overcoats, canes and umbrellas.” (Frederick News (MD). “Baltimore Theater Horror,” December 30, 1895, p. 1.)

Jan 7, Daily Record, Baltimore: “Messrs. Emil Budnitz, P. J. Campbell and C. Dodd McFarland, as attorneys for the State of Maryland, to the use of Leopold Bernstein, docketed suit in the City Court yesterday against the Maryland Theatre Company, claiming $10,000 damages. Mr. Bernstein’s infant children, Theresa and Gabriel, were killed in the Front Street Theatre disaster.

“Messrs. Wm. Colton and W. H. Weissager, as attorneys for the State, to the use Mrs. Beckey Levenson and her children, also brought suit in the City Court against the same company.” (Daily Record, Baltimore. “”Court Notes.” 1-7-1896, p. 22.)

Jan 10, Baltimore Sun: “The following suits for damages were filed yesterday in the City Court…against the Maryland Theatre Company….Abraham S. Kramer against the same company for $15,000 for the death of his children, Samuel and Rebecca Kramer, who were killed in the disaster. Bar Segil against the same company for $10,000 for the death of his daughter, Sarah Segil.” (Baltimore Sun. “The Theatre Panic.” 1-10-1896, p. 8, col. 5.)

Jan 13, Baltimore Sun: “Six of those injured at Front Street Theatre were removed to the Hebrew Hospital from the City Hospital on the day following the accident. The resident physician, Dr. Melvin S. Rosenthal, and two others of the medical staff were at the theatre in less than an hour after the panic began and rendered valuable assistance. Ot the six taken to the hospital four have since been discharged and the two remaining ones are progressing favorably.” (Baltimore Sun. “Caring for Panic Victims.” 1-13-1896, p. 6, col. 1.)

Jan 15, Daily Record, Baltimore: “Messrs. W. Frank Tucker and A. K. Love as attorneys for the State to the use of Samuel Friedman and Bane Lebowitz, docketed separate suits in the Court of Common Pleas yesterday against the Maryland Theatre Co. claiming $10,000 in each case. The suits are brought to recover damages for the loss of the life of Ida Friedman and Jos. Lebowitz, who were killed in the Front Street Theatre disaster.” (Daily Record, Baltimore. “”Court Notes.” 1-15-1896, p. 2, col. 1.)

Named Victims of Front Street Theatre Panic identified in the Press

1. Berstein, Gabriel         infant
2. Berstein, Theresa        infant
3. Friedman, Ida
4. Henckle, Jennie
5. Kramer, Rebecca           5
6. Kramer, Samuel          child
7. Lebowitz, Joseph
8. Siegle, Sarah               10

Sources

Baltimore Sun. “Audience Blamed. Held Responsible by the Coroner’s Jury for the Front Street Theatre Panic” 12-30-1895, p. 10. Accessed 1-22-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/baltimore-sun-dec-30-1895-p-10/

Baltimore Sun. “Caring for Panic Victims.” 1-13-1896, p. 6, col. 1. Accessed 1-22-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/baltimore-sun-jan-13-1896-p-6/

Baltimore Sun. “No Performance at Front St. Theatre.” 1-2-1896, p. 8. Accessed 1-22-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/baltimore-sun-jan-02-1896-p-8/

Baltimore Sun. “Previous Local Disasters…Old Front Street 23 Died.” 4-28-1907, p. 8, col. 2. Accessed 1-22-2025 at: https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun/21706700/

Baltimore Sun. “The Theatre Panic.” 1-10-1896, p. 8, col. 5. Accessed 1-22-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/baltimore-sun-jan-10-1896-p-8/

Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac 1905. “Great Fires, 1904. Other Notable Fires.”  Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Vol. XX, 1905, p. 477. Digitized by Google. Accessed 9-22-2017 at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=x8MWAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Chertkoff, Jerome M. and Russell H. Kushigian. Don’t Panic: The Psychology of Emergency Egress. Praeger, 1999. 

Daily Record, Baltimore. “”Court Notes.” 1-7-1896, p. 22. Accessed 1-22-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/the-daily-record-jan-07-1896-p-2/

Daily Record, Baltimore. “”Court Notes.” 1-15-1896, p. 2, col. 1. Accessed 1-22-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/the-daily-record-jan-15-1896-p-2/

Frederick News, MD. “Trampled To Death,” Dec 28, 1895, p. 1. Accessed 1-22-2025 at:  https://newspaperarchive.com/news-dec-28-1895-p-1/

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

New York Times. “Cry of Fire in a Theatre…” 12-28-1895, p. 1., col. 1. Accessed 1-22-2025 at: https://www.nytimes.com/1895/12/28/archives/cry-of-fire-in-a-theatre-twentythree-deaths-result-from-a-panic-in.html

The World, NYC. “Death In A Panic.” Dec 28, 1895, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=141492522

The World, NYC. “Was It Not A Crime?” 12-29-1895, p. 16. Accessed 1-22-2025 at:  https://newspaperarchive.com/new-york-world-dec-29-1895-p-16/

Washington Post. “24 Deaths in a Panic.” 12-31-1895, p. 12. Cited in Larson, Carlton F. W. “Shouting ‘Fire’ in a Theater: The Life and Times of Constitutional Law’s Most Enduring Analogy.” William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, Vol. 24, Issue 1, Article 6, 2015-2016. Accessed 1-22-2025 at: https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1748&context=wmborj