"I was the leader of the octet, and I was on the platform going to meet my partner when I first saw the flame. I went on working as usual, down to the front, and paid no more attention to it because I thought it would soon be out. It was on the right hand side of the stage, above the stage. I noticed there was quite an excitement on the other side, but I went on working. I thought if there was an awful fire there would be a panic, and I thought by working I would quiet the people. Then I turned and saw the flames and went up the steps, there looking back and seeing the audience in the awful panic. Then I went out the usual stage door." Daisy Beaute, 178 West 94th street, New York: "I was standing in the third wing ready to go on, and I saw a flame on the left hand side, facing the audience, from the draperies above the first entrance on my right hand side. It was in the draperies clear at the top of the arch in the stage opening. We kept on dancing, but Miss Williams fainted. I ran for my life without waiting to see anything more." Miss Edith Williams, the member of the octet who fainted on the stage, swooned again soon after she took the witness stand. Deputy Coroner Buckley had just administered the oath and asked the young woman to be seated, when she fell backwards. The fall was broken by a stenographer, and the woman saved from serious injury. She was assisted to the witness room and revived. Another witness was called. Miss Anna Brand, another member of the octet, testified to the facts similar to those related by Miss Dupont and Miss Wynne, Miss Lawrence, Miss Beaute, Miss Richards and Miss Romaine, the remaining members testifying in a similar strain. None admitted knowing who opened the rear stage door leading to Dearborn street, the door through which came the cold blast that forced the fire into the auditorium. "Jack" Strause, 31 West 11th street, New York: "The octet had just made its entrance, walked four steps and danced eight, bringing the members to the center of the stage, when I discovered the fire overhead at the side of the proscenium arch. My partner in the scene, a young woman, cried out that she was fainting. She braced up, however, did a few more steps and collapsed. As I stooped to pick her up I saw the curtain fall possibly six or seven feet. From that time on I observed nothing more of the progress of the fire, being engrossed in an effort to carry out the unconscious young woman. Upon reaching the big scene door at the north of the stage, a strong blast of air blew us both into the alley. The rush of air was occasioned by the falling of a partition behind me, I think. I carried the girl into a neighboring restaurant, where she revived." Samuel Bell (Beverly Mars):