FIRE AT MADAME TUSSAUD'S.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18372, 4 May 1925, Page 10

FIRE AT MADAME TUSSAUD'S.

FAMOUS WAXWORKS DESTROYED.

FATE OF NAPOLEONIC RELICS

(KtOM OUR OWS CORBBSPOSBRKT.)

LONDON, March 19

Probably no national institution is better known than-Madame Tussaud's. It may be that many Londoiukrs had never seen it, but very few people from the Dominions who have come to England failed to pay a visit to this famous waxwork show. And new it has gone up in tiro and smoke. London is not often the scone of spectacular fires, but thanks to the litoral supply of wax fuiel. the world-famous building, in the Marylebone road created a blaze last night which was the most thrilling fire spectacle witnessed in London for years. The first alarm was given at about 10.15 p.m. by some of the staff of the Metropolitain Railway close by. In half an hour it was obvious that the stately oblong building, with its two glass domes, was doomed. A huge tongue of flame shot through the roof to a height of 100 feet, casting dangerous showers of sparks over a wide area in the Baker street neighbourhood. Every available fire engine in the metropolis was hurried to the scene, and the fire was fought with great, but unavailing, determuiation from three angles. Every where were. the midget forma of men in brass helmets pouring seemingly ineffective jets of water into the all-devouring flames, which, fed by thousands of wax models in the halls and galleries, seemed to gain greater volume as the minutes passed Very soon after tbe outbreak the two handsome glass domes had collapsed with a great crash, and the fire, with incredible swiftness, penetrated ttye roof and went soaring into the night; lighting u,p the neighbourhood and" the whole of Regent's Park. After threequarters of an hour tho rage 6f -the flames seemed to have spent itself, but there was quickly another burst, almost as great as the original tongue of fife, which sent a shower of sparks over .the roofs and roads. This was thought to be due to the collapse of one of the lower floors, and the feeding of the fire by a collection of stored models.

The fire was witnessed by a great concourse of people, who assemWed at every vantage point and occupied the attention' of a large force of police. Theatre-goers swelled the throng, and on every hand expressions were heard of deep regret that thi& national institution had been destroyed. By midnight the flames were, well under con.trol, but the .fire was ; still o*cupying the attention, of a large for n e of mien. The fire started, so far as can be ascertained, on nrt upstairs floor at the back of the building. It spread along the room and down to the apartments underneath. In this upstairs room were all the Royal groups which have proved so interesting to visitors, and they have been destroyed. Practically nothing here escaped the flames. Salvage Work. Salvage men came staggering from the building carrying wax effigies over their shoulders and bearing pictures from the valuable Gainsborough collection which was housed in the building. P.'C. Robertson, the wax policeman; who stood at the : door <of the entrance hall, and who has been addressed by many thousands of deceived yis,itors>- was of the ; *firsfc vi^in T i mates", of the building to be brought' to safety. Even; the. members of ■• the. real oolice on duty' could not restrain their pleasure when :they saw their "comrade in arms" being carried' but. The Highlander, the Lifeguardsman, the Jack Tar, the Russian Cossack; the Boy> Scout and thia Girl Guide auicklv followed, and then, a cheer came from the assembled thousands when the salvage man came out carrying a large .cage in which was the renowned Mme. Tussaud's psrrot. The parrot was.found lying at'the bottom' of its cage stupefied as a result of the smoke and the intense heat, 'but after a a few moments in the open air it revived and began to take a lively interest in the proceedings. Then it startled everyone by remarking, "This is a rotten business!'' Chamber of Horrors and Historic Belies. ■■' In the Chamber of Horrors, Vaqufer, Peace, Crippen.. Thompson; ind By r waters were still untouched; but theyV were within an ace of destruction by water when the salvage men arrived. Other "murderers" stood round, and water was lapping across the threshold of the chamber. ■ Downstairs . Royal coaches were hastily protected from, water, but upstairs, the finest private collection of Napoleonio relics m the. world was destroyed. There are three 'carriages used by Napoleon—the Mil St. Helena, and Waterloo vehicles. The last was used by Buonaparte dur-, ing his last campaigns in Russia, Germany and Belgium. His coronation robes, Jus toilet case, and telescope, as well as the bed on which he died during his St. Helena banishment, were among the destroyed relics; ' This I was 'the crowning 'joy of .the whole museum, and of course, is irreplaceable. The present representative of the Tussaud family is Mr John Theodore Tussaud, great-grandson of the foundress of the Exhibition, who was born in 1859. Mr Tussaud, of course, is lfeelin.fr deeply what he speaks of as a great tragedy, though the loss of the I wax models is not so vital as that of the Napoleonio relics, for they have the original mouldings and they can be recast. , A number of original dresses have been destroyed, but acI curate descriptions are possessed of I these and they can be copied without much trouble, "I do not know what j will happen," he said. "Mme Tus- ! saud's is now run by a company under the terms of the will of my father. Before any decisions can be. made as to the future the directors will have I to meet."