BURNING OF THE BROOKLYN THEATRE

Clutha Leader, Volume III, Issue 131, 12 January 1877, Page 3

BURNING OF THE BROOKLYN THEATRE

TWO HUNDRED AND FI-FTY' PEOPLE KILLED,

Brooklyn Theatre, New York, was burned on the sth December. The fire >■ broke out during the performance of ' the last scene, and- in -five minutes m ore the . audience would . have been ,. dismissed. The houseivas about twothirds filled, those below! sitting wello forward toward the.^stage. -The fire... originated on the stage and spread 'with lightning ' rapidity*' A. The confusion among:'the, audience was terrible. One actress-.came to the front-; of" -the* stage* and said : "A small accident has occurred, but ddn't be alarmed, only a" piece of tbe flies is on fire." On the mention of fire, the audience rose to their feet and 'made a' wild' rush -for the door.-\ The^emoke' becameisuffocating.L' VVo iri en fell- -fainting in* 'the 'aisles ahd ! were ' trampled' over, 1 arid ''numbers' jumped,,.ou.t of the ,window--,and were; severely injured. "A young;. 'man ,who jumped out of the. window says another man' was with, -him' and 'gotdto; .the window, arid while .holding on with his hands became overpowered with the siribke arid ! fell : back, and" must 'have been^cprisuriied* in ' the flanties. }° The dresses. „were>: torn fro m ! t be ! ladi es '-wh iie lying -in- ',s^ A large -.pile ofV.jdr^sseg -so, t ; qr ; n .from, „ their = backs an dvpickedr u \\ by the P^olice were in the. Police, " Station,-- ,next- jib'or to the' Theatre. Allijjhe uompany> got out, .except;, a, fly- ,man f j namecL Cninber r son h0.,, was, n ba-dly %rned, ? *^n^ thre ( \y lii inse].f [, onjj <^f.yt]fcie % ivi ndp, w.^ \ lie 'vv s il I.• die. An T actqr .named Murdoch has not beenaj-yßro^ fire ; it .^ I feared he J was burned to death. For

|,-. '".- nAyAHorAAyyl'-iA a?AA -those in - the— family circlej the dress - circle, [ and the gallery -.Tthere'l-was*'! ho show of escape except by -Ayaslnngtonstreet.J Panic-stricken peopje wished pell-mtell toward-'aifd^down stair&ays^;the main exit became^immediately 'cbbked, and a scene of terror, confusion, and r : distress ensued sywhich5 y which descriplion. above } Janding| place on the stair- way, a woman iii the" crush had her foot knocked between the j bannisters and fell. The crowd behind, 'forced' upwards by terrified people ! still: further behind, fell over her, and piled on the topiof^each 'other TfouK or" five 'feet deep. The n P f olice from the station house next door were promptly pn the scene,ibut.*bwih'g/.fo'tha.man'ner . W which people were piled on each .other and^massed together, they could extricate comparatively 'few;' ahd : these* "wire all, bruised, bleeding, and maimed. The .firernen^gdt'tb 4 work oh f *the 'ruiris,and shortly :a fter flight •succeeded jin j getting* as far as the dress circle, where they found a great number of 'bodies, 1 and immediately,, began . /the.; work.). of removal. Kate Clayton, at the pre-" liminary enquiry of the Fire Marshal./ j ; said_« ♦ At the" begin nirig of * the ; last, act," just as the. pur tain . went up, I. heard a* rumbling" noise oh the stage,' and t wb hnmit'es 'afterwards saw the , flames. ; The'fire. seemed to c ,,be -ajl on^ the stage, >. Mrs ..Warren, myself,, Mr Shidley, and Murdoch 1 were on the stage at the 'time.' 1 * '-We -four--* remained there; and endeavored; as best we>could, ' to quiet -the audience and prevent a panic. ' 1 said to the people—* Be'quiet ■; we are between you and the fire..' ?. The front door, is open, and the passages are .clear.' Not one of the audience jumped on the stag.c The 'flames were then coming down on us. : We ran out) and jumped over several people. Mr .Murdoch, after endeavoring to calm the fears of the panic-stricken- people,".*went to his dressing-room to get his/jlothing, and must have been The origin of the fire was that the drop was ignited from the border, light by some means inexplicable,^^, -one -was guarded from the other.' 1 The ' stage carpenter, another manyandtwo supers., endeavored' to -extinguish- -the;, flames, but the difficulty was to reach part on fire. The stage carpenter, with the supernumeraries 1 , ' attempted to* -effect their object by lowering the drop, and, in doing so. added fuel to the flames. Some persons assert that hd one ih the : upper gallery escaped. The last . man that left the stairs before they,. fell says that' behind was a helpless half-suffo-cated crowd. Waggon loads df : rough [boxes are arriving in front; of, the theatre, and corpses are placed in them, and covered and carried to the Morgue. The scene' grew more .terrible every minute. Men and women were crowding:. round the bouse and theatre ! entrance, making enquiries for missing friends. The' bodies presented - every form of cortortion — arms and; legs bent land twisted in every way, . hands clenched and reached "'but; as if' grasping for help. The following- day the ruins were still burning,; which made "the work of removing the bodies very difficult. The flags were at halt-mast throughout the city, the theatres were draped in mourning, and.,250 bodies were removed from the ruins.