THE DESTRUCTION OF THE OPERA HOUSE AT NICE.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3102, 7 June 1881, Page 4

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE OPERA HOUSE AT NICE.

It appears that a very large proportion of the loss of life in connection with the above calamity is attributable to the serious error in constructing the theatre of having omitted to provide sufficient facilities for the egress of a large audience. Those who were in the stalls and in two or three lower tiers of the boxes were able to escape, but the more numerous crowd who had occupied the upper tiers and the gallaries were hopelessly jammed on the stairs and in the doorways, where the darkness increased their alarm. On tho stairs leading from the galleries some people fell down, and were themselves fallen over by others ere long, so that those who were trying to make their way down ifc in total darknees found it barred by a hum in wall, while soon the smoke reaching the place added the dangers of immediate suffocation to those already apparent. Some few jumped out of the window to meet death in their fall, and two or three others were seriously hurt by jumping over into the hall below. When the firemen, the sailors of the squadron in the harbour, and the soldiers arrived they had to take tho lamps from carriages outside to see their way up this staircase through the smoke. On the upper landings they found complete barriers of human bodies, from which it was only with the greatest difficulty that a few were extricated. Most of them were dead, either from the pressure of the crowd or suffocation from the smoke. A very few were restored to life after much care and exertion. Outside a vast crowd watched the progress of the fire, the flames rising to a great height, while pieces of blazing wood and redhot charcoal were carried across the housetops, some falling even into tho harbour. The soldiers risked their lives freely in their endeavors to save those of others, and at length General Carrey de Bellemare, who assumed tho command, found it necessary to forbid further risks of their own safety in efforts which had by this time become futile. There is every reason to believe that some of the soldiers and sailors, as well as two firemen, have lost their lives. The state of the building after the fire had been put showed how appalling was the catastrophe. The stairs leading to the galleries were covered with a confused litter of hats, coats, clothing of every kind, boots, gloves, opera-glasses, &c. The walls were covered all along their lenght with great blotches of blood, which are to be found even near the bottom of the stairs. Many of these traces may have been from the hands of those engaged in carrying out some of the sufferers. The stage and saloon have been entirely destroyed, and the fittings of the theatre, boxes, &c, have all become a mass of cinders and ashes. The city of Nice is in mouraing, and the mayor has issued a proclamation setting forth that any public rejoicing for any event is impossible in the face of this calamity, and the fetes which were to have taken place cannot be given. The cost of these fetes will now be devoted to the alleviation of the miseries caused by the catastrophe. Amongst the victims by the fire, four English names appear. They are as follows : — Eliza Kennedy, eighteen years of age, Catherine Kennedy, twenty-two years of age, their brother, and Mre Kagnay. They were all natives of Edinburgh, and were studying at Nice, under Signer Lamperti, and were in the theatre at the time of the explosion. They were all of great promise as singers. A feeling of much regret has been expressed in Edinburgh at the calamity which has thus befallen Mr Kennedy, the Scotch vocalist, the father of the above named, in the loss he has suffered. These young people left Edinburgh about three weeks ago for the purpose of pursuing their studies under Signor Lamperti. The son, Mr James Kennedy, who was twenty-two years of age, for a long time assisted his father, and was possessed of considerable musical talent, while the two daughters, only recently appeared in public, and they also gave promise of a successful career. Mr Robert Kennedy, another member of the family, who happened to be at Milan at the time of the disaster, went to Nice and recognised the body of his brother and sisters. In a telegram to his father he stated they were recognisable beyond the possibility of doubt. About a hundredbodies are still supposed to be lying in the ruins, which are now being cleared away. According to those who escaped, no words can describe the horror of the scene which ensued in the dark lobbies while the flames were licking the proscenium and the heavy smoke from the burning scenery was gradually stilling those who were trying in vain to force their way onwards through doors blocked up with the bodies of those who had fallen down fainting to be trampled under foot. Colonel Fisher, who -commanded the 11th Regiment, stationed at Nice, was in the theatre with his wife and daughter. Providentially all three managed to make their escape, iruL the colonel's sword, left in the box, has since been found in a half molten state. Madame Bianca Donadio, the prima donna in whose honour Lucia di Lammermoor was being sung, hud just left tho stage when the explosion took place. She did not know her way about the theatre, but surprised in the dark by the first rush of affrighted chorus singers, she was literally carried out into the street before she knew where she was. Others of her colleagues were not so fortunato, for a number of them are still missing, though it may fairly be conjectured that the majority have been taken into (ho houses of people in the neighbourhood where their hurts aro being attended to, and where they are recovering from the hurts they have received. The basso Cottini's body has been identified, and fears are entertained that tho tenor has shared the same fate. Signor Cottini was a young and promising singer. It was not the first time he had boon under Gre, for ho was very nearly burned to death at the conflagration at the Theatre dcs Arts at Rouen. He was to have taken tho parts of tho Ghost iii Hamlet on that occasion, and ho was compelled in his full suit of armour to jump from a second-floor window into tho street. Ho was caught in some mattresses, but ho was so much hurt and shaken that very slight hopes were entertained of his recovery. He did get well, but fate appears to havo marked him out as the victim of the devouring oloment, for, after escaping at Rouen, he has now been burnt to death at Nice.—Home News.