FIRE IN A THEATRE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 1, 2 January 1904, Page 3

FIRE IN A THEATRE.

Over 600 People Burned. BUILDING TOTALLY DESTROYED A RUSH FOR LIFE. NEW YORK, Dec. 31. The Irqnois Theatre, in Chicago, a magnificent structure costing £210,000, and ojiened in November la.st, and modelled from the Opera Continue in I'aiiis, was -destroyed by fire during the performance of 'Blue Beard." The fire began in th 9 flimsy stage fittings. There was an immediato ■panic, and a wild rush for the exIts- -The passages were speedily blocked. The occupants of the first gallery- nvre caught in a trap and fought -desperately in the corridors. Some were burned to cinders and others suffocated. Some leapt from the balcony into the stalls, where they were burned to death. At the height of the excitement two gas tanks exploded, hurling burning fragments through the roof.

After a hundred bodies hod been removed the morgues refused to receive any more. Many of the bodies recovered ware those of young men and children. Many fainted in the passages and were trampled to death. The principal actors , escaped, but many of the chorus girls are missing. The total deaths number 392. WOMEN AND CHILDREN KILLED. THE CAUSE OF THE FIRE. ACTRESSES RUSH FROM THE BUILDING. HARROWING DETAILS. NEW YORK, Dec. 31. Deaths at the theatre lire exceed Six hundred. The outbreak occurred during a, matinee. The audience was mostly composed of mothers with their children. The managers attrilDte the fire to the bursting of the calcium tank. Towards the staircase foodies were ivitln> two ftvt; of the ceiling of the passages. The faces of the bodies were badly trampled. Many actresses engnged in the chorus fled to an alley behind the thr-atre.j Beiiti(gi fciigjhtdy fclad thetyi Buffered severely from the cold. The panic amongst the amateur firemen on the sta'ge exceeded that of the audience. LATER PARTICULARS. THE FIREMEN'S DIFFICULTIES. TERRIBLE FIGHTS AMONGST THE YItTIjMS. NEW YORK, Dec. 31. There were twelve hundred people In the theatre. The panic originated during a chorus when most of the principals were off the stagj". The asbestos curtain refused to work, enabling the fixe to get behind the scenes and spread to the front. The firemen rescued many from the upper exits by means of a ladder. Tiie greatest loss occurred at the front of the stairways leading down from the upper balconies. The bodies were piled twelve feet deep. Within fifteen minutes fifty 'doctors and a number of trained nurses were availaWe. Terrible fig Jits took place in the passages and stairs. Children were involved and these hardly lived • a few minutes. The theatre was all ablaze within a quarter of (an hour of the outbreak. Dozens Jumped from the windows to the pavements, which were a sheet of ice owing to the intense cold freezing the water from the fire engines. The firemen were compelled to crawl over the mass of dead and dying in the balcony.

"A BURNT-OUT VOLCANO,'* HEART-RENDING IDENTIFICATION SCENES. A COOL HEAD SAVES HUNDREDS. Received 1, 11.31 p.m. NEW YORK, January 1. The auditorium of the Iroquois Theatre resembles a lmrn*.-mit volcano. Tire fabric was comparatively little injured. The theatre was insured for only ten thousand dollars, Wi? owners bolievirag it fireproof. Fhe Imshels of purses, furs, and handkerchiefs were collected. One man found at the morgue the bWhes of live relations. A father identified his headless son by his watch. Mr Ingin, a millionaire, lost live sons. There are 314 still missing, arm I ,17 dead girls remain unidentitied. A little girl, unassisted, escajxid by walking owr the heads of the mass of wedged fugitives. Two children, observing the fire, opened the exit and escajxd while many aronnl wen.' in a dazed condition. Mr Quiirn, railway agent, saved over a hundred performers, who were wedged against the stage entrance, by using pocket tools to remove the fastenings to enable the door to be opened just as the names were overtaking tlie fugitives.

The wires used in connection with the aerial flight earlier in the performance presented the lowering of the asbestos certain -"MORE ORrjESOME TH-VN \ BLOODY BATTLEFIKLIV ' THIEVES ROBBING THE DEAD. THE THEATIiFIN DARKNESS, Received 1, 0.16 a.m. NEW YORK, Jan. 1. Ihe leading comedian pluckilv tried to stem the panic. Scores of bodies were marked and the faces undistingnishable owing to being jumped upon. Bishop Falloes who helped in the rescue, declared that the sighti were more gruesome than a bljodv battlefield. Miss Plamondores and party escaped from their Drops bv wiilkine over a pile of those who had fainted almost within reach of s.jfety. A dozen thieves have been arrested for plundering the dead. Scores of chorus girls and sixtv supers escaped through the coal hole in tho basement. The livery stables striker* have agreed to a truce for ten days in order to bury the dead. Bishop Muldoou climbed into the ga.'.orj or.d h«|( |.J tfly .people |!o trust in <iod, and ahsolv.'d the dying The theatre was in darkness wn;n the fire commenced with the object of increasing the effect of a song which was being sung. Withi.i ten minutes all the mischief was done. LONDON'S SYMPATHY. LONDON, Jan. I. The Lord-Mayor has expressed to Mr Choate. American AminssaUor, London's deep sympathy. WHOLE FAMILIES WIPE*! OUT. Received 2, 0.59 a.m. NEW 40RK, Jan. 1, Five hundred and sixty-four bodies have l«vn recovered, from the theatre Of 137 injured,one- third are expected to die, Several whole fami|cs have lx>en wiped out.

CABLE NEWS. United Press Association—Hy Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.