Terrible Fire in Madras.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2515, 3 February 1887, Page 2

Terrible Fire in Madras.

[ B? Electric Teleguaph.-Oopyright FEARFUL LOSS OF LIFE. " Melbourne, .February' 1, . Indian papers which are to hand publifili accounts of the flra which occurred in ' the People's Park at Madras on the eve of the,'lst of. January, and which was the most awful catastrophe ever known there, The fare broke out in the evening, simul taneously on each side of a large circle of temporary buildings, which had tienn erected for b'uncjstiHidy iu the entranced of the.People|B folk, w)i,n*e the annual fa|r, weeing held, Tlittfeople's Fair t'hisyearps celebrated on an Hiiumially largt scale, and was to liave lasted six days in honor of tywrn Victories ■tae; The chief cejeliratjoti takes place lfi the hanij stand on. the enclosure, whjcli : 200|y ii'ds hrr>HrL' Ihe enclosure was titled witlj- hootljs built of wood, .and with cacyaa roofS, and bad

tour entrances, at which foes w'ei;e collected tin' admission, Shortly aftßr 6 Tfn, tlie.New Ye-ir'a Eve, about. 6000 persons were in tbe enclosure, including the Cominander-iivchief, Lady Atrnrthnot,_(and a number of Europeans.. Sucldeflly a booth on one side caught Hi'tt, an.l almost simultaneously the booths directly opposite were seen to be iinrflames... A. dreadful panic, ensued, and a made fof th&'*four en-, crowd.' were' met,%pegp.lt'co.ming in. Twq of the, entfaiice'Bwere soon completely'jammed' people fo'rriieilhelplea3pile3 ; «rid masass of struggling Humanity. The : flames swept down as the-'people fought andstruggled cn the ground. those on the top being death and those below, smothored, j-The fire seems to' have lasted for a quatfcep.of an'homy during which 26 Iwgths-'were burnt. They were, chiefly |odoupied, by men, who, in the rush for the gates, .tbjmt aside children and women; "Had the Natives kepUhemselves of the Europeans they njight hav'o saved, a ; B theraiwasjilshty of room inthe enclosure to- save all of them; and to avoid the fire as it darted from'point to point. But as it-was were smothered and bavned' ;to death in tho. Park itself, and,7o or 80-men have since.died of thbir iryuriekitrthe Madras Hospital. When the euolosure J ;was carefully inapeoted in the morning it was fouud thatlarge'tractß of ground had escaped the flames altogether. Hpre flowers and ornamental'shrubshad not' even heensinijed. Fifteen of bh&NatiVeS, maddened by the flames, had fastened 011 ornament* and into, the tank, where they 're drowned, Olie Mr Walter was, pulled out of the flameß, hut his rescuer found to his horror that the skin of Mr Walter's hands peeled off like a- pair of- gloves. Most of the bodies' were horribly mutilated. Relatives from Madras visited the park by thousands in the morning, vainly attempting to recognise the bodies. People, set to work, to rescue as m'iiiiy as possible of the persons, who were'lying in heaps, and succeeded in Having scores, but-very, many were suffocated. When the lire swept ; rpund ,to the gateways with awful rapidity, and roasted thoso who were esped to the top of the heaps,' the attain ptß,to drag. tho bodies, away. were'jt'oppedj and in a aliorb time, whence fls had run- its course;, the work|af rescue' Was resumed. A.more friglful scene : <ianbot be imagined. Many of ..tho bodies were oharred beyond recognition, • though life still remained in them! lib police, soldiers, ■Europeans and Eurasian visitors set tf o work'willingly at"removing the bodies, >nd all having life wsre carried away fa the General Hospital., The dead bodies were left on the ground till next day. It appears that a,, wooden dancing saloon, which had bserrerected on a graas spot neir the banditind, in' the centre of. the enclosure, had also capgtit .fire won after the earronnding in this probably tended to make the rush to; the two fatal gateways greater than would otherwise have been the case. 'A large body., of medical men" worked aesiduoi%;thrtiUghout the hight.iu endeavor/ ing to alleviate the 1 intense sufferings of the patients. Cotton mattresses at. the hospitals Jiad to be ripped open to sappiy dreEsings for v/oundSj-aod sheets All tbe clergy. ot tbe district, 'many ladi<'S,'and all the doctors, assembled at tHa hospitals before the nighfcwas.over, and all endeavored to dp what they could to alleviate the sufferings of the' victims.

A writer in the, Madras Mail asserts from . piTKonal observation, that' the Hiisprbioiis actions of the natives on the night of .the fire convinced liirn tlmt tli« catastrophe I ,was the result, of h preconcerted H'hetnt', Upward* of twenty burnt.hpdios'have been found on the sea-beach.,stripped of their ornaments. A great majority of the victims were males, the women and children appar ently having been passed by in the rush to tl:e" jjates, The soldiers ami inside the enclosure, worked in the most iijjjseltisb manner to rescue the sufferers.