THE BROOKLYN BURNING.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 201, 9 February 1877, Page 15

THE BROOKLYN BURNING.

On Tuesday, the sth December, -while the play of "The Two Orphans" in the Brooklyn Theatre was drawing to a close, a fire broke out up among the hanging drapery over the stage. A hole in the gas pipe had been stopped on the previous day with a wooden plug, and this having dropped out the stream of gas ignited from a neighboring burner, and set fire to the painted canvas flies. " I was standing," says Mr. Thome, one of the actors, " at the wing just out of sight of the audience, waiting my turn to go on the stage, when, on glancing up, I noticed a speck of flame not larger than my two hands among the hanging flies— about the fourth tier back from the front of the stage. One of the attendants got a long pole and endeavored to beat it out, but the ignited material being almost as combustible as powder, the flames spread with wondrous rapidity, leaping from fly to fly, and licking them up, as though they had been so many shavings." At that moment the attention of the audience was rivetted on the stage, where an affecting scene was represented. The actress, Miss Kate Olaxton, lying at the time on a pallet of straw, looked up and saw the flames, still hidden from the entranced audience, rapidly spreading among the flies. With wonderful self-restraint she lay there for several moments* carrying on the play. But suddenly the dreadful cry of ** Fire ! " was heard ; there was a rush of feet behind the scenes ; a piece of burning canvas fell upon the stage ; the flames burst into sudden view above, licking across the painted scenery with awful rapidity; the courageous actors coming to the front of the stage, tried to calm the audience ; but the sight of the devouring fire had destroyed reason ; the people rose and rushed for dear life, yelling and screaming and tearing each other in their wild efforts to escape a fearful death. It was a hideous animal scurry and struggle. The weak fell and were trampled to death. Women and children had no chance. The stairways were blocked up with heaps of people, most of them crushed to death, preventing the escape of those behind. The wind roared through the burning theatra, sucked in by the horrid vortex of the fire. One who escaped says that in two minutes after the first alarm the floor of the theatre was slippery with blood ; he passed over human bodies three deep, as he fled to the door ; and he heard the bones breaking of the trampled wretches under foot, and from many the last piteous appeal, •' O God, have mercy on my soul ! " The flames with a frightful sweep spread around the walls and across the ceiling. The pungent and deadly smoke from the painted wood and canvas was almost fire itself. There were four hundred people in the upper gallery, and before twenty of them had reached the stairs the gallery was hemmed in with fire. One man drew a pistol and blew out his brains, preferring this death to being roasted alive. Strong men dragged down the weaker in frantic selfishness. Agile men sprang on the heads of the dense mass and flung themselves desperately down the packed stairway. One man who jumpedj umped from the gallery to the dress circle, and saved his life, says :— " It was a tremendous jump, but I made up my mind to do it. I jumped and struck on a seat, cutting myself severely. I made a rush for the door, and saw men trampling on women that were lying insensible on the stairway. They didn't stop to pick them vp — they seemed crazy. I saw women who were unable to move, crying and praying." Fire-Engineer Farley says : — "I have seen a great many fires, and have seen men go to their death at fires, but I never saw a sight like this before. The men and boys in the gallery acted like so many wild beasts ; they were jumping over each other, some howling with fear, others cursing and fighting." Then came the crowning horror, with an agonised cry from hundreds of despairing hearts : the stairs gave way, and the upper gallery, with its crowd of human beings, went crushing down to the sea of fire in the cellar, in which the lives of four hundred people were instantly extinguished It was next morning before work could begin on the ruins. The report telegraphed through the country, which appeared next day, said " fortunately no lives were lost." How such a report could be spread deserves investigation. The terrible truth that followed horrified the country. The digging out and identification of the charred bodies was a dismal scene. Brooklyn was in utter mourning. Two of the brave actors who had tried to pacify the audience were burned to death. The destroyed lives were mostly young— the average age being 21 years. Over 100 remained unidentified—perhaps too far burned for a possibility of identification—and these were buried with great public solemnity on last Saturday.— 'Pilot.'