The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-12-23 00:00:00

THE BROOKLYN THEATRE-4ARE:

knerican papers received on Saturday at Queenstown con-
!mu details of the catastrophe in the l3rooklyn Theatre, but
`4B full extent of the fire had not been realised at the de-
parture of the math. The New York Herald gives the fol.
°wing details of the outbreak of the fire :

"The Brooklyn Theatre, better known as Mrs.
Consvayie Theatre, took fire laat night during the per-
formance of the pia' of "The Two Orphans," and was
mass of smoking ruins in less than twenty minutes
ejtet the fire broke out. The company at the time
,Were about half through the fifth act, atid although the
llense was not crowded, there was a large audience pre-
sent, There is a divereuen tif opinion is to how the fire
Neinated, acme of those who weke in the house stating
the Rallies were first seen breaking out among the
Ls les ' on the stage, while otheis contended that
I'ls Scenery near one of the proseehiten boeces caught
4re from a gas jet Be that sea it may, the names
once started spreAd frith lightning-like ravidity, and
let, a le* i-iihutes the whole upper portion of the
• "lee was enveloped in a blaze which, fanned by
atstrong current of air on the stage' carried bvery-
luing before it, and the audiente *orb panic-atricien.
t vroeld be impossible to describe the scene that
4ilatleck At the aPpearance of the names in, the '
trtraurmur went through the audience as of stirprise,
Itie•lch quickly turned intki a ilrY ok hbrroi as the fire,
1,412;1nt dpØ-rd iid curling about the scenery,
klau roared as it swept through the light
`lwork- It was the work of an instant, and,
....Led before the audience had fully realieed the
glytfel situation the entire stage trappings ov,erhead
f One Mess of are. The cry of 'Fire! fire!' rang
Nu the galleries, and, tetrad the shrieks et ttlb
;Potnen and the curses of the Men, a rush was made
the door,. The men were as wild as the women,
-0 Weil, one seemed intent upon saving himself, re-
ksrdleas o what might befall anybody else. It was
the law of self-preservation aPserting itself i selfish
itlniggles to escape. Strongntni, foilght with desVera-
, mzke theft. way towards the &ore, And in
ea-Vouting te do so trampled down the women in
heir Way, who struggling and shrieking, cried ont
Itrirelessly for help. ,It WO all in 4/41+i, thtkt then,
.tt) telflpolOsAe4 iaitthi-Aliers, endeavoured to calm the
t. 0 tll; affrighted crowd, and that a cry came from
S.„7lBtacv. that all would be over in a minute. The
L"tk: Cr the vestibule continued. The seats were
A"rolten down in the general confusion. With the
..."elYeration • of extreme fear, the stkuggling men
4_4(1 omen tugged and hung on to one another
they pus Lei their way down from the galleries-
7enY, overcome with fright, falling to the floor
~,
to be bruised and crushed by the terrified multi,.
rue behind there. Fortunately, the vestibule was a
eke 60, and the doore opened freely in and out on
Ivhat are called double acting hinges, else there might
eAve to be chronicled one of the moafrightful disasters
thustt ever occurred in this tountry. Even as it was,
'Veetibule was too small to prevent a scene of the
Tidest confusion and terror as the crowd from the
"resB circle and galleries and that from the parquet
r 4. et in the vestibule near the doors, and for a moment
eo the crash threatened a dire calamity. Men,
Zrinet, and children Were huddled together in one
w,ithing, shrieking mass, arid, so tightly were they
A
L.7ußed near the door, that it *as almort an impossi-
its,for the police, who had come to the rescue early,
tKillake a break through the crowd in order to relieve
ht'ile in front from the pressure of the terrified
tZuPle behind, who were madly endeavouring to reach
r e street, hatless and coatless. Some of the men
"ght with the energy of giants to pull down thoLe
tt,b
-0 Were in their Way, while cries of despair and
th- ef agony rent the air on all sides. Many of
wernen were dragged out of the crowd by the police
v;th their clothes tom to shreds, several of them having
.!_l•eir dresses stripped off their backs. The policemen
*4qceeded finally in getting the vestibule cleared. The
Walk at this time was littered with dresses, muffs,
atid shawls, • and many women, as they found
,`'ereselves safe in the streets, fell fainting to the
flt,hrid. The excitement in the neighbourhood was
th "'Bei and the streets in the vititity were filled by
t,,tc:ande who were almost as frentied as the people
•lA„°„hadilhad etch a harrow escape from a frightful
to',loa; elatives and friends of the persons known
gene to the theatre stood on the side walk
and wringing their hands, and piteously ask-
the police to let them go to the rosette of those
;11.0 they feared were in danger of their lives. The
t scene was a terrible one, and will not be soon
el'gotteA by any one who witnessed it."

The
- is the story of an eie-witness t—
hue:" was in the dress cirtle, Same inflammable
11(ierial among the *Jugs caught fire from a gas jet,
ka„l-4, a few momenta the stage, encumbered with
krk-uuX--ty required in the performance, was a mikkis of
flames scon spread to the auditorium, and
coated
n, a panic among the 800 people present The
ern-,..7,were at once thrown open, and the parde.strieken
lecvu rushed through them in such a reckless way as
th;er',lY. to injure many persons, particularly among
bujilltkues• Fortunately, at the time the theatre was
je Public attention was strongly fixed upon the sub-
disej' of the construction of such buildings. After the
thec°„LrerY of the fire the great wall which surrounded
the ".`dgge on the Johnston street side fell outward into
the sireet with a loud crash, and the flames shot across
aedwaY, setting fire to the fronts of two frame houses
th_ enveloping a three•story building which aijoined
" theatre,"
kncithtr bye.,

ewitness says
„Alms Claxton was the principal actress in the play
Was being performed last night at the Brooklyn
'lt,re. When the disastrous fire began she made her
with Some difficulty, and at one time was in an
n:1,4 perilous position, from which her bravery
readLevit delivered her. I her company were
188 Ida Vernon and an invalid brother of the latter.
ri,oth ladies worts the only clothing they had saved from
,;•13 flames.' Miss Claxton wore the ragged raiment of
aae poor blind girl in the play of the Two Orphans.
V4ey were extremly agitated by the scfnes they , had
nested, but Bliss Claxtuit controlled herself ell&
e4ently to tell the following story in a somewhat
"Isieinted fashice, but with a great deal .of
coaaciout &emetic fore. She said, ' W.heti";
ti'ha act drop went up'for the fifth act, at the seventh
AuJe, eall, I was lying on a pallet ,of straw with
fair" (Zr. Murdoch) leaning over it*: As the Our-
Icee; I heard it Whispered from theatlage behind
ti 4 Tkin theatre is on fire.' I listened again, almost
14 zed. and then recognized Miss Clevis' voice repeat.
The theatre Is on fire; look behindifor God's
Still, I did not awake to the peril; :The, info'',
b„'Von of the fire was whispered to all Ma ttlit‘‘Btlige,
VII not one of us 'moved to go off. The play continued.
IneZ °ld .weman, Pierre's mother (Ma. Farren),
ed upon me in the savege manner necessary to
tee_ 46,tion, caught hold of my hair, and pulled
ree;,e 4an rny head went back, I glanced up to the
aref,,,, ceiling of the room in which we were playing,
tae, 'nett .I saw little toughed of flame licking through
• PY. Mr. Murdoch, Mr. Studley, and Mlle
eaW them at the same time. Then we heard a
ine—▪
.4S-0, tearing noise behind the scenes. This alarmed
.411• snore than the sight of the fire. Still none of us
thred till the audience caught sight of the flames, when
of I Fire I ' rang through the body of tha
eatre, and the audience rose en masse. We acted
'l.etngether without the slightest knowledge of one
Oc'ther's intentions. We four clasped hands and stood
i;koist at the footlights, and cried out, We are be-
%an You and the fire; sit still, for God's sake sit still,'
the" PecPle in the front rows heard our appeal, / save
-111 seat themselves again, and noticed one lady pull
elß.,e,_ralennan beside her down into his chair. The body
house was not very well filled, but the gallery
aa-e't 6• I°Y/del I am convinced that our action pre
to e—e‘u a Panic, and enabled the people near the &Des
the', cut witheut being pressed upon by those from
k
3,erso..tront seats. In this "Y
In"y more
• eee 'I got out without hurt than • would_
agef, 'leaped if all the gallery people had crowded
peo ,8t the others at the doors. As 8001 l as we saw the
laaePte getting out, we turned to escape ourselves.
eee,e,6 We found we were hemmed in by fire; the flames
:441rL, above and around, except on the aide of the
llatellrinto. We could see the red rafter above
ng to fall. I dashed downstairs and got under
-tae e, there I met Miss Maude Harrison, She
-er;„e"clne to her room to get some valuables out. I
i;e,_," cut to her, Let those things go, and come on,
'e sake; we must get out the front way; the
lett is gaining on us—look I' As I uttered this
„C'XCiatnatiOll I pointed to the ceiling, the floor
rte re stage. The flames were showing through
the we could mark out their courses along
Pee,„eracks of the flooring. Miss Harrison, Mrs.
DeVn. and myself then dashed along the crooked
keiti:ge waYs under the stage, and after some trouble
d the auditorium through a door. We had yet
tti`4,.B distance to go. The fire followed us feet, and
•thl6," was Stall a crowd of excited people to Pass
14..„6ng1i. We got into the crowd and dashed along,
:4 Mit. erg that now and again we felt that we trod upon
ho'tunan being. Once I looked down, and saw a
peetartn face horribly distorted and burned. Oh, rn;.9'
• It was a fearful sight. I shall never forget it.
rvards I saw the injured man taken out. He was
k`tirribly injured, and I think must be dead. As soon
got into the street we (hushed into the police station,
'lt —6 a gentleman lent me his overcoat, and after short
s'Y ttui station we walked round here."

04
ksporete of the employes of the theatre stated to a
rl/44 r that he was on the stage when he saw the fire
Ihee the alarm to all the people about him and
11,4 „-1111,_,4,de good his own escape. When he got outside
thai""ine went back, hearing that it might be possible
groptkirue of the women folk were still within. lb
It"
e4ft..r,e wag, 'to the dressing rooms and cried out,
women
here? for G3d's sake tollow
1a There Th"e was to answer to his summons, and the
P4ldeth.,- e°l'apelled him to run again for his life. He
escapt7 t he Was not satisfied that everybody had
4, but he hoped they had.

that 1.,* -"camas Figucria, of No. 592, Court-street, says
OrouZe win the gallery, and fitst saw sparks of fire
hot 'g between the scenes. He called out "Fire,"
second or more was too startled to run.
the moment the theatre roof of the stage
t/eLtd to fall in and a great burst of flame darted out
me 2 the auditorium' With a groan the audience
Teaed all to rise at once and proceed to the staircase.
'jfe/r got as far as the second landing down when &puff
613:10ke Seemed to come &award and completely fill
w
doe,Etairw .
aY• He was almost immediately knocked
cro-",bl and on the next landing wal trampled on by the
Lis is' going over him. His shoes were pulled off
that e,e6 in the rush. The smoke, too, was so dense
ee ue could not see, but a slackness in the crowd
4uled
„ him to rise' and he got out, exactly how he
t;e11. When he reached the wall several people
of the around, thrown down by the heedless rush
tong. Mr. Figueria is certain that all of that
diPon of the audience who were seated in the gallery
rt„_tiot escape, as he was far from being the last to
the stairway, and he had barely time to reach
-4e stairs.

thA4l,?. P. Heckert, a member of the orchestra, gave
th" Lollowing account of his escape from the burning
eatre, to a New York Times reporter :—"He Bald
ttat at Ulf; o'clock, during the representation of the
14",!at scene of the last act, while seated in his place in
Zute orchestra, he heard a very unustial. noise, so great
"rapletely to drown the voices of the players. At
thought it might have been caused by the
"ingot the econe, but he Boon became cqn.