The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-09-10 00:00:00

TERRIBLE SCENES.

A correspondent at Exeter has forwarded the
following harrowing particulars of the catastrophe:
Everything went smoothly until about twenty
minutes after ten, when one of the scene-shifters in
the flies, who was lowering a gauze curtain, saw it
had caught fire at the side. With great promptitude
and presence of mind he at once lowered the drop
scene, with the idea probably of shutting off the
flames from the inside of the theatre; but the poor
man's thoughts, or those of the man assisting him;
will never be known, as before they could get
away the flames surrounded them, and they now
lie amongst the dead. The stage was crowded
with new scenery, and the fire spread
—to use the words of one of those on
the stage "like an explosion without the
noise." In front of the house, when the act drop
fell, all for a moment was wonderment; but the fire
immediately burst through it in one huge tongue of
flame, which literally licked round the sides of the
house. Then ensued what was no doubt a fearful
rush. Colonel Fremantle, who was in the stalls, and I
one or two other gentleman called out to the
affrighted people to go out quietly, and the theatre
fireman got the hose from the hydrant to work;
but within a minute or two all had to retreat
for life, the flames progressing with astonishing
rapidity. The scenes that ensued are almost
too terrible for repetition, strong men fighting
their way amongst women and children, only to
meet with death themselves in the dreadful crush
on the stairs. All, or nearly all, of the occupants of
the lower part of the house appear to have eat ol
with nothing worse than slight bruises and other I
injuries, but of those occupying the gallery only a
few escaped alive. A few minutes after the fire broke
out the alarm was conveyed to the streets, and in a
very short time the fire escape was on the spot, and
assisted in the rescue of a large number. Outside
the theatre were two balconies. One reached from
the windows of the dress circle, and the other from
the gallery, and from both of these a number of
people were rescued. When the fire broke out Mr.
Pople, the landlord of the London Hotel,
obtained a number of ladders from a builder's
yard opposite, and was thus enabled to bring
down many persons from the balconies, and it
should be stated that he placed his entire establish-
ment at the disposal of the authorities. There is no
doubt that as soon as thelFire Brigadeand escape men
arrived, which was with all due promptitude, they
worked well ; but they were for the moment entirely
beaten by the fire. A rumour arose that everybody
was out of the building, but this was clearly wrong,
and some striking scenes of heroism were witnessed in
bringing out dead bodies and attempts at rescue.
Only ten minutes had elapsed from the first signs of
the outbreak, and now the flames roared everwhere.
The occupants of the gallery who got out appear to
have scattered and become lost among the crowd,
and it was not until some few minutes afterwards
that the intelligence was spread that there had
been a rush frcm the gallery and a blockade of
the exit, in which men and women had been
thrown down and piled one on top of another. To
the terrified and helpless onlookers it seemed an age
before the fire escape arrived, yet as a matter of fact
it was there in about ten minutes or so; but when the
escape was brought up it was difficult to say where it
was to be utilised first. As the fire had progressed
people had made their way to the windows and on to
the roof, from which they were rescued by means of
ladders. There was no lack of willing helpers, and no
sooner was the alarm raised, and it was seen that
lives were in jeopardy, than men acquainted with the
locality hurried off and returned with ladders, by
means of which several people were enabled to get
out of the burning building. There were a few sailors
and soldiers about, and they were among the foremost
to lend a helping hand.
It was marvellous how rapidly the flames spread.
By the time the fire escape was run up and the engine
was got to work the whole of the interior of the build-
ing presented the appearance of one huge furnace.
The doors of the gallery entrance and the early
entrance appeared to have been closed with a view of
checking the draught, but as soon as it was known
that there were people upstairs these doors were torn
down and an attempt was made by several among the
crowd to effect an entrance, notwithstanding that at
that time the approaches to the gallery were filled
with smoke and the flames were raging in close
proximity. The efforts of the rescuers were so far suc-
cessful that several persons were brought out alive,
but badly injured, and when at last the increasing
volumes of emoke drove the helpers back, they
returned with the sad tale that there was a heap of
human beings piled one on top of the other at the
bead of the stairs. After a while the efforts of the
Fire Brigade, which had been at once directed to the
gallery entrance, began to have a little effect, and the
fire escape was brought round. A window over the
gallery door was broken in, and an attempt was aeain
made to reach those who were in the gallery. Here
gallant aid was rendered by the City Surveyor (Mr.
• Cameron) his assistant (Mr. Beynon), and a stalwart
young fellow, a seaman named Hunt. From the roof
of the gallery eni ranee they reachsd a en all winc'ow,
through which they gained the interior of the pre-
mises, and succeeded in rescuing several people, some
alive but he'pless. And this was dote in the
midst of showers of blinding sparks, clouds of suf-
focating smoke, and flames close at band, while
every now and then the crash of falling wells and
glass was heard on all sides. On the roof of the
gallery entrance excellent service was rendered by P.
S. Sullock, an artilleryman, and Mr. E. Morris, who
took an active part in carrying the sufferers out of
the building, taking some down the ladder and help-
ing others through the fire escape. As the gallcry
approaches were neared by the rescuing party the
dead and dying were found lying in a heap. The
sight was a sickening one, never to be forgotten.
Many of the bodies presented a frightful appearance
Some appeared to be crushed out of all semblance of
shape; others were an unrecognisable charred mass
of flesh, and all were cut and bruised and bleeding,
pitiable objects. Unmistakably, the fight for life had
been a terrible one, and fought to the bitter end.
The stories of bravery on the part of the rescuers
are numerous. A sailor, named Hunt, just paid off
from the gunboat Express, rendered signal service,
as did also Messrs. West, James, Coembes, Hamlin;
Russell, Monsell, Morris, A. Angel, and others. Out-
side the theatre long lines of stretchers were placed,
and it was not long before the melancholy fact wal
demonstrated that they would have to be brought
into requisition. As the bodies were taken out they
were conveyed to the London Hotel yard, where Mr.
Pople saw that the remains of the hapless victims
were treated with all possible care and decency. The
medical men of the city were quickly apprised of the
disaster, and were one and all soon on the spot,
ready to render every assistance that their skill
could devise. All those showing signs of life were at
once sent to the hospital. In the hotel yard the sight
was almost ghastly, as the corpses were laid out in
rows by the light of lanterns. In the meantime the
fire bad been got under, but not until the entire
theatre was pesitively burnt out, nothing remaining
to testi), te what had been but heaps cf charred
beam' and twisted irons on the floor, and a few

girders to represent where there had been dress circle
and gallery. The search, despite the danger from
falling beams, went on rapidly, and by f-ix o'clock neat
morning it was believed that all the bodies had been
brought out. It is believed that at the time of the
fire breaking out there were about 800 persons in the
house, of whom 200 were in the gallery, 400 in the
pit, and the remainder distributed through the build-
ing.
NARRATIVE OF A RESCUER.

William Hunt, able seaman of the Express, who
was conspicuous for his gallantry during the fire,
gave the following narrative of his experience. He
says:
"1 was in the pit. My brother left word on Sunday
night that I was to meet him at the theatre, and I met
him in the pit. We followed on the p'ay until it came
to the Saratoga scene, where the vessel sails. After-
wards they had barely raised the curtain when it
dropped again. Then some one said 'Keep your seats.'
This was before I had seen any fire. The voice I
should judge was of some one in the pit. My brother,
who has just finished his time in the army, was with a
gentleman outside. I said Look after him, George;
I'm going back again.' I then mounted one of the
pillars outside the entrance, and got on to the balcony.
As soon as I got on to the top I saw a young girl.
She was very brave. She said, 'Look after my
mother,' and I said I would. Just then a ladder was
put up and I helped her into it and saw her go down.
She must have been about 14 or 15, As she went
down she said Where's mother?' I said I would
find her mother. As luck would have it her mother
came next, and was saved. A young woman came
after that and I helped her down. Then a second
ladder was put up. I looked round; there were no
more women, and I left the men to take care of them-
selves. I raised one of the ladders against the next
landing, and from there I could see the entrance to
the gallery. I looked through a window, and I could
see bodies burning. This was not more than a
quarter of an hour after I had made my exit from
the pit. The first body I saw when I looked through
the window was just at the entrance to the
steps. It was a man lying on his face at the top of
the steps. The glass of the window had not been
broken until I did it. The people inside could not
have reached the window. Tho flames were between
me and the bodies. Next to the man on the top of
the steps was a woman with her hand held up over
her head, seemingly as if she was beckoning some-
body else. She was dead and burning in that posi-
tion. All her clothes were: burnt ; she was buming
as she stood upright; she was a mere cinder. When
I saw her everything was burning, even the land
she was holding up. Naar her were two bodies, and
I saw some others lying down in a heap, otna in
one position, some in another. Some were endea-
vouring to keep the fire off their eyes. Tnere
was fire all rouud, and the flames were licking in
every direction. I saw I could do no good there:
Th window I ha I been looking through was at the
top ( f ti e roof. Th ey sang out or me below, and I
came down. I locked round, and then ran in the
front entrance. The' e was a sergeant of police there.
He was p'a3ing the hose, and there were half-a-dozen
h Iping him. I had a look in at the do( r leading
into the threatre, and on the left as 3ou go in I saw
another door marked • Saloon.' Some men said,
Don't go in there; there is nobody there.' When
he said, 'lt's no good going up there, Jack,' I asked
him if he hal been up? and he said at once
went up the stairs and saw an artilleryman at the
top. He was lying on his stomach. There wag nothing
that I could see to prevent him going over the stairs.
The flames must have overtaken him and he must
have been suffocated and dropped. The flames were
there by this time. I passed him down, and
he was taken over to the London Hotel stables. After
that I saw three ladies. One seemed to be breathing
as I took her down. We cut her clothes adrift. Dr.
Kempe, I think, attended her. There were a dozen
doctors there. I remember Dr.Kempe particularly. I
left him in charge of her after I had carried her over
to the yard and placed her down with her mantle
or someone elss's under her head as a p'llow. liar
face was black' with the smoke. Something was
across her face and I took it off, and she appeared
to breathe more freely. God knows whether she is
alive now. I didn't go up again. Somebody brought
down another woman, I think, after I brought
the other down. That was all I cou'd sea in
the passage. I went up the front again and got
through the refreshment-room, and passed a lot of
pictures and other things. When I first went up the
staircase the fire had not actually appeared to reach
that part, although the flames now and again passed
over them. They must have fall, n through suff a.a
tion. After that I went to the Horse and Groom, in
Longbrook-street, and changed my things. Later on
I went to the dressing-room of the theatre, and found
some rings and a brooch, which I handed to Mr.
Gifford. I am a native of Exeter. My father lives
in Portland-street. I do not want any rempensa.
I only did what I could. I was pail off from the
Express, at Devonport, last Friday wiek, and am
now staying in Exeter, on leave. When that is up I
shall join the Cambridge, gunnery ship."