The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-06-04 00:00:00

THE AWFUL FIRE AT A FRENCH

THEATRE.
The Opera Comique, situated in the Place Boleldiein
Paris, was destroyed by fire on Wednesday night last
week; and although the panic which usually attends
such disasters was averted, and the audience mostly
escaped, there was unfortunately serious loss of life
among the employes. "Le Chalet and "Mignon'
were the pieces down for performance. The night
being a popular one, at reduced prices, the theatre,
which was calculated to accommodate about two
thousand persons, was crowded. The fire, which was
discovered shortly before nine o'clock, broke out on the
stage in the middle of the first act of "Mignon," and
is believed to have been caused by the gas coming in
contact with the upper part of the scenery, whence it
spread to the curtain, burning pieces of which fell on
to the stage. One of the actors advanced to the foot-
lights, telling the spectators that nothing was the
matter; but he had scarcely spoken when the stage
seemed enveloped in flames, and the actors fled with
cries of terror which thrilled through the spectators.
The audience then rushed to the doors, the con-
fusion and terror being intensified by the turning off
of the gas. The fire spread rapidly along the roof,
the ceiling almost immediately fell in, and, when the
firemen arrived, the whole building was hopelessly
involved in flames.
THE SEARCH AMONG THE RUINS.
The Paris correspondent of the Times says: "The
kn swn deaths include those of Mrs. Paul George, of
Dover; Miss Jane Russell, her companion, of 8, Rue
Balzac ; Mrs. Summers (formerly Miss Knowles),
Miss Mary Knowles, and Miss Winifred Knowles, of
77, Rue Courcelles. Next to the ballet dancers the
largest contingent of victims is furnished by the
upper galleries. From these galleries the spectators
had the greatest difficulty in making their escape.
Some were blinded by the smoke, which seems to
have filled the upper part of the hall with frightful
rapidity, and tried in vain to reach the doors
until they fell down suffocated. Others in the
wild rush to the staircases seems to have fallen, to
have been trampled upon, and never to have risen
again. The greater number of the dead bodies re-
covered show by lacerations on the face and hands
that they have been crushed under the feet of the
crowd passing over them. In general, these victims
are women. An expression of terror marks the
features in cases where they have not been scorched
or lacerated. The struggle at the doors was evi-
• dently fearful. One door seems to have resisted all
efforts made to open it, and the bodies collected
there have their hands stretched towards it.
Twenty-seven persons seem to have entered a
small bar attached to the galleries, thinking
it was a way out. Once inside they could not
leave it. A thick smoke filled the place, and they
were eaffocated. The firemen, when they reached
this spot, found the bodies crushed against each
other, with arms and legs BO locked together as to
form one solid mass. Here and there one of the
group I,ad succeeded in raising a hand above the
heads. The women for the most part had bare heads
and loose hair. Theix torn dresses showed the
struggle they had passed through in their attempts to
escape. The fire did not reach the bar in question,
so bodies found there were not burnt but suffocated.
The bodies found on the staircase between the upper
and lower boxes show that death was due simply to
suffocation. There was no trace of fire on them.
Some of the women had their gloves fastened, and
even their bonnets still tied under the chin, though
displaced and crumpled. In one case, however, a
woman's hair was dishevelled. The women were
mostly stout and elderly, having succumbed in the fight
for egress, and their faces are lacerated and bruised.
The men, too, were mostly obese. Their coat-tails
had in many cases been torn off. The watches found
on the bodies were all found to have stopped at 9.15
or 9.20. As the fire did not break out till after nine,
their unhappy owners must have been almost imme-
diately suffocated or trampled to death. Moreover, a
man, feeling overcome by the heat (the gas was
flaming), was urged by his wife to leave, and on
reaching the street perceived that a fire had broken
out. As he had left just before the sparks fell, and
heard the people stirring as he passed the first
landing, this is another proof of the rapidity of the
fire. _ _