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

ttjeStatirbriblie *butler

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1887.

THE EXETER DISASTER.

THE awful calamity which occurred at
Exeter on Monday night is the absorbing
topic of the week, as well it may be, for
happily disasters of such appalling magni-
tade are rare, especially in England. When
the Opera Comique fatality occurred in
Paris in May last, seventy—seven lives were
officially reported to be lost, scarcely more
than half the ascertainedi human :sacri-
fice to the fire fiend at Exeter this week.
Indeed, we have to go back full five years in
the annals of disaster to discover a parallel
to the dreadful occurrence which Devonshire
and the rest of the kingdom is now deplor-
ing. The number of lives lost at Exeter was
exceeded in the Buff Theatre at Moscow,
when some three hundred unfortunate
creatures were hurled to immediate death.
Thirteen months earlier—in December, 1.881
—the terrible fire at the l'Ung Theatre in
Vienna occurred, swallowing up close on
800 victims; and in the spring of the same
year 150 persons or thereabouts perished in
the conflagration at the Opera House at
Nice. TWO hundred and eighty-three poor
playgoers are known to have been suddenly
launched into eternity when Mrs. Conway's
Theatre at Brooklyn was destroyed one
December night in 1876. All these awful
catastrophes occurred in foreign lands, and
the only calamities of serious magnitude—
comparatively speaking—which have taken
place, involving loss of life, in Britain since
1876 have been the accidents at the Colos-
seum at Liverpool in 1878, where thirty-
seven were killed and many injured; at the
Star Theatre, Glasgow, in November, 1684,
when fourteen were killed and several hurt;
and at he Hebrew Dramatic Club, in East
London, la -t January, where seventeen per-
eons were crushed to death. Singularly
enough, all these three disasters were alto-
gether unnecessary, if the term be allowable,
inasmuch as each arose through a false alarm
of fire, causing the-,inevitable panic and wild
rush for the outer air. On the contrary, the
Exeter disaster on Monday sprang from a
fire of terriffic fierceness, which quickly con-
verted most of the unfortunate ones who
could not escape from its reach into little
more than an unrecognisable heap of ashes.
The harrowing details of the sad scene of
death in the tortuous staircase leading down
from the gallery of the Exeter Theatre, as
given in the newspaper accounts of the
terrible affair, are enough to bring unbidden
tears to the eyes of those unused to emotion;
and the subsequent spectacle of long rows of
'Macke i?d corpses lying on straw litters in
an hotel outhouse awaiting identification.
where identity was possible, by the ghostly
light of lanterns, was one never to be forgot-
ten by those who witnessed it. After the
first shock of so tragical an occurrence the
reflection which comes common to all is,
could this sacrifice of life have been pre-
vented, and can we, out of disaster, learn
lessons of safety for the future? We note,
on reviewing the particulars, that the Exeter
Theatre was a new one, in its second season
only, built on the designs of a most experi-
enced 'theatrical architect. He had provided
for four evits from this same gallery where
the terrible loss of life occurred. But, im-
mediately on the awful cry of fire being
raised, a panic followed, and every occupant
of the gallery rushed for the way whereby
all had entered up a spiral staircase of four
twists. In their haste some fell, and the way
was blocked; and then all fought fraitlesstv
for progress until suffocation ceased their
suffering.s. The evil of an alarm of tire, its
chief terror, indeed, consists in the fact that
it fascinates ir.to frenzy all its victims, caus-
ing them to neglect and overlook every pre-
caution for a irsty which is not of the most
evident description. We contend, therefore,
that it is not enough to simply provide suffi-
ciency of egress for emergency, labelling the
extra doors " Exit is case of fire," but would
have a binding regulation inserted in the
licenses of all proprietors of places of enter-
tainment to the bffect that every fire door
should be unbarred and placed ready to open
ontward, at touch if required, directly the
performance , In addition t-
this, an air excluding drop, of sheet iron.
should be fitted in every proscenium, and
kept ready for easy lowering between audi-
tory and players, the rest of the permanently-
placsd partition between workers and on-
lookers being fireproof. Then gas should
never be used in the flies or elsewhere among
the scenery, bat in place thereof the electric
light, thereby reducing to a minimum the
first danger of a conflagration. And further,
automatic sprays, such as are now easily
obtainable, ought to be fitted among the
stage machinery ready for instant avail if
fi -e occur. These appliances, propel ly used,
would make it simply impossible for such a
catastrophe as that which now shadows
Devonshire to again occur. The Lord
Cham be :lain oversees Enid on theatrical
arrangements for public safety, the petty
sessional magistrates those in the country.
Plither authority should insist upon what we
have pointed out being put into practical
working before any theatre or music hall he
rermitted to have a licen4e ; otherwise the
(larger of an indescribable disaster will
always be impending.

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