The Press.
London, England, 1856-03-15 00:00:00

250

Piazza Hotel, Covent-garden, to investigate the cir-
cumstances attending the burning of Covent garden
Theatre, last week.
The coroner having briefly explained the object of
the meeting, called,
James Castles, one of the four firemen attached to
the theatre, who gave the following account of the
catastrophe :

I was in the theatre at the time of the outbreak of the
fire on Wednesday morning last. I had been there since a
few minutes after one o'clock in the afternoon of the
preceding day, with the exception of a short interval.
The fire commenced between four and five o'clock on the
Wednesday morning. I was on the stage at the time with
my brother firemen. We considered it our duty to con•
cenZrate ourselves as much aspossible there, in consequence
of the number of persons who were smoking in the
theatre. I was in the act of converaing with Mr. Walker,
foreman of the gas department under Mr. Palmer, and
asking him what " battens " he should require left alight
fur the workmen who were. to be employed in clearing up
the theatre after the company had dispersed, when, looking
up, Mr. Walker clasped his hands and exclaimed, " Oh, my
God, the theatre is on fire ! " I immediately looked up,
and saw a glimmering light through a crack in the floor of
the carpenter's shop over the singe. At this time no fire
had fallen. I saw a brother fireman, William Butler, on
the opposite side of the stage, and I ran to him, and,
putting my hand on his shoulder, said to him, " Bill, the
house is on fire ! " We both rushed upstairs towards the
carpenter's shop. When we got to the door of the shop
a gush of black smoke struck us. The smoke was so
dense that we could only face it by going on our hands
and knees. We proceeded some distance in this way, and
endeavoured to get to the fire-mains in the shop, when,
before I could reach them, I became so giddy from the
smoke that I was obliged to return, but not before seeing
that the fire was on the left aide of the shop. When I got
back to the door of the carpenters' shop I fell down
several of the stairs—l suppose from the effects of the
smoke. Presently I recovered myself and made for the
fire-mains immediately under the floor that was on tire. I
charged one of these fire-mains—there were two on each
floor—and the water flowed. The mains are supplied from
a tank on the roof, which was always kept charged with
eighteen tons of water. While I did this the fire was
falling very thick through the floor, and some persons,
whom Ido not know, called to me to come away. 1 then
made for the next fly below, where I let two or three straps
off the handles of the scene barrels, thinking they might
thus fall clear of the fire, but I soon found I could do no
good there, and 1 then made for the stage, where I found
one of my fellow-servants at the fire-main. We each
assisted the other in getting them to work, and we re-
mained there as long as we possibly could. Indeed, when
we came out of the building the people had all left, and the
engines were at work.

As to the origin of the fire this witness, Castles,
states that he is convinced it broke out on the left-
hand side of the carpenter's shop over the stage,
" because he saw it. through the smoke." He had
been up in the carpenter's shop between seven and
eight o'clock to attend the lighting of the chande-
lier, and on coming out had then shut the door.
When the fire was discovered, and he reached the
carpenter's shop, he found the door open. But a
short time previous to the discovery of the fire he
had been the rounds and passed within twenty or
thirty feet of the spot where the fire broke out, but
he perceived no smoke nor symptom of tire then. To
the question, Have you any means, from anything
that occurred, of accounting for the fire? he re-
plied:—

I really must say that I think the means was taken there
to do it.

Yon mean you think that the theatre was set on fire ^—
Yes.

Then, having said that, state why so.—Because the
smoke was so peculiar—not like common burning wood
smoke, and also the particular time at which it occurred—
that we should be all busily engaged as nearly as possible
on the stage getting the people out.

Then, yours is a mere general suspicion, and nothing
more?—Only a suspicion.
To some further questions he explained that the
smell of the smoke was like the fumes of charcoal,
and not like overheated wood.

William Butler, another fireman, had been in the
carpenter's shop between eleven and twelve, and on
the flies at three a.m., without perceiving any symp
torn of fire. When the fire was discovered, and he
reached the carpenter's shop,

he saw a large quantity of wood in a heap on the floor
all on tire. The floor was about 1 inch stuff. The tire
spread and they tried to get to the large water box, but
could not for the density of the smoke. At that time
there was nothing on fire below the carpenter's shop. The
fire in the shop was in the middle. The heap of wood was
in the middle of the shop. The heap of wood rubbish
that was burning was in the same place as when he saw it
at six on Tuesday morning.

James Bryanston, sen., another of the firemen,
said:—

He went up to the carpenter's shop with the others. The
heap of wood in the centre of the shop was on fire. He
could not tell whether there were any pieces about from
the heap. Could not give any idea as to how the fire
originated. Had not smelt anything that would arouse his
suspicions. The wood that was burning was about sixteen
feet from the door. Could not see all over the room for
the smoke. He saw no fire in front of the proscenium.