The Sun.
London, England, 1812-02-17 00:00:00

FROM THE RICIIMO'2I4 INQUIRER, 626. 28.

I.lt 113 coiled our idcas-as well as we can. On
Thursday night a new play and a new after-piece
were played fdr the benefit of Mr. Place. Crowd;
swarmed 'to the theatre—it was the fullest house
this-season, there were not leis than 600 present.—
The play went off—the,pantornirne began, the first
a6t was over. The whole scene was- before us,
and all around us was mirth and festivity. , 0,,
God ! what a horrible revolution did one minute
produce I The curtain rose on the 2-1 at of the

paritominae—the orchestra was in fill chorus, and
Mr. West came on to open the scene—when sparks
of fire began to fall on the back part of the stage,
and M•. Robertson came out in unutterable distress,
waved his hand. to the ceiling, and uttered 'these
appalling words—" the house is on fire !" His
hand was immediately stretched forth to the per-
sons'in the stage-box to help them on the stage,
and aid their retreat in that direction. This is all
that we caught of the stage. The cry of fire,! fire !
passed with electric velocity through the touse—
every one flew from their seats to gain the' lobbies
and stairs.

The scene baffles all description. The most
heart-piercing cries pervaded the house, " Save
me, save me." Wives asking for their hu,bauds,
females and children shrieking, while the gathering
element came rolling on its curling flames and co-
lumns of Sinoke—threatening to devour every hu-
man being in the building. Many were trod under
foot—several were thrown back from the windows,
who 'were struggling to leap. The stair-ways
were immediately blocked up—the throng was §o
great that many were raised several lea over the
heads of the rest—the smoke threatened an in-
stant suffixation. We cannot dwe;l ou this piaure.
We saw—we felt it—like others, we gave up our-
selves for lost—we cannot depid it. Many leaped
from the-windows of the first story, and were sav-
ed—children and females, and men of all descrip-
tions, 'were seen , to precipitate themselves on the
ground—most of these escaped ; though several of
them wii h broken legs and thighs; and hideous con-
_ •

tusions. Most, if not all, whowere' in the pit, es-
caped. Mr. Taylor, the last of thc musicians who
quitted the orchestra, finding his retreat by the back
way cut off,
,leapt into the pit whence he enterei
the semicircular avenue which lea:ls to the door or
,the Theatre, and found it
,nearly empty. He was
the last that escaped from the pit ! how melan-
choly, that many Who were ir, the boxes, above and
below, pushed for the lobbies—many, as has
been said, escaped through the ‘vitidows—bUt the
most of them had no other resource than to descend

the stairs, many escaped in that way—but so great
was the pressure, that they retarded each other, uh-
til the devouring element approached to Sweep t hem
into eternity. Several who even emerged from the
building were so much scorched, that they have'
since perished—some even jumped from the second
window--some others have been dreadfully burnt.
The'firo flew. with a rapidity, almoSt beyonclex-
ample. Within 10 minutes after it caught, the
whole .house was wrapt in flames. The ,colour d
people in the galkry most of them escaped through
.the stairs but off from the rest of the house—some
have, no doubt, fallen viditris. The pit and boxes
had but, one cominon avenue, through which the
whole crowd escaped, .save those only who leaped
through the windows.

. .
But the scene which ensued it is impossible to
paint. Women with dishevelled hair, fathers and
mothers shrieking out for their children, husbands
for their wives, brothers for their sisters, 'filled the
whole area on the outside of the building. - A few
who had escaped plunged again into the flames to
save some dear objed of their regard, and they pe-
rished. The Governor perhaps strared this melan-
choly fate. -Others were frantic, and would have
rushed tallestru6tion, but for the hand of a friend.
The bells tolled. Almost the whole town trashed
to the fatal spot.

' The flame must have caught to the scenery
from some light behind—Roberrson saw it, . when
,it xa, no longer than his arm—YoUng saw it on
the roof, when it first burst through. Every arti-
cle of the theatre was consumed, as wells as the
dwelling-house next'to it. But what is wealth in,
comparison of the valuable lives which have gone
for ever ? The whole town is shrouded in woe.
Heads of families extinguished tor ever; many and
many is the house in which a chasm has been made
that can never -be filled up,

EXTRACT OF A LETTER •TO A GENTLEMAN 1N

BOSTON.

" I have just conversed With a young gentleman,
who was one of the last that got out of the house
before the roof fell in : lie bays, he saw, he thinks,
fifty ladies lying dead, some ❑aked, others nearly
so, and horribly mangled and crushed beyond all
power of descliption. Many ladies were thrust from
the second story window., by men who followed
them themselves; some were seen jumping out
with ladies in their arms. The good Governor
bore•lais lady out sate, and boldly returned to rescue
his son, but, alas ! in vain ; his remains I saw
taken' from the ruins (which was designated by a
stuck-buckle which he wo►e) a crisped lump. The
brave Lieutenant Gibbon was enamoured of a young
lady, the first ornament of her sex, Miss Sally
Conyers; he got inn, but finding that she had not
escaped, was heard to sax, " I'll bring her out, or
perish in the attempt." He rushed in, and was
afterwards seen with the lady in his arms, when
the wall fell, and closed the scene for ever to that
ill-fated pair.

I have not heard of any New England people
among the deaths. It is judged that an hundred and
fifty perihed,"

EXTRACT OF A LETTER DATED MCEIMOND, DEC. 23.
Many more human skulls have been found than
we ye, know of persons missing: It is, therefore
feared many Strangers 'were .in the theatre. Al.
most every person who escap,.-d was in some way
wounded. The Theatre was badly constructed
here was only one door fur the pit and first a, d se-
cond row of boxes. 'More than half of those pc, -
sent who survived, leaped from the windows. La
doing *lda, however, others were murtaliy wound-,

• ea: the wAnclo.w,s of 'fie first row of boxes Were
.
shout 15 feet, thOie of the second; 24 feet from tho
gro.iPti "

. .
,
al. the day tolloy,'lng; th.e. dreadful scene at the
Theatre, at Richmond, the en
,m C•run: i! passed
au der for collecliug the: rerna • • sufferers,
and depusiti lg them in ,urjrs cptiiig; (exc,pt..
itig such ;is should be claitned bjr:their relatives);
and removed with all proper respeA and
,so,erunity
to the burying ar,litid,a.sitig ino,luments
to be ereded, and inscriptions wide, to prcserve
m
the reentbranceof t!,e !I:llitiing eYont ; —more-
oi,er recorprriencling the 3,,,i):ension,Cf all business
for 48,hotirsj -and further, prohl)itiog any person;
under heavy, penalties, to clii6ll r--1!'6,!!: ;1(4
or Speetacle, or to open _any pu.nlic.dancing aasern-
bly; within the city;for four ninntlis.
The.unclairneclrernains of upwards of.fiftjr of thevi urns
of the flames, in flichino,ld, were deposited
in two large. boxes, and bUried in the Rt of the
Tli-!atre. Vt:e ci tizong ha:ye purchased the ground
the TheJ tre stood, for the purpose of ei eCt -
inka Church in its stead, and 'more than 2460 dol-
.
Jars have been subscribed:,
Among the iMinber whO so awfully perished, it
is said there were not six of th6....p00r class.