The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1856-04-17
Burning of the Convent Garden rhea,er.

f
day, March 5th:
Il shall now proceed to give brief des
cription of the fire. You may recollsct in
formed YOU some months ago that Professor
Anderson. the Wizard of the North. who had
been drawing crowded audiences to the Ly-
ceum Theatre, had engaged Convent Garden.
which he opened on boxing night with a
grand pantomime. and performance OF leg
erdsnain. The season Of six weeks duration
has not been, | believe, successful 70 the
Wizard. and with view TO recover some of
/ the losses which he is said to have incurred
/ he announced a carnival benefit" as he
named it, 10 extend over couple of days.
after proverbial fashion in A merica .termina-
ting with a bal ma>que on Tuesdi sht -
At twenty minutes 70 ) O'Clock III tie NOR
ming, the company had dwindled down to a
very small number not more than two hun
dred being present. The last frantic revel
was completed. Mr.. Anderson. observing the
| tagging spirits Of the mssquers. gave the
order to the Master of Ceremonies TO wind
up the masquerade ball with the usual finale
| or "God save tie ttaeen.' At the moment
n man engaged m conversation with one Of
the bremen. observed bright light shining
through the chluhs oi the crivices OF the floor
ing 10 carpenter shop. high overhead =
When the hremans attention was called to
this fact, lie exclaimed. why. good God,
the house is on fire." and Immediately rushed
to the point Of danger. No one witnessed
his departure. and the people still kept up
their giddy chorus 10 The music of tie Nation
al Air. The carpenters shop extended from
nearly one end OF the house TO the other. and
lay between the ornamental ceiling and the
roof. The firemen found the smoke so dense
that they were unable to open the fire mains
on this floor. They saw that the fire had OBJ
tanned mastery which they would not be
able TO control. and they proceeded TO put
away the scenery most likely TO be effected
by the increasing fire. The falling down Of
a beam, together with she pouring down OF a
shower of sparks. gave intmation Of the dan
ger 10 the mixed group below. In another
moment the shoa, Of tire fire, was repeated
by every voice 4 scene of the utmos, con-
fusion ensued. Women were tramplei on;
some carried out in a falnting state, but for.u-
nately none Were severely injured. The i'm
mediate trau-i loa from re,alry to deadly fear
was something Fri .h,ful Before 5 o clock,
the fate Of this noble eilfice had been sealed.
The flames had oars; .hroug gh the roof throw
ing mp irto the ar columns Of FIRE. which
threw lnto bright reflection every tower and
spire within tie circuit Of the Metropolis.
! lllumln ating =; i'aul's AS if guided with bur
nlshed gold. al throwing flood of light
across Waterl-,, bridge which set out in bold
relief the dark "G Of tie hills in the dis
tance. This g'.r- was speedy messenger to
fetch engines ir~m all quar!eN OF London al
a tearing gall"p. There was no want Of wa.
ter. but had ;ho Thames been turned in at
The moment i: would not have saved the pro-
perty- The Theatre, blazing within its f4ol-
low walls, was like well of fire. or rather
furnace. An intense heat such as this soon
burnt up every timber the walls, and at
half past five \. loHf fell in with tremen-
dous crash. Showers Of FIRE sparks and bur
ming charcoal were thrown up and poured
down upon the streets. which were crowded
with masses Of people hurrying from all
points. The Ge~truc ion Is complete All
the scenery he exquisite productions of
Grilve and Telbn. the splendid properties of
. the Theatre, tie wartlrobes, the mountinys.
the dramatic library, the valuable operatic
scenes, some Of ~hcn can never be replaced,
as the Elisea Amor.. of Donizetti and the
Oberen Of Weber. are all gone crumbled up
in one indistinguishable mass. Tie attention
Of the fire brigade was now called to surroun-
ding houses. Some OF the Hotels close bv
were more or less damaged The Tle.ter
was under the management Of Mr.. Gre for
some years past. This gentleman was absent
IN Paris making arrangements 70: the operate
season. Ike moment lie aware that
Anderson was g"jng 10 have Bal Masque,
he prohibited such sep. A strong appeal
was ma e to Mr. Gye 10 reconsider lis de-
clsion on this point, and i. appears tia i: was
chiefly IN Consequence Of the reverses a..en-
ding Nj Anderson speculaiions tha. he con-
sen.ed. As to the origin OF the fire all re-
mains >tery. and | am afraid likely 10 do
So hear thai the is quite uninsured
with the exception Of f8,ooo upon a part of
tie properties. and another insurance Of
f2.O0o which was effected by Mr. Alder
son when lie engaged the Theater for three
months. which insurance would have expr
ed 10 morrow. IL seems strange. and is q mat
ter ofmuch conversation. that Mr.. Anderson's
theatrical sea~an fas been brought 10 a close
before in similar manner He bull. the
City Of G}a..ow Thea'er twelve years ago
which was ors tied by himself and burnt down
TO the ground in les. than twelve months
/ from the time the foundation stone was laid
This TEeater was amply covered by heavy
insurances. In America. / think, his pertor-
rnances were brought to snale By an occur
renee of a similar ra.ure. have heard it
stated in many quarters that the house was
wiifullv Set on fire by Anderson. but whether
there arc any grounds for such an assertion
remains 10 be proved. Tie insurance compa-
MES Will investigate most cautiously all the
circumstances Tie prospects for the ap-
preaching season w-re most brilliant, and all
The preparations yer. in course of compile
tion at the time when the mighty establish.
Tnent was laid low by sudden des.ruction.-
l. is now TOO late for regret. but it mus, in
crease the sorrox of the propriesors when
they consider that this calamity was brought
abou. by their unlucky thirst in giving up
the Thea,er for time to performances Of an
entirely di.Frren. and inferior character 70
those for which if was intended. The only
! consolation which remains under this calami-