, 1864-04-17

pulse to the door: Then came stamping
rush as of . herd OF maddened animals.
Many tore forward without o thought but Of
their own snfety, others snatched up thelr
children, others dragged forward thelr old
mothers or iathers, or bore their wives or
. sWeethcarts In their aIms- Then came tho
grnpple for life, the trampling sudocating
battle for existence that only served to hast-
In n;nuy things am coward enough but
In sudden danger have always found myself
cool spd collected. Perhaps sailors tle-
quent Eaxarts, and the constant thought Of
the possibility of death, is sort Of training;
know not bow It is- cnly state the fact.
saw immediately that though for the mo-
ment safe, and far from the tun torrent Of tho
struggle. my hopes OF escape were quite as
desperate as the hopes OF those who were
tr.inpliug each other to 4rath ct the entrance
Ing doors opened inward. In the first rush
it had been closed, and NOW the pressure
was so great It could rot be moved one way
OF other. ...-.
The flames were spreading rapidly, tho
sEoke rolled towards US in binding clouds,
pent tongues Of fire. The flames seemed
With crnel greediness To spring from seat to
seat The elips were blazing, the orchestra
was seething pit Of fire. The screams and
groans on all sides were heart-breaklng. l
hesitated for moment whether to remain
human whirlpool below. At that moment, a
surge Of flame ran along the ledge of the
next boz to me, blnckenine and bllstcring as
It went. The heat grew intense. deter
mined to make one struggle for life- ran
to the head Of the stairs and looked down.
There, the herd Of screaming, shouting p8o-
pie fought with hands and feet in horrible
tnpule Of 1ffn and death.
Igaye myself up as lost, when a hand
seized my coat. It was the old housckeeper,
screaming her entreatics to me to save her.
told her to cling to me and would do
what could. It gave me courage to think
I lwas struggling for some one besides my
SELF She kneeled and prayed to God for Us
both. 7 had placed myself at the edge Of
the crowd In order to husband my strength
for last effort. One thing I determined,
and that was that l would not ssye myself
BY treadin'g poor women and children under
burn me slowly, or wonld recommend my
soul to- God, throw myself into tae crater
behind me, and SO die quickly. One agoni-
zing thought alone shot through my heart.
and that was a thought for tue tender girl !
before.
Suddenly, as stood there like diver hesi-
tating before he plungee, peasant, scorched
and burnt, dashed past me from the crowd
that had tramplcd upon him, and, staggering
forward, half stiled with smoke, fell face
usual with the peasants. wns thrust In his
belt behind. A thought Of fselCPreseryatton.
surely sent etEnight from Heaven, flashed
through my bsain. stopped and drew out
the axe. -..-
man who stops me!' cried out, In broken
Rufslap.
I half fought, half persuaded, few to give
way, until reached the bottom Vi tne stairs,
-nd had the bare plank wall Of the outer en-
ciosnn. NJ L. H.. t1leater before me.
; II wiH save you ali ,"l ciic1, c1 "1t Eou VIII
let nc free my ARM
The old woman still c1ung to me, but as I
advanced to strike my first blow at the plank
partition that arose between life and death,
there came d rush which for moment sep
arated u.s. I had no time or room to turn,
but next moment I felt her grasp still flrmer
and closer, One blow. and the splinters
few n second blow, a plank gave way; q
third blow, and the blessed daylight poured
in on us; fourth blow, uud chasm ylwned,
wide enough for the passage Of myself and
my charge: After us, hundreds passed out
rapidly. -, -.
found myself among crowd Of fshriekipg
women, who were calling on an officer stand
ins in q burouche drawn by six horses, to
save their husbands, ,tsons, brothers.. Sudden
1y man with q scoeched. beard, his eyes
streaming with tears, came and took from
me the Woman had saved. was so blind
ed with smoke and fevered with excitement.
that had scarcely given her thought. AL
I knew was, that I had saved IN old woman,
and, by Gods grace, opened = door of escape
for some hundreds Of otherwise doomed crca.
turee. When ( looked round, found the
the Bcorched and weeping man-shedding
! tears Of joy over q, beautiful girl who had
tainted. The old woman had been divided
from. me in the tuulult- The merchants
daughter 1t was who had then c1asped met
was her whom had saved. Beautiful she
fathers blessings.
The tail officer was the emperor. "Afy
children" he kept saying to the mob, a.
will save all I can. Bring that brave man to
me-' :.
h.: I am not ashamed to repeat those words,
though did not deserve them.
81 Englisbman," he said to me in French,
"the Russian nation owes you q debt: Of
gratitude; it Is for me to repay 1t; come to
me tomorrow at the palace"
L bowed 1ny thanks, and handed my card to
one of the Emperor's staff.
When the fac Was subdued, and they be-
gan to dig for the bodies, the scene was ayon-
ising, Heaps Of chur1ed and trampled corpses
laynnder the smoking bcams-somc stt1led,
others trodden or 6eaten to death. Some
we're chnrred, others were half roasted,
many only burnt in the chest or head, the
holiday clothes still bright and gay. In the
the galleries, women were found sunoc ltol
aud leaning over the front boxes. In one
passage they discovered . crowd OF dead, a1l
erect. like so many matsha1lcd from the other
alive, hut dangerously burnt. Most Of these
afterwards died In the hospitals. g.
One little boy was discovered covering uu-
hurt under bench he had crept there when
/: the burning foof began to break up and drop
among the struggling multitude. The beams
and dead bodies had go fallen as to :toEm a
shelter. over his head, aud there he had re-
manned till we dfsintefrcd him
The official returns set down the number
Of the dead as three hundred but my agent
told me thRt while he himself stood there. he
counted afty wagons pas, each laden with
made much higher estimate. =
] need not SAY much about my visit to the
palace; suffice 1t to mention TINT the En-
peror Iewurdcd me with IN order that l.
highly prize On the same DAT the priests
offered up public prayers for the souls Of the
sufferers, on the site Of the burnt theater It
was solemn spectacle, and as rose from
those prayers, full Of gratitude to God for
my dellyerance, rough band g1asped mine.
It was the merchant whose daughter had
suved. Tears streamed from his eyes as he
embraced me and kissed my forehead and my
cueeA IL AAE Q1!euLA! 14Aa4EF u uIe ,uf1lou.t .
"My little fathaE,n he said, II would 1ath-
cr have found thee than hare cleared q thou
sand red ronble note. Little Catherine whom
3ou saved; has been praying, for you ever
since. Come, you must dine With us ! Will
take no denial, for do I not owe you more
than my life Come, q droshky there-quick
to the Fontnnka; Catherine will leap for Joy
when she secs you" ,.. ii:
That visit was an cycntfnl one to nc, for
on my third voyage from that date / married
Catherine Masl0yitch, aud q loving, devoted
wife I found her, She is kissing my cheek as
!. ] pen these words.
But it is not to dwell on my own personal
good fortune and happiness, that I hare writ
ten this Plain ,1enembrance. It Is, that I
may do what little ! can to impress upon
building on fire is certain to be fatal, md
that IN orderly departure from 1t is certain
del[yernnce. The theater, concert room,
church or chapel, does not exist, through
which a fire could spread SO rapidly Us to.pFe.
vent the whole assembly from going out un-
6cathed, If they wou1d 20 free from panic.
The Santiago case Was IN extremely excep-
tionul one, The whole Of the Eaudy clap
traps were under the management Of priests
(the worst managers On earth), and what
kind Of priests they were, may be inferred
from the fact that the basc towards all pre-
.cipitntely fled, and tlat not one Of them
mad .tha manhood to stand at the nltas, his
place Of authority, where he could be seen
ouB, and whence his directions would have
been issued at an immense advantage Aguin,
the aEEemblage Was mainly composed Of NO.
men end children In light, tnfammable dress,
es. Again, the show was lighted bylasnps
OF parnf1ine, dangling BY Strings from the