The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1869-10-14
RI. burning Of the Dresden Theatre

A correspondent of the London ItmeS,
who was an eye witness OF the GONNA
grafton, which destroyed the splendid
ROYAL theatre at Dresden, on the ga OF
last month, gives the following dlscrlp-
tion of the catastrophe:
at was about twelve o'clock when
the bells of the Krenz kirche rang out
the alarm, and i noticed a column OF
smoke rising, but had no notice whence
il preceded till l reached home, when
the news came the Hof theatre was on
fire. | fastened to the spot in drozy,
and was driven to the back OF the thea
tire near the gardens of the Lwlnger,
from which the whole of that part OF
the building was visible. Flames were
rising from the central cavity, the
whole roof having fallen in, and, seen
through the windows and gaps in the
wall, it had the effect of an enormous
furnace, the smoke wreathing up In
front in thin veil.
"At first it seemed as if the contlagra-
ton would soon subside; and this, IN all
probability, would have been the case,
if active cxertion had been made to
throw water into the building. There
was an engine at work near where l
stood, but it merely sent small stream
on one portion of the left-hand tower,
where a number of zen were stationed
with the view of saving some OF the
contents of the building, and few
trunk loads of furniture passed as the
sole rescue. As we looked, the flames
began to show through the windows OF
the tower above named, and at last,
with a roar, came a wave OF naMe
through the window facing us, and lick
ed the walls and roof above. This con-
tinued for nearly half an hour, till the.
roof fell in. The tiTemen had by this
time vacated their dangerous post, and
the flames were left to burn out OF their
own accord. The curtain wall of the
building, with roand arch in the CEN
tire, fell in piece-meal with loud crash,
and subdued the flames to great eX-
tent. This beautiful Opera House (per-
haps, next to that in Paris, the hand
soonest building for the pHrpose of mod
ern times) stood alonein the centre OF
an extensive open space near the great
bridge, round which are ranged the
principal buildings of DreSden-the Hot
kirche, the Schless, or Palace, with its
wonderful treasure filed Green Vaults,
the picture Gallery, with it priceless
collections, various museums, and one
of the leading hotels, the room contain
ing the matchless San Sisto Madonna
Of Raphael being the nearest point of
all to the Opera House.
"The dread on my mind, and no doubt
with most of the spectators, was that
the fire might spread TO, burning rafters
fall upon, this unequalled treasury of
art; but most Providcntialiy the wind,
which had been blowing almost gale
for more than a week had sunk almost
to a dead calm; the result was, the
flames rose straight into the air, and the
burning fragments all fell back within
OF close around tho walls. The trGmeud-
Gus heat given ont was alone, however,
great scourco of danger. could
scarcely stand il distance OF more
than one hundred aud fifty yards, yet so
effectual were the pccautiOnS that not a
window of the Picture Gallery was so
much as cracked, and on inquiry in the
afternoon | was assured no injury what
ever had been sustained. Happily,nOno
of the trees of tho closely adjoining
garden took fire; or they would inevi-
tally have carried it to the Picture Gal
lery. No lives were lost, and the Opera
House was government property"