Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-12-07
An Awful Calamity.
Over Three Hundred Persons
Burned to Death in the
Brooklyn Theater-
Origin of the
Fearful Fire.
Particulars and Testimony of
the BlOOd-CurdIing Event
from Spectators and Par
ticipatOrs - SOuI-Har-
rowing Scenes. r

I1clp8tOrS - SOuI-HaF-
rowing Scenes.
Names of Some of the Victims
Condition of the Bodies
when FOund-The Work
of the Gallant Fire
men-Sickening
Sights.
| NEW YORK, December 6.-The fire in the
| Brooklyn theater last night was attended by
the mostappalhng loss of life, and tits Thought
! that not less than one hundred persons were
| killed In the rush to the exits, or burned to
death, being unable to escape. The fire broke
ont during the performance of the last scene
OF the TtcO Orphans, In which Miss Clax-
| tonplay the heroine In fve minutes
more the audience would have been
! dismissed, and there would have been moth
ing more serious to record than the d,sstruc-
| ton of the property. The house was about
two-thirds filed. Those below, sitting well
| forward toward the stage, and for those in
the taInily-circle, dress-circie and galleries,
| there was
NO WAY OF ESCAPE,
except by Washington street. The panic
stricken people rushed pell-mell toward and
| down the stairways. The main exit became
! Immediately choked up, and a scene of terror,
| confusion and distress ensued which beggars
| description. Just above the landing place of
| the stairway, woman in the crush had her
| foot pushed between the banisters and fell
| The crowd behind, forced forward by the ter
rifed people still further behind, fell over her
| and piled on top Of each other four and FIVE
deep. The police from the stationhouse next
| door were promptly at the scene, but owing
| to the manner in which the people were piled
up on top of each other and massed together
they could extricate comparatively few, and
| these were all
BRUISED, BLEEDING AND MANNED.
The tiremen got to work on the ruins short
ly after daylight this morning. They sue
| ceeded in getting as far as the fall of the
dress-circle, where they found great num-
Der Of bodies, and Immediately began the
work of removal Up to eleven clock sixty
five bodies had been recovered, and what APP
peared to be twenty Or thirty more were seen
in the basement, into which they had been
precipitated by the falling of the burning
floors. At the police station, adjoining the
burned theater, the names Of eighty-six per-
sons missing from their homes have been reg
istered. Kate Claxton, at the preliminary in
quiry of the fire-marshal, said: "At the be-
ginning of the last act, just as the curtain
went up, heard rumbling noise on the
stage, and two minutes afterward | saw the
| flames. The fire seemed to be all on the
| stage. Mrs. Farren, myself, Mr.. Studley and
Mr.. Murdoch were on the stage at this time.
We four remained there and endeavored, as
best we could, to quiet the audience and
PREVENT PANIc.
81 said to the people: 'Bequiet, we are be-
tween you and the fire; the front door is
open and the passages are clear. Not one of
the audience jumped on the stage. The
flames were then coming down on us, and /
ran and jumped over several people. Mr.. H.
S. Murdoch, after endeavoring to calm the
| fears of the panic-stricken people, went to
| his dressing-room to get his clothing and
must have been suffocated."
The Brooklyn Eagle furnishes the follow
ing in advance of publication:
THE WORK OF IDENTIFYING THE DEAD
will be difficult, for most of them are burned
| beyond recognition The only mode of iden-
| tifying will be by the personal property found
attached to bodies. Thus far it is only evi-
| dent that the flames made common havoc
with men, women and children. Shortly be-
fore nine o'clock, Rev. Father Hanley visited
the theater, and among the bodies recognized
that Of the brother of Rev. Father kyle.
| Father Kyle was present and identified the
| body Of his brother, and the body was taken
from the ruins, charred and blackened beyond
recognition. In the breast t-pocket of the coat
| of NJ
Abraham Barnett, in German text. The
bodies are constantly being removed from the
ruins and are taken to the mOrgue as fast as
| possible. 1t Is rumored that a number Of at
taches Of the theater are burned. 1t seems
certain that Charles Lott and his son, who
were stationed in the upper gallery, are
among the lost. The actors and actresses es-
capped from the stage into Johnson street.
ORIGIN OF THE FIRE.
Mr.. J. W. Thorp, stage manager, states
that the fire occurred in this wise: A drop
was ignited from border light by some
means mexphcable, as one was guarded from
the other. He Immediately directed Stage
Carpenter Weaver and two supernumeraries
to endeavor to extinguish the flame, but the
difficulty was to reach the part on fire. The
stage carpenter, with the supernumeraries,
essayed to effect the object by lowering the
drop, and in so doing added fuel to the
| flames, The scene, the last in play, en-
braced a ceiled apartment, and the instant
| the burning drop came in contact with the
inhammable ceiling served to spread the exist
ing flames in a flash, as though powder had
| previously been scattered about the scenery.
| The entire properties were Ill blaze. The
usual avenues of escape were thus summari-
ly closed at the rear and an exit, if possible,
had to be made, by way of the box entrance.
| All, except perhaps one or two, thus escaped.
| 1t is now believed that the number of dead
will be about
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE.
The Brooklyn courts adjourned this
morning without transacting any busI-
ness. There is intense excitement IN the
| city and business is partially suspended.
! The Park theater has been closed for the
week A meeting of the theatrical profess
sion has been called for Thurs lay, TO concert
measures of irelief. Hon. Henry C. Muir
ply, distinguished citizen of Brooklyn and
well known throughout the country, is among
the missing.
Wagon loads of rough boxes are arriving
in front of the theater and the corpses are
placed in them and covered with tarpaulin
and carried to the morgue. The scene grows
more terrible every minute. Men and women
are crowding around the stationhouse and
theater entrance making inquiries for missing
friends. In some instances
WHOLE FAMILIES HAVE PERIsHED.
The bodies present every form of contortion,
Just as they stiffened IN the last agony when
the floor gave way and they plunged down in
the binding smoke and flames. Arms and
legs are bended and twisted in every way;
hands are clenched, and reach out as if grasp
ing for help. The Post says at about eleven
o'clock horrible discovery was made. In
the middle of what was the lobby of the thea
ter lay an immense pile of rubbish, shoulder
ing beams, fragments of girders, and other
things. This heap was nearly opposite the
principal entrance TO the auditory of the thea
ter; beyond it was another heap, marking
the place where the stairs which led to the
gallery fell under. in the heap FIRST men
toned dead body was found, and the fire.
men diligently prosecuted their search in this
direction with much labor. Some of the
heaviest lumber was removed, and
HORRIBLE SIGHT
was revealed beneath that mound. The
corpses lay in rows, heaped one upon another
and packed with fearful sohdity, which told
of the great pressure to which they had been