The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1876-12-14

became quiet Contrary to the expectations,
however. of everybody the part of the
burning fly cat away fell, not upon the
stage, but upon the painted CANVASS
winch represented the roof Of the ship house,
ana instantly it was in blaze, as though it had
1oHoWed silent explosion, and Ia a minute
more the whole upper part Of the theater was
III names. Composed as it was of oombustible
mSserlaI. 1t spread with the utmost rapidity,
ano DroKe through the roof alarming not only
al brooklyn, but all the lower part of New
1orA the newspaper offices Instantly emptying-
themselves OF reporters The actors on the
stage lmmedIately fed after seeing the extent
OF the disaster, and most of them sscaped.
MISS Kate Claxton, knowing of secret or
Underground entrance, connected with the box
once, neo under the stage and thence Ilnder
the auditorium to the box Office drag
glng with her Miss Ward Harrison. Ms.
FarTen. and two or three other actors.
Inc majority, however, escaped by the
back entrances OF the theater. of which there
were two or three. All succeeded in escsnine
| except 81. S. Murdoch and Claude Burronphs'
who were lost in their rooms, where thew were
dressing, remote from the entrance. anS nrob-
ably unwarned. Where their bodies lie now q
great gas jet five feet high is burning. wbere
meter was, and probably hardly any of their
bodies will ever be discovered. The actors es
Gaping threw the back entrance threw wide
open the doors, and the west wind rushed in
with fury, driving the smoke and flames toward
the auditorium. In the lower or dress circle. ss
it is called. There we're only $50 persons in
this quarter, besides the ushers and police.
Almost all of those escaped. One or
two handsomely dressed women have been
discovered among the ruins. In the
second tier, or family circle, there were
800 persons, and of these probably fifty
persisted. In the upper tier, or gallery there
were 40S persons, two-thirds OF whom fell VIC
| TINS to the flames. The dress circle and psr-
quette opened on the level of the street. Per
sons on this lower floor early discovered the
flies to be on fire. They could see what
those in the gallery were utterly unable to per-
celve, and were consequently warned in ad-
vance. Those in the second gallery, Also were
warned early, Miss Claxton rushing to the
front OF the stage and informing them that the
theater was on fire. They had only one broad
staircase to descend. This opened into wide
lobby, thirty feet wide, and from thence their
escape TO the street was easy. But the stair
way from the top gallery, which Was crowded
on TINS OCCASION, was narrow and circuitous.
From the third floor to the second it was wide
enough to enable five men to walk abreast.
On the levelOt the second floor there were
twenty feet of level walk along the front Of
the lobby and first story. Thence there was
narrow stairway where, probably, three men
could walk abreast, leading to the street.
VAAOA ChO SACSt AtSoS VI p0UplS, Iuhluly young
men and boys, in the gallery rushed down the
upper stairway from the third to the second
floor they encountered volume OF smoke
driven in from the rear doors of the
theater, which had in the meantime been
opened as have described, and on this land
ing numbers of them fell down, and others
toppled over them, until their accumulated
weight broke down the stairway, and they were
precipitated over the balustrsde into the lobby
OF the second floor, a distance of probably if
| teen feet. This mass of human beings were
thrown at once, with violent shock, upon the
floor Of the lobby, broke it through, and the
mass were precipitated, two hundred of them,
one upon another, into the cellar of the build
ing. The stairway fell in upon them. and they
burned until nothing was left but their chaYTed
remains, which the fremen have been all day
| taking out Of the ruins. I know not what I
could add that would give any clearer idea Of
how the disaster occurred.