New-York tribune., 1876-12-07

u,
each other down, unless the path Is Droad anu
fully open to all. In Brooklyn, considering
the crowd and the exigency, there was
very insufficient way from the family circle
but even this difficulty would have been over
come to great extent II the hoOrlng IN Lhe
lobbies had not gone down and II the loDDy
doors had been sufficiently wide and had opened
directly into the street. Ii was the dreadful
crush which caused all the mischief, and those
who were burned and those who were tram
MED down alike owed their fate to the wretched
management which rendered it impossible at
once to empty the house. Everything seems
TO have been done which could be done
by the police and the professional peo-
ple attached to the establishment who pre-
served their equanimty; but the simple
fact that the terrOr-stricken crowd knew
that the only escape from death was
through the comparatively narrow doors was
sufficient to Illustrate the purpose OF the most
energetic appeals. The actress, Miss ClaXt0n,
who cried to the people, 4" Be quiet; we are be-
tween you and the fire. the front doors are
"open and the passages are clear" showed
noble courage, and one is specially gratifed to
learn that she herself escaped. She probably
owed this to the very GOODNESS which rendered
her unheeded remonstrance possible.
This may be no moment perhaps for bits OF
moldy reflection. Still we may say that there
is something peculiarly melancholy, in the
deeDest sense of the word, in a catastrophe
like this. Sudden death is always startling
and impressive even when it is individual;
but the sudden death of masses of men,
o.tbnraI tnOatnpr Tor
amusement, and at the moment of general ENJOY
ment is full of acute contrast as well as OF tragic
suggestion. Here. too, the agony OF the De-
reaved was aggravated and intensified by sus-
pense. 1t was SO long before implOrlng inqulrers
could know the worst. The search, which
must have seemed so slow, as 1t revealed the
charred and disfigrred remains of the victims,
was almost a cruel kindness to those who
awaited its ghastly revelations. But mixed
with our feeling of natural sympathy Is q
notifying sense not merely OF the insecurity
of human life but of the clumsiness and care
lessness with which we guard it from premature
extinction. Theaters can undoubtedly be built
of a construction so cautious and so ingeniOusly
arranged that such destruction as we are now
considering will be simply impossible. 1t is
fTlkutIul 10 InIUh llldi lui l'hio W. i'"'N "''
been freduentng theaters in which, night after
night, the same tragedy deeper than any pre-
sented upon the stage, has been not only pos
sible but probable. And yet it seems almost
superhuOus to say that theater may he con-
structed which shall be absolutely fire-proof.
The scenery itself, the most inAammable Of the
stage appointments. might be painted upon
iron. An iron curtain might always he ready
in cases of emergency to fall between the stage
and the auditorium. The facilities for egress,
now often and culpably narrow, might be so
complete as TO make it possible to empty tho
house In a very short period of time. Every
thing about the building should be amply
spacious, and especially should the starways
be wide, of easy descent, and without angles.
OF the rules to be observed i'll the interior
economy of the theatcr, of the need OF an
ample supply of water ready to be turned
on at a moments notice, of scrupulous care
frIlness in the illumination of all parts OF the
building il seems scarcely necessary for us to
say anything. If capitalists who put great
deal of money into theatrical structures, II
lessees who have their all invested in the
properties there, and if actors whose lives
are always endangered by conflagration of
the theater, cannot together devise and build
and manage a playhouse which cannCt be
burned and which will not be murderOus
trap for its patrOns-if self-intcrest and self
preservation are insufficient to prevent these
disasters, the wise will have better reason
for refusing to visit the theater at all than
has yet been furnished us by ultra moralsts.
The danger has been established by too many
examples to be despsed even. by the fool
hardy. Every reader of theatrical history
knows how many theaters have been burned,
and why they have been burned, and why in
surance companies regard them properly enough
as extra-hazaIdous risks. To say that there is
no help for this is to undcTate human Inge-
nuitY.
The lesson Of the Brooklyn tragedy is such
a simple one that it will be strange if those
who have the control Of theaters do not profit
by it, for their own sake, if not for the sake
of the public by which they live and get
great gain. We have no reason. unfortunately,
for perfect confidence that the present warning
will not be wasted upon reckless managers
and still moro reckless public. For about
what we call accidents we are singularly OBJ
tuse. Ships and railway trains arc wrecked
for want of the simplest precautions, and with
enormous loss of life garrulous discussion
sues, and after a little interval ships and rail-
way trains are wrecked with even greater loss
of life again. A considerable advance toward
absolute safety from fatal accidents" we
undoubtedly have made; but we shall not
think that society has done enough or learned
wisely and sufficiently until such fire rs that
in Brooklyn on Tuesday night has become
much more nearly impossible.
FIXES IN 1HEATERS