American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1876-12-16
DEATH IN THE FLAMES.


Brooklyn Theater-Over 800 Live.
| Lost.
New YORK, Dec. 6.-The fire in the
Brooklyn Theater last night was at
tended by an appalling loss of life, anG
it is thought that not less than two hun
dred persons were killed in the rush tc
the exits, or burned to death, being un.
able to escape. The fire broke out dur.
ing the performance of the last scene
| of the " Two Orphans in which Miss
Claxton, who plays the part of the he.
roine, was on the boat-house floor. In
five minutes more the audience would
have been dismissed, and there would
have been nothing more serious to
record than the destruction of property.
The house was about two-thirds filed,
those below sitting well forward toward
the stage. For those in the family cir
Gle, dress circle and galleries
there was no way to es-
cape except by Washington Street.
THE PANIC. STRICKEN PEOPLE
rushed pell nell towards and down the
stairways, and the main exit became
Immediately choked up and scene Of
terror, confusion and distress ensued,
which beggars description. Just above
the landing place of the stairway a
woman in the crush had her foot push
ed between the bannisters and fell.
The crowd behind, forced forward by
the terrified people still further behind,
follower her, and piled on top Of each
other four and five deep.
The police from the station-house
next door we're promptly at the scene,
but. owing to the manner in which
the people were piled upon the top of
each other and massed together, they
could extricate comparatively few; and
these were all bruised, bleeding and
MANNED. The fremen got to work on
the ruins shortly after daylight this
morning. They succeeded in getting
as far as the fall of the dress circle,
where they found a great number of
bodies. Immediately began the work
of removal, and up to IL o'clock IS
bodies had been removed, and what
to be 20 or 80 more were seen
in the basement, into which they had
been precipitated by the falling of the
burning floors.
ORIGIN OF THE FIRE.
Kate Claxton, at the preliminary in
quiry of the Fire Marshal, said: cat
the beginning of the last act, just as
the curtain went up, I heard rumbling
noise on the stage, and two minutes
after saw the flames The fire SEEM
ed 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 a panic. 1 said to the peo-
pie, Be quiet; we are between 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
ran out and jumped over several peo-
ple.'' .f,s 4
Mr.. H. S. Murdoch, after endeavor-
ing to calm the fears of the panic strick-
en- people, went to his dressing-room to
get his clothing and must have been
suffocated.
ESCAPE OF THE STAGE PEOPLE.
Actors and actresses escaped from
the stage into johnson Street. j. w.
Thorp, stage manager, states that the
fire occurred in this wise: A drop was
ignited from a border light by some
means inexplicable, as one was guarded
from the other. Heimmediately direct
ed the 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 supernumera-
ries essayed to effect the object by low
ering the drop, and in SO doing added |
fuel to the flames. The scene, the last |
in the play, embraced a ceiled apart
ment, and the instant the burning drop
came in contact with it the infiamma-
BILE ceiling served to spread the exist
ing flames in flash, as though powder
had previously been scattered about the
The entire properties were in
q blaze. The usual avenues of escape
we're thus summarily closed at the rear
and an exit, if at all possible, had to be
made by way of the box entrance. All,
except perhaps one or two, thus es-
capped.
Z SCENES OF HORROR.
Wagon-loads of rough boxes were
brought in front of the theater, and
,orpses are placed in them and cover
ed with tarpaulins and carried to the
morgue.
The scene grew more terrible every
minute. Men and women were crowded
around the station house and theater
entrance, making inquiries for missing
friends. In some instances whole fam
lies have persisted.
The bodies present every form of con-
,ortion, just as they stiffened in their
asst agony, when the floor gave way,
and they plunged down in binding
smoke and flames. Arms and legs are
bent and twisted in every way. Hands
ire clenched and reached out, as if
for help.
The Post says that about IL o'clock a
horrible discovery was made. In the
midst of what was the lobby of the the
ater lay an immense pile of rubbish,
beams, fragments of girders
md other things. This heap was near