Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1876-12-14
A FIRE HORROR!
BURNING OF THE BR00KL YIN
THEATRE.
Over Three Hundred People
Crushed, Mangled and
aa Roasted.
CELLAR PACKED WITH BLACK
ENEp REMAINS.

PACKED WITH BLACK
EkEp REMAINS.
NEW York, December 6.-The fire
In the Brooklyn Theatre last night was
attended by an appalling loss of life.
The fire broke out during the perform
auce of the last scene of the Two Or
phaus. in which Miss ClaxtOn, who
plays the part of heroine, lies on boat
house floor. In five minutes more the au-
dience would have been dismissed and
there would have been nothing more
serious to record than the destruction
of the property. The house was about
tWo.tbirds filed, those below sitting
we'll forward toward the stage. For
those in the family circle, dress circle
and galleries there was no way of es-
cape except by Washington street.
The panic stricken people rushed pell
NELL toward and down the stairways.
The main exit became Immediately
choked up, and scene OF terror, con-
fusion and distress ensued which beg
gars description.
Just above the landing place of the
stairway a woman in the crush had
her foot pushed between the banisters
and fell. The crowd behind, forced
forward by the terrified people still
further behind, fell over her and piled
on top of each other -four and five deep.
The police from the station house
next door were promptly at the scene,
bat owing to the manner in which the
people were piled upon top of each
other and massed together they could
extricate comparatively few, and these
were all bruised, bleeding and MANNED.
Fireman 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 great number of bodies, and
Immediately began the work OF reno
val, and up to eleven O'Clock sixty-five
bodies had been recovered, and what
appeared to be twenty or thirty more
were seen in the basement, into which
they had been precipitated by the fall
ing OF the burning floor.
John ThOrp, Stage Manager, states
that the fire occurred in this wise: A
drop was ignited from border light,
Oy e0ulc IC6uo iiCA do OuO W dc
guarded from the other. He immedi-
ately directed the stage carpenter
Weaver, and two supernumeraries, to
endesver to extinguish the flames, but
the difficulty was to reach the part on
.hre.a The stage carpenter, with sup
ernumeraries, essayed to effect the OBJ
ject by lowering the drop, and in sc
dolug added fuel to the flames. The
tceae, the last in the play, embraced a
eeiled apartment, and the instant the
burding drop came in contact with the
inflammsble ceiling it served to spread
the existing flames. In a fash, as
though powder had previously been
scattered about the scenery, the entire
properties were in blaze. The usual
avenues of escape were thus sunmari-
ly closed at the rear, and an exit, if al
all possible, had to be made Of the box
entrances. ss e. - -
Wagon loads of rough boxes are ar.
irving in front of the theatre, and
corpses are placed in them and covered
with tafpaulin and carried to the NOR.
gue. The scene grows more terrible
every ninate. Men end women are
crowding around the station house anG
theater entrance, making inquiries fol
missing friends. In. some instance:
whole families have perished. The
bodies present every form of contor
tion, Just as they stiffened in the las'
agony, when the floor gave way anC
they plunged down in the binding
smoke and flames. Arms and legs are
bent and twisted in every way. Hands
are clinched 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 theater lay an immense pile o
rubbish, smouldering beams, fragment:
of girders, and other things. This heap
was nearly opposite the principal Ell.
trance to the auditory of the theater
Beyond it was another heap, making
the place where the stairs which led tC
the gallery fell. Under the heap first
mentioned dead body was found and
the fireman diligently prosecuted theil
search In this direction. With much
labor some of the heaviest lumber was
removed, and a horrible sight was
reached. Beneath that mound corpses
lay in rows, heaped one upon the other
packed together with fearful solidity
which told of the great pressure to
which they had been subjected. How
many lay there, and what was their
sex or age, no man could tell, and al
noon only guesses could be made.
Horror upon horror accumulated as
the day advanced. Corpse after corpse,
chsrred and blackened, was passed out
and still the pile of bodies in the cellar
did not seem diminished. AS the num-
Der mounted up to $50 and 160, the
belief that the number would reach
over 200 grew into certainty, and
finally. at half past four, the two hund.
redfh body was removed. Some were
found with limbs and hands burned
OF, and nothing left but a CHASTITY
blackened trunk.
At five o'clock the number had
reached 900. Twenty bodies were ia
ken out in half an hour. A look into
the pit at this time still showed a con-
siderable pile Of corpses lying crosswise
like sticks of wood, and there were ap-
parently still fifty or sixty corpses re-
mainiBg. This was In the cellar under
tbeyestibule, from where all the bodies
taken out were removed. They lay in
q piIe apparently where they had been
pitched into the cellar when the floor
and stairway gave way.
December 1.-THE dimensions of the
awful calamity which has befallen the
city Of Brooklyn, In the destruction Of
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