Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-12-13

The Brooklyn Catastrophe.
Three Hundred and Fifty Per-
sons Burned to Death.
Horror Upon Horror.

1
NEW York, Dec. 6.-Horor upon
horror accumulated as the day adj
vanced. Corpse after corpse, charrcd
and blackened, was passed out, and
still the pile of bodies in the cellar
did not seem to diminish. As the
number mounted up to $50 and 16O,
the belief that the number would
reach over 200 grew into certainty,
and finally, at half past four, the 2O0th
body was removed. Some were
found with their limbs and hands
burned of, and nothing left but the
CHASTITY. .blackened trunk. At
FIVE O'clock THE NUMBER HAD REACH
ED TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY.
Twenty bodies were taken out in
half ar hour. A look into the pit at
this tinsc still showed considerable
pile Vcorpses, lying crosswise like
stick36 wood, and there were appar-
FIFTY On SIXTY coRPsEs REMAINING.
This was in the cellar, under the in
ncr vcstbule, from where all the bod
les takeiitoat to-day were removed,
They lay in pile apparently where
they had been pitched into the cellar
when the floor and stairway gave
way.
As night approached, two calcium
lights were placed in position, and
the work of removing the
CHASTITY FORMS OF THE DEAD,
made more so by the light, was con-
tinued. They were under the CALLER
les but no estimate could be made of
the number. The charrcd remains of
the victims were taken out in front
and rear of the theatre, and rapidly
loaded jim boxes and placed upon an
undcrtaker's wagon, still the pile of
bodies in the cellar
DIDN'T SEEM TO DIMINISH.
When the panic occurred on the
main floor of the theatre, the door
which connects with johnson street
and Myrtle avenue We're opened so
that the people might escape that way.
This diverted many from seeking to
escape through the main entrance.
All who were on the right hand side
of the parquet and balcony escaped
through those doors. The opening
of the doors created a tremendous
draught, which so increased the
flames that the actors were complied
TO abandon the stage and escape as
best they might They had remained
there to the last, but seeing that it
was now a
QUESTION OF LIFE AND DEATH,
they retreatcd. The flames shot out
OH all sides of the stage and envelop-
ed the procenium, and the smoke be-
gan pouring in columns into the par
quctte. Studley and Murdoch were
the last to leave. Probably not more
than five minutes elapsed between the
beginning of the panic and the COM
plctc envelopement of the stage and
parquette i'm flames. BY this time
nearly all of those in the lower part
of the house had escaped. The
crowd from above came pouring
down into the lobbies, which were
soon densely crowded. The stair
ways were choked up and there
seemed to be no way in which they
could be relieved. Many succeeded in
escaping by the regular means of
egress into Washington street, but
that stairway was also soon crowded
and escape by that way was next
to impossible. The greatest loss of
life must have been in the family cir
Gle or top gallery. Those who hap
pened to be seated near the doors
succeeded in gaining the stairways
and lower part of the house, but there
were many who got no further than
the second floor, where they died.
The flames made such rapid Roadway
that the floors fell in before assistance
could reach them.
THE sHRIEKs or THE WOMEN,
and the shouting and imprecations of
men, and the pitiful cries OF children
were heard below, but there was
No HUMAN RELIEF
for them. 1t was a hcartrending sit
saation to have human beings perish
almost in sight of their friends-it is
something terrible beyond descrip-
ton.
TERRIBLE FATE OF TWO ACTORS.
Two young men in the flower of their
professional life, Harry S. Murdoch
and Claude Burroughs. Those two
young men were playing, respective
ly Pierre, the cripple, and Picard,
valet to Chevalier. At the moment
when the fire was first discovered,
Murdock was before the curtain play
ing with Miss Katie Claxton. AS
soon as the panic occurred and gen.
eral rush was made to escape MUIR
doch and Burroughs ran to their
dressing rooms to get clothes to wear
! in the street. The dressing rooms
were on the same side of the stage
on the right wing, as viewed from
the auditorium, and consequently
farthest from the stage door, even
| had that
| MEANS OF EXIT NOT BEEN LOCKED
by the panic stricken janitor. The
dressing rooms were arranged in
tiers, approached by narrow stair
way, which led up to the painters
bridge, which spans the stage. MUIR
doch's room was on the second tier
and Burroughs on the third. Before
they emerged the stairway was one
sheet of flame and all chance of re-
treat cut off. The unfortunate men
were driven back by the roaring
| lalAes, stcp Dy stcp, tiii sunocateu.
Twelve hundred persons were in
the theatcr, five hudred in the galler-
| les.
The city authorities were in ses-
sion to-day to make arrangements for
the interment in Greenwood cemetery
of the dead not identified.
THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY PERSONS
! BURNED.
The Times says Fire Marshal, kea-
dy, who has made an exhaustive eX-
animation of the circumstances at
tending the fire, is of the opinion
that at least three hundred and fifty
persons perished in the flames.
FURTHER PARTICULARS OF THE
BROOKLYN HORROR.
Three Hundred md Fifteen Bodies
Now Taken Out.