Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-12-08
Three Hundred and Fifty PcO-
pie Supposed to Have
Perished.
The Catastrophe the Most Fatal Of
the Kind Ever Recorded.
The Dramatic Profession Arrange fer
a Benefit for the Sufferers.

ter; they took nc evidence, and at noon
adjourned to meet at the corners Office
Saturday evening.
A. NJ. Palmer. one OF the lessees of
the theater, gives the following state
ment of the number Of persons in the
thCater Tuesday night: 4O5 persons in
the upper gallery, 800 persons in the
dress-circle, $50 persons in the par
qaette, q actors and speaking people,
20 supernnmeraries, 10 stage hands and
II musicians; total. l0lS; or, including
dressers and other subordinates, in all
about 1860 persons. A fault in the con.
struction of the burned building, and
one to which there is reason to believe
the dreadful loss of life in the gallery is
in q large measure attributable. was the
use of a painted cloth for ceiling. The
canvas caught easily and burned rapidly.
OF course the flames followed it up to
the top, making the dome a funnel of
FIRE right over the heads Of the people in
the gallery. It seems more than proba-
BILE that the smoke and Ere, in the midst
OF which they we're thus placed, de-
stroyed the lives Of many persons who
might else have escaped even By the ia
adequate stairway provided.
There are very few ideutifcations, and
it is impossible that there can be. Many
features are for the most part unrecog-
nizable. Trihkets and such things we're
mostly lost in the crowd, aud the cloth
ing has been either all lost or burned
into mere rags. At the Adams street
morgue, formerly known as the old Full
ton market, the scene was horrible in the
extreme. On the floor lay a large num-
Der Of chsrred bodies, bus in many in.
stances it was impossible to tell whether
they had formerly been male or female,
human or animal. In some cases the
mass was only about a handful of chGrred
bones and flesh, without q remnant Of
clothing or other property that could
possibly lead to Identification. In other
cases the clothing was either torn from
or burned of the bodies, leaving but
chsrred and blackened remains-bodies
they cannot be called. any God" said
one poor woman, as she gszed on a
charred mass Of bones, that may be my
boy, but who can prove itl' Among the
bodice not so badly burned was one Of a
man VINO had evidently leaped from the
gallery, as his leg vas broken short OF
above the ankle.
Fire.Marshsl Ready resumed his in.
vestigation this morning. G. A. Wess-
man, an officer Of the mounted squad,
was examined. He was in the theater
10 citizen clothes when the FIRE occurred.
He was up in the dress-circle, and saw
the flames burning the scenery on the
stage. he ran to the front to get the
doors open, and the actors and audience
quoted for a moment. He waited at the
doors till the spectators we're all out, and
then closed the doors to keep the draught
out. People we're ,then coming down
from the gallery, but al! at .%9gagaaey
stopped coming dowHa azl' be ran to see
what was the katter (he referred to the
FIRST gallery. There were two separate
siairwsys leading upthsre, aud as / got
to the top Of the irst fight OF stairs there
was a lady who, in coming down, got her
leg caught ia the ballisters. a large mar
fell over her, and others falling on him,
made a heap which those in the rear
could not pass. There zere fully fifty
or sixty persons packed in a heap at the
foot Of the second fight Of stairs. The
stairs we're open all the way down. From
that point, and above that point, The
state stairs we're vacant four or FIVE steps
from the top. At this time the smoke
vas very dense. Il was not three minutes
after the FIRE broke out till the curtain
vas lowered aud took Ere, and this had
the effect Of sending the flames up to the
gallery. looked ct it for about three
seconds, and then closed the door OF the
psrquettej the persons who wsre 10 a
heap cried to me 70 help them, aud | did
get some in the rear 10 fall back until
got a man aud q woman out; seeing those
two get out, they all rushed forsard sgain
and blocked the passage up ! tried "a
~eKtdeats Q woman whose leg was caught
in the railing, bat she was held fast an
usher cane up 10 assist me and we made
a small place among them; we tore the
dresses OF Of some them, but we got
them ell out; then / went up to the dress
pircleI found a woman there and took
her out there must haze been other per.
sons there, for ! heard cries, bat / could
not see them on account Of smoke; !
/ know there must have been several other
, persons 10 the dresspirole who were
oVertskon BY the ere ! was then getting
weak from the snoke, and / dropped Il
E the floor TO get fresh air; the saoke ~;
} black smoke, and bad a very su6ocatiup
smell; ! am an old fireman, aud / never
experienced smoke 50 suffocatinN / wal
not 10 the smoke more than 0 minute.
and yet could not bresihsi the arst AND
> second galleries, and even stairs, wore d
that time filed with s~ugocatiog smoke
, no humao being could live 10 that smoke