Mexico weekly ledger., 1876-12-28
Miss Kate CIaxton's Thrilling RecitaI q
Her Last Appearance upon the Staa
of the Brooklyn Theater.
IErom.the NewsYork-Herala.l~

Miss Kate CIaxton's Thrilling 2 ecisatof
Her Last Appearance upon the stage
of the Brooklyn Theater.
.IFrom the New York-Herald.]~~~~.s.
Miss Kate Claxton, leading lady in
the play of the e Two Orphans which.
was being performed when the soul
catastrophe occurred, WAS
found bysa Herald reporter last night in
her sitting room at the Pierrepont
Hense, nroeklyn.zS hessrecsivedHshim
courteously, and signified her willing
nesspto tell the readers of the Herald all
she knew of the circumstances sur
rounding the calamity. {,aa aar-sa "a
~T WHAT SHE SAW. .,.
81 parted from my agent" she said,
IS at the foot of the stairs, and, bidding
him goodnight, walked upstairs to- lie
down ON my pallet of straw, and begin
the fifth act of the play. L had no SOON,
er assumed my position THANH heard
noises as if the ceiling of the theater
was falling. l was completely shut in
above and on all sides by the canva
representing the interior of Fr0cbard's
howell, and could not see what the noise
was produced by. I thought to my
self - What is the matter?' but [ had no
timeto give it thought before the curtain
assembled, andmy attention was required
for the business of the play. MIR.
Thorpe, stage manager of the theater,
standing some place behind, cried
tHush5 in a low and excited tone.
Almost Instantly Miss Cleaves knelt
down inside of the wings beside my
head, for l was lying upon the extreme
right Of the stage. In a thrilling
whisper She said, Save yourself, for
Gods sake! l am running now
Lying on my back I looked up, and
through the canvas roof over my head
say little tongues of fire ~protruding
and heard a cracking noise. 1t must
have been on fire before the curtain
went up, and making Roadway all the
while Mr.. Murdoch, who played Pierre,
was bending over me speaking the
opening words of the act-'So young,
SO lovely, and yet SO hard a fate.
jacques suspects; he watches me. If
/ do any thing to assist her escape he
will discover it and kill me- Mr..
Murdoch, went right on after the fire
was perceived and finished that speech,
expecting every minute that the audi
ence would discover the fire."
THE GOODNESS OF THE ACTORS.
sit was while he was SO speaking that
Miss Cleaves gave the alarm. l think
at this time the greater part of the COM
pany saw the Roadway the fire was max
ing and made their escape. Mr.. Muir
doch-"
"Oh!" abruptly exclaimed Miss
Flov%nn a1aCpnn har hands until tho
blood almost spurted from the ends of
her fingers and tears filled her eyes,
Murdoch is gone; God help him,
poor boy!"
Regaining her composure after a
minute Miss Ciaxton continued-"Mr.
Murdoch went up to the door and pro-
ceeded with his lines, Il have be
work and | will finish it, Mrs.
Farren her came on the stage as Fro
ehard. The flames at this time were
plainly visible. Mr.. Studley came on a
few speeches later, and he must have
actually passed through the fire in
making his entrance. | think the pre-
dominating idea in the minds OF all four
of US was, that if we interrupted the
play the audience would become fright
ened, and that a panic worse In its eff
fects than the fire itself would ensue. l
thought the curtain might be lowered
to shut out the fire from them ii We con-
tinued the play"
COURAGEOUS WOMEN.
Mrs Farren came over t. me and,
depressing her excitement, began to
make my toilet as Louise. She whis-.
pered in my ear, 'The fire is gaining
and then moved back and went on with
her business. AS she completed my
toilet L looked up and saw that the
whole audience had perceived the
flames. They came from the back of
the stage. The scenery behind had
burned first, and there was no way of
getting at the outer door at all even
then. Mrs. Farren then stepped up the
stage; MIR. Studley pulled me over
roughly, and l exclaimed, Il win beg
no more That wa the last worl that
was spoken inthe play. Thenthe flames
had made such Roadway that We all
felt it was q matter of life and death.
We were enclosed on all sides by roar
ing flames and dense smoke rolled over
our heads. Nj. uStudley stepped for.
ward and said to the audiences, The
play viii go on and the fire will be put
out. Be quiet get back into your seats.
| said something myself. The pass
age is clear; get down; we are be- 1eIs
you and the fire. Mr.. MurdociA said
Miss Claxton, tenderly chad been very
i'll during the night. scafeely able to 60
on with The play, afd 81 this time havz
ing left the staee4waS prDba hlzkf a his
dressing-rnbmtaE1ng AxnnokG
"ousaaa B speakirM to IsAua-
ence. was that some "a TIM III
think it easier 20 %climb upon Che stase
and get out through the back door
than to go through the front of the
house. We cried out to them centin-
uaily: THE front passage is clear; 90
back and youllall bsusaEsd. m-Whe raI-
called out many brave women satdown
and that surely pulled the men into
their places. One woman "a the front
of the orchestr4 COP and did:
You're right..Miss Gaston2 the mn-