The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1877-01-26
THE BROOKLYN FIRE.


= rible calamity of Tuesday night was con
e fined almost exclusively to removing the
n great pile Of dead from the cellar of the
ve5tibule. In this part of the work the
+ poor victims laypacked together so close
r ly that comparatively little digging was
required until the pile was pretty well
removed. Ashes and cinders had sifted
down upon them, covering them as with
a pail. A few beams and timbers lay on
the top, these were removed to one side
and the mining out of the corpses went
on. The first one taken out of that fatal
cellar was the body of wOmnn in the
early morning. She was found almost
standing against the wall on the right
hand side just inside the inner vestibuIe
doors. From that time until evening,
there was q constant succession of char
red and fre-scorched bodies taken out in
every conceivable form of distortion and
twisting, blackened and burned by the
fiery breath of the flames until nearly all
resemblance to humanity was burned
out of them, Some were calcined to
mere cinders.
The position of the pile of bodies
! showed that they were massed on the
stairs and landings, lying apparently in
heaps. until the timbers burned and the
weight carried them into the cellar be-
meath through the lower floor of the
vestibule. The greater portion lay
between the inner doors and the center
of the lobby. Some were scattered be-
yond, and the last one found in the eel
lar under TIE lobby was away at the
further end where the toilet-rOoms were
located. Doubtless it was some poor
wretch who Crawled out to that end of
the gallery in thohopc of reaching some
windows Of exit in that direction.
In exhuming tire bodies the greatest
care was used, and they were handled as
tenderIy as possible. They were not
dragged roughly from the pile, but the
material was removed,
and they were carefully lifted into the
boxes in waiting and decentIy covered
with blanket to shield them from the y
eyes Of the gaping crowd outside. The =
poor wrecks Of humanity were dealt =
with as carefully as possible.
1t was terrible work upon the nerves :,
u welIas the muscles of the men engaged.
Strong men who were accustomed to ter .,
bIe sights turned away from that awful -
lit in horror and shuddering. Nearly ~
hree hundred poor human beings but
ew hours before had crowded the doors
f the fatal gallery with happy hearts ~
nd expectant faces intent upon the fo
Genes of the mimic life that passed be-
IRE their eyes upon the stage Little
id they think that ere the night had
cached its noon they would be actors in hi
drama other than the one that met ST
leir eyes upon the stage. Slowly, yet tn
Il too fast, the hand OF the clock crept SO
n toward the close of the play, and he
Oubtless the thoughts of very many of
lrned homeward as they settled them tic
Ives to witness the last act. A lastact hi
was indeed to very many of them. wi
he drama of their lives was drawing to in,
close, and soon would end in utter Sol
aCkness and horror and agony. About sea
ur hundred persons purchased tickets wi
r the gallery on that fatal night and ma
that number only about one quarter an,
capped with life. The rest, old and sto
'ung, male and female, the stripping tho
y and the strong, broadshOuldered ma
m, went down in that fiery crater me
at leaped around them as, with the unc
,tinct Of self-preseryation, they madly fur
shed for the stairs. Let us hope that bio
cy were Mt once sufoCated when the ant
lumes of black smoke struck them. the
After the work of clearing out the ces
stibule was completed, the men turned nea
cir attention to'the search for the re- wit
lins Of Claude Burroughs and Harry not
Murdoch. But it was now dark, and mil
Q necessary light was afforded by the sun
ANS of two brilliant calcium lights, wa,
itch shed Il weird and lurid glare over was
e scene. Clouds Of smoke still arose VIII,
IN some parts Of the ruins principally TO
ar the stake, blown hither and thither arc,
the night wind, sometimes shrouding the