The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-12-15

AZ
midnight the taking out Of bodies from
the theatre continued. 1t was then esti-
mated that three hundred persons per-
ishcd Some Of the bodies were fearfully
disfgurcd. Several persons wero injur
cd in sprinSing from tho window of tho
Theatre. Among the missing were Herr
Fife, Court musical director, and Herr
identified were those OF tradesmen and
.n!:c: Officials. On the spreading of the
news Of the disaster the performances at
the other theatres were stopped The
London !SdHddrds dispatch from Vienna
says:-"It is estimated that the audience
III the theatre numbered 1000. Many
persons were tramplcd TO death in the
panic which cnsued. AS soon as the fire
was seen there was all explosion Of gas,
and the audience were plunged In dark
ness"
OSE THOUSAND Missi 50.
VIENNA, Dec. 9-Midnight
Tho extent Of the calamity has hth erto
been much understated. One thousand
one hundred and thirty persons are an
nouncod at the Police Bureau as miss
ing, and, assuming that many Of these
will turn up, it is feared that tho total
loss will not DO much less than thou
sand persons. 1t is now probable that
there were six hundred in the fourth gal
lery. All the persons in tho third row
of the parquet, persisted. Some persons
who entered the theatre a few minutes
after the fire was discovered remarked at
tho time that comparatively fow escaped
TEetheatrc holds $500. Every place was
occupied except the parquet and boxes.
Consequently the total loss may bc found
10 be nearly one thousand Three hun
dred and sixty tickets were issued for
the fourth gallery seats for last nights
performance. OF these about fifty have
been found. They had made their es-
cape from the inside oniy 20 find death
by sufiocation in the pa .sageway, which
had no exit. The rest we're up TO three
O'Clock this afternoon seen lying within
the fatal gallery, vast barricades of
human bodies. About two O'Clock the
arc carrying out Jumps OF charred bodies,
without form and far beyond the posi-
bility Of recognition. Who these vic
tirns.are will :ot be known until their
relations have announced them as miss
ing.
fourth gallery describe the bodies as all
lying as they had fallnn-forward, back
ward, upward-bound together in CON
vulsive, clinglng masses. They were
unably to leave tho gallery, because the
doors opened inward. Even had they
escaped death here, it is scarcely possible
that they would have escaped in the pas
sagcs and narrow stairways, plunged in
total darkness and filled with suffocuting
fumes. Death came to them quickly,
however. A young Hungarian student,
who was in the third gallery, told me
that no sooner did the fire break into the
auditorium than the mir became insuffcr-
ably sitting. He managed to escape,
but ho saw scores taii down sufiocaied
before they reached the stairs, and he
| only escaped by finding his way quickly
! tn the window of the upper loggia. Com
paratively few people effected their es-
cape from the two upper galleries
fell nj the narrow winding stairway lead
ing from one gallery to tho other. In
tho narrow circular stairway leading
from the second to the third gallery thirty
bodies were found, fallon together.
FURTHER INCIDENTS OF THE GREAT DIS
ASTER.
VIENNA, December lO.-Last night I
telegraphed to you that the number OF
victims at the Ring Theatre would be
this afternoon admit that the list of Miss
ing will reach 900 am only afraid that
my statement Of last night will prove
inexact and that the loss Of life will be
even wore than this. 1t is gradually
dawning upon those who witnessed the
beginning of tho fire that only very few
persons were seen to emerge from the
building. There was sudden rush of
people into tho lobby, lasting scarcely n
minute. Then there was silence. No
moro came, and it was assumed that all
had escaped. at five minutes after seven
police sergeant, being asked by one OF
tho Archdukes if tho people had escaped,
replied, Not a soul has been injured y
It is said that the sergeant has re-
signed his post to-day. Not until twen-
ty minutes had elapsed did the police
officials dream of even examining the
auditorium of the theatre, and when they
endeavored TO make n search they could
not reach even the parQuet, one story
above ground, because OF the bodies
blocking up the narrow stairway.
SOME ESCAPES.
They had no idea Of the exact catastro
phc until the people themselves reported
the absence Of friends and relatives next
morning. Death came so quickly that
only n few, Mt most, of the second gallery
escaped, while from the fourth gallory,
where 1t was computed there were COO
people, only one or two hundred effected
their escape. a young man thus tells the
story of his escape: "On Thursday after
noon met my sister at the station. She
was returning home from Venice l
greeted her with tho words, Il have sur
prise for you. l have two seats for tho
Ring Theatre At half-past six we took
our seats in the firs: row OF the third
gallery. When the tire came out through
the curtain felt at tho same time fear
full heat in my face. My sister leaned her
head OH my breast, >obbing. 'Moritz, we
must die now Quick rs thought /
grasped her, trembling as she was in
every limb, and dragged her with me.
In spite of the sino.-e we reached the
escape stairs, but we were there almost
alone"
ORIGIN OF THE FIRE.
c Gradually the appalling fact must have
become nown that at least three- fourths
of the theatre was full when the catastro-
pho happened. Those that could escape
from the galleries perished In the passages
and on the narrow stairways, which by
theatre doing his duty and turning off the
gas wero left in the blackest darkness
1t was now ascertained this man was the
only. one who stuck to his post, yet he
cut Off tho escape of many scores. The
management of the theatre was crimi-
nally negligent. It is now known that
the fire originated with the gas which
lighted the sky borders. Gas having
presumably been turned on before the
elect ric current was freed to light 1t the
boIu er caught fire. a workman, instead
OF lowering. hoisted it. higher, ed tho
rIame at once began to spread. The en-
gineers say that had good fireman been
at his post no harm could have resulted.
MAHoNIZIN0 SOUTH CARoLINA-Col-
umbia special 10 the Ne,rs and Courier.
"One OF the political rumors current
Ia that n COnferanCa iS In ho held in thia