New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-12-10
4 THEATRF HORR0R-

The burning of the Ring Theatre, Vienna,
will revive painful memories of the awful
calamity which occurred in Brooklyn five
years ago this very month. The parallel is
very close one IN many points. The loss OF
life on that occasion was 292, and the earliest
reports in this instance make the number OF
victims 800. In each case ths flames Origi-
mated on the stage-in the Brooklyn Theatre
the borders of the scenery catching fire from
the side lights, and in the Vienna theatre the
dheoJ cause being ,he upsetting of lamp. In
both instances the flames spread with
incredible rapldity from the stqge scenery to
the galleries and dome. In the Brooklyn
Theatre the ceiling was made Of thin boards
covered with canvas and being as iufammablG
as the dry Under on the stage, it fell almost
before the drcsS-circle was omptied. In the
Ring Theatre the flames appear to have shot
up in an instant to the crest of the dome and
to have doomed to destruction the mass of
the spectators who bad been Gagged in the up
per galleries Now, rs then, there is appa-
ratus close at hand for eXtinguishing
fire, but owing TO the want of dis
cipline among the stage hands it is
not available. No water is used the hose is
not attached TO the re-plug; and the iron
partition-thcre was nothing of this sort in the
Brooklyn Theatres not let down between the
stage and the auditorium. What happened
then is repeated now tho passages leading
from the upper galleries become Cbstructed,
and TO add to the horror of the moment the
lights 90 ont, and the mass of strug-
Cling victims is left in darkness. Five
years ago there were 1000 persons in
the burning theatre. OF these, all who
were in the parqnet and nearly all who
were in the drcss-cirole escaped unframed,
the victims being mainly those who hal bought
admission tickets and taken seats in the family
circle. In the Ring Theatre the attend
ance was twice az great, but the mortal
ity about the same, the upper galleries
and the passages and staircases leading from
them being the scenes OF agunziug struggling
and heartranding suffering.
There is neral enough in this parallel for
theatre architects and managers. 1t is APP
pallng that so awful catastrophe
should have been repeated with such
close correspondence of detail within five
years. The defects of construction and the
negligence of management were 20 cOnspicu-
ous in the first instance that il seems almost
incredible that another theatre should have
been destroyed and three hundred men, women
and children trampled under foot and roasted
alive in the same way. There have been iu-
teryening horrors in Europe and America
which have enforced tho same moral of
criminal acknowledgement and neglect of
proper safeguards against fire and panic
Theatres arc apparently safer than they
ever have been before, for architects lavs
proiited by the Mornings of the past but the
best planned honse Of entertainment that has
ever been built is not to be considered reason
ably safe unless there is body Of stage hands
constantly in attendance with all requisite ap-
planes for extinguishing any sudden out
break of fire and for regulating the move
ments Of the audience. This body of stage
firemcn must not only be large and watchful,
but it must be thoroughly trained to NEE the
dread emergency of panic or fame.