Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-12-10
WORSE AND WORSE.
THE DISASTER AT VIENNA GROWS
MORE TERRIBLE THAN
REPORTED.
400 Bodies Recovered and 700 Be-
ieved to Have Been Lost.

LONDON, Dec. "a later telegram from
Vienna, dated this morning, says 27O bodies
have been recovered from the ruins of Ring
theatre. The fourth gallery has not yet been
explored. It is believed that not single per-
son escaped from that gallery, and that very
few escaped from the third gallery. The
corpses last recovered are little more than
charred fragments. Gross neglect Is charged
against the management of the theatre. The
law prescribes the use of oil lamps in the cor
ridors OF theatres SO that the exits shall be
discernable in the event of failure of the
gas, but this precaution was utterly neglected
The person in charge OF the iron curtain be.
tween the stage and auditorium appears to
have fled at the first alarm.
A dispatch this morning from Vienna states
that 400 corpses have been recovered from the
burned threatre.
VIENNA, Dec. 9.-The lower house of the
Reichstrath adjourned to-day at the sugges.
ton of the president, after several sympathetic
speeches. Hope was expressed that an ample
fund be raised for sufferers by the fire. Ten
thousand forins was subscribed in Bourse
this morning for the families of the vic Tins
of the fire, for they are probably more numer-
ous than at first believed. Business on the
Bourse is suspended.I
The Zeitung, whose Office is exactly op-
posite the Inflated Ring theatre, gives
graphic account of the catastrophe, of which
the following is an extract: We write with
death in our hearts, unable to find words
to describe the pain which we suffer. A
terrible calamity befell our city to-day.
The Ring theatre, formerly known as the
Opera COmique, is In ashes, and hundreds
Of human beings are victims of the catas-
trophe. Nothing like this has ever occurred
before in this country. At ten
minutes before o'clock the fire broke out.
The theatre was pretty well filed, but happily
ber of people were still in the foyer and dres-
sing rooms, and q dense mass occupied the
scholester ring. Ithad just commenced snow
Ing, and in the auditorium of the theatre there
was the usual hustle before the commence
ment of the performance. People Walking up
and down, looking for their places,
and the noise Of turning down
still empty, but the balcony and galleries were
well filed. On the stage, everything was in q
state of activity and hustle, workingmen re-
moving scenery, etc. Offenbaoh's comic
opera, Les Contes De Hoffman, was to be per-
formed the second time. The singers and actors
had already taken their places on the stage in
costume, but large number, however, were
still in the dressing rooms in the hands of
cestumers and hair -dressers. The overture
notice had begun. How the fire commenced
cannot be definitely stated, and probably it
will never be known. According to one ver-
| sion the scenery was ignited by spark from
the electric machinery. According to an
| other version a workman with an alcohol
lamp caused the disaster. The former version
is the more likely one. Director Helemes-
berger, who stood upon the stage, was the
| first one to notice the fire. In moment after
| the "fies" were wrapped in flames, and the
| network of wood, ropes and canvass was
burning like tinder. People on the stage were
| stupefed with fear at first, and they speedily
| took to flight in the most terrible confusion,
| towards the ladies' dressing rooms ON the
| left of the stage, where a small staircase
| led to Hohenstanfers strasse. In a moment
the curtain flew up, and draft blew it hither
| and thither until like q fry tongue 1t darted
back and forth from auditorium to stage, and
| fire become master of the Ring theater. "Fire,
fire, the Ring theater is on fire." was the
cry that went from mouth to
ear on Ring strasse. The flames
were already bursting through tho roof, and
cries such as Vienna, never heard before filed
| 1t. They seemed not like cries of human be-
| ings, but such as can be heard only in death
| struggles. The scene was lndiscrlbable All
| those inside the building were pushing their
way towards the street, which was
crowded at all points. The audience
from the theatre struggled
| and crushed each other in peristyle and foyer,
and confusion reigned supreme. Suddenly
cries were heard from the windows of the
| theater. The balcony over the entrance was
| soon emptied, and the cries Of those at the
windows, and of those within the theater,
were awful, and swelled louder and Louder.
The mass of people in the street was growing
denser constantly.
All the morning papers publishing heart
rending accounts OF the catastrophe. Most of
| them place the number of dead at 800, but
with persons who were In the fourth gallery
| yet to hear from the number will be swelled
to 500 at least. Even the police seem reluct-
ant to speak to the extent of the disaster In
the upper gallery, and neither arenen nor SOL
| dlers have as yet dared 10 penerate the deadly
scene.
A fireman who had assisted in bringing out
ladies from the third gallery, being asked
'How many persous do you think are in the
| fourth gallery" answered.: 1.-TWO hundred
and possibly 500. Who can tell? They are
| there In thick masses. We shall not know
how many are dead until the people of Vienna
| have sent in their list of missing ones to the
police"
The origin Of the fire Is not yet established
| to certainty, but of cowardice of the fireman
on the stage, and attendants who should have
| let down the iron screen, of general want of
| provision In the event of such catastrophe,
there remains no doubt. The theatre was a
very handsome edif1ce as far as the interior
was concerned, and was apparently construct
ed with view to exaggerate such catastro-
phe as that of last night. The stairs and
passage ways were laid out in strangely
complicated manner, so that a person would
need good knowledge of the place to find
his way at all in and out of the theatre. These
peculiarities were noted on the day Of the
opening of the theatre, the 18th OF January,
1874, when 'sn Barberie Dezeriglia" was per-
formed. The stairways and passages last
night proved fatal to the many who had
already escaped the horrors Of suffering
The following is the narrative OF Herr
Lindman, actor: ''It was quarter to z, and
the second signal had been given to the actors,
that in quarter of an hour the performance
would begin. ] was in my dressing room,
and on hearing the alarm I rushed on the
stage and found myself in sea of dames. A
violent draught Of air arese, and perfect
column of fire seemed to rush
against the curtain, which II quickly
pierced. Then the stream of fire
poured into the theater and up to the galleries.
I only heard single hor.ifying scream, a sin
gle cry Of unspeakable terror and fearful de-
spair." He thendescribed The score of men,
bers of the chorus flying to reach the doorway
and escape from the fire.
Inspector Nitzoe escaped from hiBsdwelling
In the upper etOrv He describes The fearful