The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-12-15
Hundreds OF Lives Lost In Vienna
Theater.


The destruction by fro OF the Ring theater
In Vienna, one OF the leading places Of amuse-
ment in the Austrian capit al, is one Of the most
heartrending calamities of modern times. The
dispatches say: Researches show that the upper
gallery must have fallen into the pit, where
The only remains found are small fragments Of
bone. Beyond doubt 900 gallery tickets had
been issued. One hundred holders Of these
are known to have jumped from windows:
Competent judges fear that the loss Of life will
be found to be fully 700. Under the circum-
stances, appalling is the loss of life, it is al
most to be wondered at that 80 many persons
escaped. It is estimated that about 1000
honse when the fire. broke out, and
placing the loss OF life at 700 which
1t is to be hoped is an extravagant esti-
mate about 1900 either managed to make
their escape, in spite OF the panic or the mis-
cradle arrangements of the house, and were
rescued from the flames by the gallant firemen
and soldiers. OF these, about $50 are now lying
in the various hospitals Of the city, wounded
aad suffering intensely. Some Of them are
mangled go severely that they have lost all
semblsnce OF humanity; Many will probably,
die; others will recover, but they will be manned
and disfgured for life. The fire was started at
about Gas, while the curtain was still down.
The house, fortunately, was not filed, many OF
the holders OF boxes and the more desirable
seats not having arrived. The audience continued
10 DuHH ana seat ltsell, ana tn6 lODDy was
thronged with ladies and gentlemen indulging
in final chat before taking their places in the
boxes, when, suddenly, the flames attacked the
drop curtain, and burst forth in one large sheet
which swept away the canvas in an instant. The
scene which followed can never be adequately
described. A loud shrek of Fire" went up from
1000 terrified men and women, and an imme-
diute movement toward the narrow doors was
begun from all quarters of the house. Women
screamed and tainted, men yelled and pushed
over tho PROSTATE forms OF the weaker,
trampling them without mercy in their struggle
to gain the passageways In the midst of
the confusion the noise Of a terrific explosion
was addei to the shrieks of the persons impris-
oued in tho building, which had now become
furnace, and the lights in the house were in
stantly extinguished. The gas-tank had
burst, and the narrow, complicated passages
leading from the galleries were in total dark,
ness The doorways became jammed wiz
the fighting throng, and soon it was impossi-
bic 10 go forward or retreat. AS the gas-tank
exploded, the flames pierced the roof OF the
theater, and the Schotten Ring was ablaze
with light The interior of the building was
now SO hot that men and women dropped in
their tracks, and lay where they fell until
sufocation ended their misery. Despair and
frenzy seem to have taken possession of the oc-
cupapts of the galleries. Cut off from all re-
treat by way of the narrow staircase which was
rlogged by mass of humanity, and having no
windows from which to throw themselves,
many OF the maddened men and women cast
themselves headlong from the fourth gallery
to the pit below, where they were either in
stantly killed by the fall or perished by suffo-
cation Others gave themselves up without
struggle and calmly awaited certain death in
tho furnace, which was now at white heat.
The alarm of the fire spread rapidly
| throughout the city, and in very short time
The neighborhood of the theater was packed
with crowd of eager men, all anxious to ex-
IN ia I'm
the mean. light snow was falling, and this
added to the fearful character of the scene.
Within ten minutes after the fire had gained
possession of the auditorium the Turner's fire
| brigade WAS on the ground, and the work of
| endeavoling to rescue the sufferers began.
| The walls near the choked-up entrances were
! knocked away. and great numbers OF people
| were thus set free. The flames from the burn
! ing building, however, soon became 30 fierce
| that the iiremen were obliged to give up this
scheme Of drliverance Then they held large
| blankets outsretched, aud into these the i'm
| prisoned men jumped from the windows Of the
first floor above the pit. In this way fifty per-
| IONS were rescued without receiving a scratch.
| hen the hea, became 20 intense that it was
| impossible 10 stsn1 near the burning theater
snl the llave hremen were obliged to give up
| the wOlk OF rescue. All who remained within
| the w. lis OF the theater at this time were
| doom cl, AMI the sbric%s of the victims as they
| slnwly roasted to death were agonizing to the
| great multitude who watched the progress of
| the rre. BY II O'Clock, in a little more than
| four homs, the flames had done their work, and
| nol'ing remained of the Ring theater but the
| four walls and the statutes OF the three muses.
| and the gildel angel with his trumpet, which
ornamcnted it, beautiful front. II was many
hours more before it was possible to explore
| tho ruins in search of the bodies.
Additional details from Vienna cay that 5St
| Lodies had been recovered and that the mum.
| Der of missing is 917. On the arrival OF the
| fire brigade after the fire broke out it wa.
| found impossible to penetrate beyond the first
| tier of the theater, the rush of suffocatine
smoke and air extinguishing the lamns and
| torches. The fremen retired under no
mentary impression because their shouts were
| not answered, that there were no more people
| in the theater. Those who escaped on the first
| alarm however, soon undeceived them. An
other effort was then made to penetrate the
parts OF the theater which were not actually
blazing. In the narrow passage between
of corpses was discovered, some go
closely interlocked that it was hardly
| possible to part them. The first man discov-
| cred was got out alive, but all the rest were
dead. These were persons who had lost their
| way in consequence of the turning of OF the
gas which, it is now ascertained, was done by
some irresponsible person with view to pre-
vent an explosion. Some men were found with
their hands grasping each others throats Sub
sequent Investigations showed that in some
cases persons finding escape hopeless had COM
mtted suicide. il is stated by survivors that
women were seen to throw their children from
the galleries into the pit. At the time of the
outbreak of the flames, the gallery especially
allotted to ladies was full. Subscriptions were
lies OF the dead, the emperor heading the list
| with 25 600 flOrilB,