The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1881-12-10

L.
wxs a rte day in Vienna in celebra-
va ,.', - ihe feast OF the Immaculate Concep-
- INT IL ended with a public calamity
49, o,,.,r,lleled in the history OF Vienna. A
~. rninutes before :, and before the com
', ~" OF the second performance in
,;,,ua % Ofcnbach's latest work, 4" Les
Con,cs d'Hofmann," the Ring Theatre,
,,rroerly known ~ the Opera Comique, on
-. S,boiten Ring. the second finest thea
-. In the city, opened in 1873. was disco
.,,sJ 10 be in flames. The fire quickly
'.,..sJ and in ten minutes all the city for
,.as. around the Theatre was stepped in q
,,r;l Glow. the reflection OF the burning
IN, seven O'Clock is the hour for. the
',mmcnccmcnt Of plays at the Vienna thea
go. and. fortunately, the catastrophe hap
,,.,cs zone minutes before I. The gale
-. wcre already crowded, while hut few
'soplc had appeared in the boxes, and
any about q score OF people had taken
their places III the parque,te.
ORIGIN or THE CATASTROPHE.
The frc was caused by the fall OF a lamp
81, ,be stage, and it appears that the men
IN, had charge OF the iron screen which
.,,ud be let down in case OF fire, thus d.
.flinr the stage from the auditorium, de
rod their posts when the fire broke out.
Tbo.c who were among the audience say
"a, suddenly the curtain was raised and
.be fire discovered raging on the stage, and
H,.i me usual strife for life by those in the
onner Galleries commenced. Many sprang
,rom the uppermost gallery and were
.I.d. while OF those who remained il is
impossible TO say how many lost their
fyc,. Death appears to have been due
IN ,ufocation. At present hundreds
NJ ,sniilry litters are being carried
,,vsrd the Theatre by swiit-ioOted men,
Who then bear away their burden of the
dead company on company Of soldiers
are still arriving on the ground TO relieve
other companies, who have been assisting
ike frrmen in their duties. At IL O'Clock
,he inside 81 the Theatre was quite Quilted.
ony the beautiful front OF the Theatre be-
inc leO sanding. The four statues of the
Muse, and the gildcd angel with the trun-
nc, rroWnng the front were then erect,
and ,.ood boldly oHt from background Of
e,pr. vel unsubdued. In this Theatre
ldcina Patti generally sings when in Vi
,nna. and Sarah Bernhardt recently con-
Guided her engagement and was engaged
% play there again in January.
THE ROLL OF DEATH.
An American physician, who had just re-
turned from a visit To the Algemeine hran-
.enhaus. told me that he had seen eighty
d-lt men and forty-iour women laid out
In that institution alone. Their faces were
black and their tongues protrudlng, with
roth issuing from their mOuths-all the
SYMPTOMS Of sufOcatiOn. When he left
The Krankenbaus at midnight they were
It'll carrying in the dead. lie described
fbc sight as horrible in the extreme.
Friends were striving 10 identity friends,
md relatives their relatives. Women were
rushing about almost crazy from fruitlesS
search. By > O'Clock two hundred and
forty bodies had been taken out OF the
Theatre. IL was thought that hundred
more were still among the ruins. REPORTS
up IN > O'Clock were OF the dead from the
third gallery alone, where ninety corpses
were found in one mass. The fourth gal
',rv had not yet been searched.
POUR HUNDRED BURNED.
II i, probable that the death list will be
fully four hundred. The latest reports
sew that the crowds in the galleries pressed
i'm their despair toward the doors, and,
crushing each other, prevented most OF the
number from escaping. The smoke ana
fumes completed the work of death within
I'VE minutes after the first alarm had been
given. The frcmen are still at work with
torches searching the lower parts OF the
house. AZ present il is considered unsafe
20 enter the uppermost gallery, where the
dead lie in great masses. Half OF vienna
will be in mourning to-day for their
friends and relatives. 1t Is believed no
Americans are among the dead, though 1t
/, possible that some OF the medical stu
dent. who frequent the cheaper places IN
ihc Vienna theatres may be among them.
The London Standards dispatch from
Vienna says: cit is estimated that the
audience in the Theatre numbered 1000.
MANY persons were tramplcd to death In
the panic which ensued. AS soon as the
fire Was seen there was an explosion OF gas,
md the audience were plunged in dark
nc.s."
Later.
Two HUNDRED AND SEVENTY BODIES RE-
COVERED AND THE FOURTH GALLERY NOT
EXPLORED--THB MANAGEMENT CHARGED
Win GROSS NEGLECT.
LONpON, December "a later telegram
from Vienna, dated this evening, says 2'O
bodies have now been recovered from the
ruins Of the Ring Theatre. The fourth
gallery has not yet been explored. 1t is
believed that not n single person escaped
nom that gallery, and that very few escaped
rom The third gallery. The corpseS last
recovcd are little more than charred frag-
ments. Gross neglect il charged against
the management OF the Theatre. The law
prc>cribcS the use Of oil-lamps in the
corridors Of theatres, so that exit shall he
dlscernable in the event of failure OF the
yas. but this precaution was utterly ne
elected. The person in charge OF the iron
curtain between the stage and auditorium
appear. TO have fled at the first alarm.