The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1881-12-16
FRIGHTFUL CALAMITY.
HuTuing of the Ring Theater, I'm
Vienna.

and the loss OF nearly 700 lives, is one OF the
most appalling calsmities of modern times.
The iro originated on the stage. The curtain
was still down at the time. The precise manner
in which il started is not known. Some of those
who were on the stage at the time, and who
escaped, say that the fire was caused by the
dropping of an o-lanlp among the scenery.
Others assert that the fire came up from the
engine-room and was generated by the engine
below the stage which was supplying the thea
ter With electric lights However it was, when
the flames made their appearance they did 30 so
suddenly and were in such alarming proportions
10 throw the stage people into an in5tanta-
neous and thorough panic. The stage had but
one exit to the street, and for this narrow place
Of egress the entire 200 rushed. The flames
were between the curtain and this door, and
this fact WAS the cause which prevented any
one trying to escape 10 the body of the house.
No one on the stage was bold enough to face
the flames in that direction, aud 30 the great
audience had no one TO duly notify them Of the
terrible danger from which most OF them might
have escaped, had they been warned in time.
At the stage exit the actors got jamnIed and
tue door was literally plugged up with human
bodies, and 1t is believed that most Of the num-
Der were burned 10 death.
During all this time the flames were having
it all their own way among the finder on the
stage. There was IN the theater an iron cur
tain, which, when down, completely severed the
stage from the audience. This iron curtain
was up, and in the panic on the stage was for
gotten or cut off from approach by the flames
When the fire behind the drop became great
enough TO be seen through the painted fabric by
the audience, they naturally supposed it the re-
suit of the stage experiment with calcium to be
used during the ballet, and paid 10 further at
tention to it. The flames attacked the drop
curtain from all points simultaneously and it
seemed to instantly disappear and the whole
auditorium was in thoughts time in the
complete grasp of the fire, which spread like
one vast sheet of lightning in a hurricane
What followed Is understandable. The people
became demented and fell upon one another
like wild beasts. Some few got into the pas
sages, but the hall was dark. Both gas and the
electric lights were cut of. In the midst of all
this terror, the noise of a terrible explosion
showed that the gas tank had burst, and
this time the flames burst through the roof
and through most of the windows, and the en-
tire space between the walls OF the large build
ing wac like vast furnace In white neat, with
living human bodies for Goals
The sight attracted the whole town TO the scene,
and thoughtful people took thither clothes,
rope. ladders and axes. The great Turner's
fire brigade was soon at the theater and as
sumed charge OF the ife-saving operations.
BY actual count it was ten minutes from the
time the fire had possession of the auditorium
before single life was saved by outside as
sistance, and during all this time the
people within toe furnace were either burning
up or tramphng one another to DEATH Men
and women, crazed with heat aud demented
with the prospect before them, DESTROYED
themselves by leaping from the front seats of
the galleries into the seething abyss below.
Up to this time none escaped except tho few
who got from the stage, the fewer who man
aged to stumble out through the darkened
passage-ways from the pit to the street. and
the few who dropped from the windows OF
the first floor above the pit into the street. The
Turner's began at once knocking In the walls
around the exits and dragging out the bodies
piled thereby. In this way they managed to save
several lives, but the flames soon drove tDem
away from the walls. The sturdy fellows then
organized blanket service and invited those
at the windows on the high first floor to Jump.
Fifty persons answered the invitations ard the
Turner'S caught every one OF the entire fifty IN
outstretched blankets and saved them without
injury. There were no windows in the street
walls higher than this first floor, and it is hardly
q matter Of doubt that every occupant OF the
galleries was burned to death.
When the tiftieth person had been rescued by
the blanket service the whole building was a
mass OF white fire, so hot that no near approach
was possible. After that no human being got
outside the walls, and the assembled crowds,
vast in number, were compelled TO stand
around and witness the most appalling and
heart-rending scene OF modern times. Bodies
could be seen falling from the upper floors into
the white fire below-some still and limp, as if
hfeless, others in the widest movements of ag-
ony. One was seen as if plunged from the
highest part of the house. 1t was that of o
man, and he fell headforemost both arms
crushed under the face.
A Vienna dispatch of the 9th inst. says |:
Researches show that the upper gallery must
have fall init rbara tla
found are small fragments Of bones Beyond q
doubt 500 gallery tickets had been issued. Only
100 of these are known to have jumped from
windows, and competent judges fear the loss
Of life will be found TO be fully 700.
Additional ParticuIars-The Beath-
Kohl Reaches Nearly Thousand.
Vienna dispatches of the 18th state "the of.
fetal list gives the number of the missing as
9l7. So far, $50 bodies have been recovered.
The Hebrew dead were conveyed TO the Jewish
portion of the cemetery. The scenes at
the graves we're painful TO witness.
The ruins Of the theater were surrounded
bv crowds Of people to-day. The work of
removal of the debris was resumed. 1t il
feared hundreds more of bodies will be found
in the blocked-up passages. The Captain of
the fire brigade states that all the inside Of the
theater is heap of human bones and charred
remains. Inc attitude OF the dead IS OF the
stranc est character. Some men were found
erasp.ng each others throats the nails OF their
fines being imhedded in the flesh.
Some show sclf-iDfllcted mortal wounds,
while several children were found in the
pit that had been thrown from the galleries by
their frantic mothers. Further inquiries as to
the origin Of the fire establish the fact that the
persons intrusted with the duties of fremen on
the stage ran off affrighted at the first blaze.
One even tumbled headlong from the 'nes'
to the stage-Hoor and another, who had charge
OF the gas thinking that an explosion had oc-
Cured or would occur. turned of the
gas at the meter plungng the theater
into total darkness, until it bee me
Illuminated with the blaze of the conhagration.
There was . vire-gauze curtain ready 10 be let
down IN case OF emergencg, and supposed to be
attended TO by special mechanic, well drilled
in his duties. Had this curtain been lowered.
it il probable every person In the theater would
have escaped. But either'the attendant could
not find the key to the apprehension, or he
was also seized with the panic. In one
passage OF the theater, without an outlet forty
persons lost Their way, and, being unS be TO. r.
turn, were sulIocated. The Relchsrath has
voted 600, 600 for the sufferers bv the fire. The
general relief fund amounts 10 $4,000 FORMS If
which the Emperor subscribed one-half. sui