The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1883-01-23
A CHAPTER OF HORRORS.
Famous COnfiagratiOns That Des-
trOyed Human Life.
From the New York World.

From the New York World
The terrible catastrophe which Is re-
ported this morning from Berdi!scheff,
hy which 300 persons are believed to
have lost their lives, will recall some OF
the other famous conaagrations nv W lich
scores and hundreds OF victims have lost
their lives The general statistics upon
TIL sui ct are not 81 lu or 50 accurate
as might be desired. According to
Folsch and Warden, who have made ex
'eadtd specias Researches, every sheater
10 doomed sooner or later to he de.-
,roNed by Are, the avarage "lite" of such
building being something under twen-
three years Opesa-houses, by reason
OF the greater amount Of superficial show
which their performances require, are
still more liable to destruction, and it is
wor,h while noticing that in classical
ii nes the rate OF loss was quite as high,
as is instanced by the Iact that The Cir
Gus Maximus, in Rome. was destroyed
by h7e thr,ce between The years 81 and
g. From lit to 1880 there were
burned 952 thesters, with loss OF A.
$40 lives, 3399 others being seriously
injured. OF these five had not been
opened, while three had ettered upon
their second century of existence. Thir-
tv-seven we're burned twice, eight thrice,
Fonr four times, and one--the National
Theatre of Wsshington-fve times. Ou
an average nova lays thirteen theaters
are burned every year. The frat qlar-
ter OF the year is naturally the most IA
tai, and the S'h, 18th. and 22l are the
| most unlucky days of the month. AS a
! rule, fires in theaters break out in the
middle OF the week. o. the 252 cases
Just mentioned, in only thirty-six did the
,mes break out during the performance.
six v-one per cent osthe thes,ers burned
down are burned down in the daytime
Of course fires that begin at night s'e
the moss destructive of life 4; on the other
hand, during the performance there are
eyes to watch for AN outhreak and hands
to check it in its earliest stages. B.
tween 1910 and 1882 according to
another act Of statistics. 523 theaters
have fallen q prey t. the flames. or con.
Gsgrations in the O,d World, the most
terrible were those at Saragosss in
l77S-l37 lives; according to the Sec
ond sautnoritY," 600, and according to
third, 900; ct Capo d'Istria. in 1794,
1000: at ST. Petersburg, in 1886, 800,
or. according to the Russian papers, 3
900; at Canton. in lS45. l, ,760, and I,
700 wounded, at Carlsruhe, in lS47. SO,
and 200 wounded; at Leghorn, in 1857
| 100. ami 200 wounded. The discrepan-
cies between the various statements sho "
the difficulty OF oh,aining anything ike
a Trustworthy hody OF statistics. In re
cent wears the two great catas'rophes
have been those Of Nice and Vienna.
At Nice, on the 23i OF March, 1881,
the Italian Opera-house was burned,
six.y y-nne lives being lost, and at Vienna,
nu the 9Th OF December. 1881 the Ring
Theatre wss DESTROYED, 3S4 people per-
ishing in the fumes. At least partial
Justice was done in this case hy the, con
vlction OF the manager and two employees
Of ,ntributorv negligence and their
senterce to brief term. OF impr;snn-
ment (ionr or eight mon.h@) Compen-
sa,inn to the survivors was provided for
in the sentence, hut, as the machinists
we're penniess AMI the manager bad lost
all his property, tho orrier was ineffec
tusl. A memorial chapel has been erec-
ted on the site Of the thea'er or the
American "horrors" one OF the earliest,
and for MANY years the most terrible.
was the burning OF the theatnr at Rich
monh, Va, D cemher rs. 1911, when.
six.v. seven persons were killed, includ-
ing G. ,vernor G. W Smith, while nsov
others we're seriously injured. June IA
1916 the old Chateau St. Louis, a.
@ ,ebec, which had been converted into
a thcatsr, vas SGT on fire by an explod-
ing lamp, when fortv-six persons lost
their lives But hv far the most fatal o.
all theater fres in the New World was
that of December 5, 1878, when by thD
destruction OF the Brooklyn Theater
295 lives we're lost. At the present mo-
ment the managers OF the New York
.heaters and the fire department are
working together harmoniously sn1 en-
ergetically to make our places OF pnblic
amusement as safe as it is possible for
them to he.