The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1883-03-22
Disastrous Oon1agratious,

According to FolSch and Warden,
who have made extended special re-
searches, every theater is doomed soon
er or later to be destroyed by fire, the
average life" of such a building being
something under twenty-three years.
Opera houses, by reason of the greater
amount of superficial show which their
performances require, are still more Ii
able to destruction, and it is worth
noticing that in classical times the rate
OF loss was quite as high, as is instanced
by the fact that the Circus Maximus in
Rome was destroyed by fire thrice be-
tween the years 21 and Ga From 1777
to. 1880 there were burned 252 theaters,
with q loss of 1870 lives, 3,399 other
lives being seriously injured. Of these
five had not been opened, while three
had entered upon their second century
OF ofexistence. Thirty-seven were burned
twice, eight thrice, four four times, and
oae-the National Theater of Washing
ton-fiye times. On an average nova
days thirteen theaters are burned every
year. The first quarter of the year is
naturally the most fatal, and the 8th,
18th and 22d are the most unlucky days
of the month. As a rule, fires at the
aters break out in the middle OF the
week. Or the 252 cases just mentioned
in only thirty-six did the flames break
out during the performance. Sixty-one
per cent. of the theaters burned down
are burned down in the daytime. Of
course, fires that begin at night are the
most destructive of life; on the other
hand, during the performance there are
eyes to watch for an outbreak and hands
TO check it in its earliest stages. Be-
tween 1910 and 1882, according to an
other set of statistics, 523 theaters have
fallen prey to the flames. Of con-
fiagrations in the Old World the most
terrible were those at Saragossa in
1778-137 lives; according to second
authority" 600, and according to 81
third, 1000; at Capo d'Istria, in 1894,
1000; at St. Petersburg, in 1886, 800,
or, according to the Russian papers.
5000; at Canton, in 1915, 1,760 and
100 wounded; at Carlsruhe, in 1S47,
90, and 200 wounded at Leghorn in
1857, 100, and 200 wounded. The dis
repancies between the various state
ments show the difficulty of obtaining
anything like trustworthy body of
statistics. Ia recent years the two great
catastrophes have been those of Nice
and Vienna. At Nice, on the 23d of
March, 1881, the Italian Opera House
was burned, sixty-one lives being lost,
and at Vienna, on the Sth of December,
1881, the Ring Theater was destroyed,
3S4 people perishing in the flames. At
least partial justice was done in this
case by the conviction of the manager
and two employees of contributory neg
ligence, their sentence to brief terms of
imprisonment -four and eight months).
Compensation to the survivors was pro-
vided for in the sentence, but, as the
machinists were peaniless, and the
manager had lost all his property, the
order was Intellectual. A memorial
chapel has been erected. on the site of
thetheater. Ofthe American horrors
one of the earliest and for many years
the most terrible, was the burning of
the theater at Richmond, Va, Decem-
ber 26, 1911, when sixty-seven persons
were killed, including Governor G.. w.
Smith, while many others were serious
ly injured June II, 1876, the old
Chateau st. Louis at Quebec, which
had been converted into theater, was
set on fire by an exploding lamp, when
forty six persons lost their lives. But
by far the most fatal of all theater fires
in the New World was that of Decem-
Der ), 1876, when by the destruction of
the Brooklyn Theater 295 lives were lost
At the present moment the managers of
the New York theaters and the Fire De-
partment are working harmoniously and
cnergetically to make our places of
public amusement as safe as it is pos
sible for them to be.-NeW York World.