, 1884-08-31
IN A FIERY FURNACE.
The Fearful Tales of Suffering Told
BY Survivors
Of the Orion Circus Car Holocaust
Thursday Night.
An Encounter With Death in Closely
Contracted Quarters.


The topic Of conversation yesterday was
the fire in which some ten Of the EN-
ployes OF Orton's circus were crcmatcd,
and live more were 80 seriously burned thai
there IS little or no hope of their recovery.
Early in the morning a reporter Of THT
LEADER sought the workmcn at the circus
grounds, and inquired for some one who
had been through the fiery ordeal. lie
had no difficulty. as nearly every one Of
the ranvasmen stated that he was one OF
the fortunate ones that had escaped. The
mention Of the occurrence was enough Il
make the hardest of them grow serious,
and when they spoke of the disaster il
WAS very evident that they had the most
vivid recollections Of its terrible realities.
AT last the reporter found one who had
been seriously burned and was the last to
escape from the car. His face was GOV
cred with bandages, and he was the only
one with the circus who was injured by
the fiery blast. His statement of the az
cident was confirmed by all the men, and
differs materially from that contained in
the telegraphic dispatches.
just as to how the fire caught none
knew. There was no torch in the car.
and the FIRE did not originate from
any such cause. About fifteen
minutes prior to the time of its
occurrence, some sparks from the loeomo-
tive blew in the car. but no one observed
any effects therefrom and all supposed
that they had gone out. The first init
nation that they had Of the fire, were the
the flames which burst out all at once and
cut off their escape by one of the doors.
In an instant all was confusion. There
were s~eventy-fve men in the car, nearly all
asleep, and when aroused acted Ike mad
men. There were two other doors by
which they could have escaped, but only
one Of them was used. This was only
large enough for two persons to pass
through at a time and each was anxious
to escape first.
The other door was closed, but not
locked. The men rushed against this and
strove to tear it down by main strength.
TT was in vain" said a survivor, that |
shouted to them to shove one side; that il
was not locked, and that it was a sliding
door. They paid no attention to me.
They only shook the door by the irons and
howled like beasts. The crowbar and the
Ak were forgotten and | saw that escape
by this means was impossible. | turned
and made a rush for the smaller door.
Some n caught me and l fell. The
flames struck me in the face and | thought
that my time had come. l made
one more break and this time l was
successful. 1 escaped. but / am pretty
badly burned, and, with the exception u
colored man, l am the only injured man
in the party"
The colored man, referred to in the
above narrative, wrapped himself in Il
blanket. made a rush through the flames
and threw himself from the train. He
escaped with a dislocated shoulder and
some bad bruises.
The others of the company told a story
to" Shorty's, as the injured man
is called. One of the men stated some
of the men were locked in a close embrace.
Nothing coold be done TO save them and
the sight was described as one Of the most
terrible ever seen by them.
Mr.. Orion was approached and was
found to be very communicative; L feel
the most intense sorrow over the matter"
he said. Every ~precaution to prevent
any accident was taken. and for once it
can be truly stated that no one was to
blame. About Eve minutes before the
flames burst forth the Waterman passed
through the car and everything was all
then. He found some Of the men
awake, laughing, talking and joking.
When | first heard the alarm I sup
posed it was one of the stock cars. We
Immediately called the roll and everyone
appeared to answer. Soon, however, it
was discovered that some were missing
and every attempt was made to
them, but without success.
When the worst was over | wanted TO
bring the men to Cheyenne. but l found
that | would have to wait for orders and
concluded to push on to Denver as soon
as possible and make the wounded as
comfortable.
"Ihe railway company did everything
in their power to aid US. They laid off
all trains and sent US through as rapidly
as they could. When we arrived in Den
yer the poor fellows were placed in the
hospitals and e, erything done for them
that could be done.
we raised $500 for them, and I in
structed the authorities to use it for their
benefit, aud if that anount were insult
fcent to inform me- and l would see that
the necessary funds would be rai,ed for
their relief. | arranged with the railway
companies for transportation for them to
their homes just as soon as they recovered.
Il know he continued; that they
were Just ordinary laborers, but | take as
much interest in them as any employer
docs in his men. have $50 men in my
employ, l feel very much erieyed over
the accident, but l cannot see how it
could have been prevented. Every pre-
caution was taken 10 prevent an accident,
but it proved to be of no avail"
Piscatorisl Excursion.
Seven disciples Of st. Izak Walton de-
part this morning for the beautiful region