The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1885-08-18
A COUPLE or OLD-TlMe SHOWS.
| The Eruption of yesuvius" and "Mae1zeYs
Burning of Moscow"

The Eruption of vesuvius' and 'ldaelzeYs
Burning of Moscow"
Philadelphia TimesI
Ny earliest recollections of places of pub
lie entertainment commence in "McAran's,
the old Vaux hall Of Philadelphia This
garden occupied the space bounded by Sew
enteenth and Eighteenth, Arch and Filbert
The entrance was upon Fiibert street The
prominent feature of the place was an
eruption of Vesuvius." The passer-by in
tho daytime on Seventeenth street noticed at
the gardens verge a conical wooden struct-
ure rising level with the caves of the op-
posite houses. Should you chance inside
your eve ran over a mass Of indented tin
painted black, at its foot a row Of lamps,
while between yourself and the lamps slept
a 40x2O pool of water, the bay of Naples.
At night from your seat you recognized the
twinkling of lights of Napolo, while from
the apex of the mountain a spray of sparks
continually issued. A roar, and the noun
tain reddens; the roar inJensifies; the noun
tain rends asunder in three places to pour
forth streams of lava upon the slee ping
city, which seemed paved with double head
ers and constructed of sky-rockets. Twas
big thing, tho, to us primitive cubs.
This suggests "Maelzers Burning of Mos
COW" exhibited In the third-story Assembly
buildings. When the curtain rose you OBJ
served in the foreground, occupying the en-
tire breadth of the stage, O cluster Of
strange-l ooking towers, surmounted by
domes. resembling inverted turnips-the
Kremln. Across its esplanade rushed, like
cockroaches athwart a cupboard, a brigade
of little figures carrying torches-the mcen-
diaries Thro' the middle distance flowed a
river (the Moskva, or messy water across
which were thrown lone behind the other
two bridges A mild moon began to creep
above tho horizon, revealing in the left
background, as it rose, the spires, towers
and minaret5 of the ancient city of the
tzars.
Suddenly a bell in the Kremlin tolled and
away went the cockroaches as if to catch
the last car from the park. A strange light
crept over the devoted city. The Kremlin
sounded a general alarm, responded to by
distant bells in tho town. Flames began to
shoot up from the horizon; the steeples, too.
drawn In bold relief by the Iurid glare,
toppled and fell one by one A sheet Of
flame marked the horizon; the sky became
lurid; you heard mingled with the clang of
bells the roar of the flames, while clouds of
smoke foated up from the confagration.
Upon the further bridge began to cross a
body Of infantry, then upon the higher
structure appeared Napoleon, followed by q
gay staff; by cavalry, light artillery, in
fantry and finally the baggage. Just as the
baggage train debouched and you were well
tangled up between the noise, the doomed
city and the advancing army, the Kremlin
blew up and tumbled in with one valedictory
smash and the show terminated
have often marveled as to the fate of
this very ingenious and complicated piece Of
mechanism. l saw it for the last time in
so or 80, in the hall at Broad and Spring
garden. Twas much nutilated. Young
Philadelphia has little idea of the number or
value of these things which, forty odd years
ago, were lying around loose in the city.
From their great intrinsic value and pres
ence in great numbers L now believe them
to have been the spoils of the French revo-
luton