St. Paul daily globe., 1890-12-29
The BIJOU IN RUINS.
Minneapolis Visited for the
First Time by a Theater
Fire.
Nothing but Ashes Remains
Of the Popular Price
House.
Arrangements Already Made
to Rebuild 1t Within the
Month.
Henry NJ. Stanley, His Wife
and His Manager Are now
in Town.

tueSlIidlS dlOuS tut edSb SlttC VI
Washington avenue north, between
First avenue and Hennepin. yesterday,
found their path impeded by rope
stretched across the walk and two coon
skin-coated guardians of the peace.
The walk was covered with cinders,
ashes and water. A glance up at the
front of the Bijou opera house revealed
gap i'll the top of the wall. The win
dOwS were broken and the castings
blackened. Everything about the en-
trance to the popular playhouse
wore a forlorn appearance. The
theater's bill board alone. stood
as of old, bearing upon its four
sides highly colored Autographs depict
ing scenes from 1.-The Great Metropo-
is." From the top of the board to the
front Of the theater, festooned across
the sidewalk, were two coils of ever
green. sad reminders of the season of
jollity not yet over. but gone for the
Bijou, from which depended glittering
icicies. The meaning of it all was that
the BiJou theater had been destroyed
by fire. The walls are still standing,
but the whole of the Ioof is gone and
the interior is wreck.
At 1926 yesterday morning. James
Crowley. the janitur of the Bijou thea
ter. out of breath and greatly excited,
rushed into ii department headQuar-
ters and shouted that the Bijou was
burning. Almost at the same in
stant an alarm was pulled in from the
box on the stage of the theater. The
engines made dash for the burning
building, pulled their hose into
the entrance, chopped holes in
the floor and turned streams into the
basement, where the fire seemed to be.
But twas too late TO be hand ell easily
anu at 7:34 Il second alarm was turned
in. More engines responded ami the
iremen did their best. floOsling the whole
interior of the burning building: but the
flames had eaten their way through the
floor and were climbing from gallery to
gallery and box to box inside. At SOB
a third alarm was turned in and the en-
gineS came from the East side. With
these reinfOrcementS the fire was con-
fired almost entirely to the auditorium,
The entrance was not badly damaged
and the stage was practically saved.
although the curtain, drops, and good
part of the scenery was destroyed.
The fire started under the south end
of the foyer in the engine room. not the
boiler room, Of the basement. Thence
it spread ont under the floor of the audi
torium, burning through the tio1r in
several places, and spreading with the
speed of a whrlwlnd through the chairs,
tapestries and Ornamented work Oh the
south side of the building. 1t climbed
the pillars 10 the galleries. mounted
thence to the roof. the supports of which
were soon burned away. and the whole
fell into the flaming crater below.
How the fire started is a mystery un-
explainable except by that theory ap-
piled to numberless mysterious
tireS-Spontaneous combustion. There
were no infiammaDlrs in the
engine room. nothing which
could cause a fire. Theirs was night
watchman in the building who visited
every part of it at intervals of twenty
minutes. He was in the engine room
about fifteen minutes before O'clock
and discovered no traces of fire. A few
minutes later the janitor, entering
through the front, smelled smoke in the
air. He began a search for the source
of the smell: found none on the main
floor and started for the basement. He
was driven back by the flames, and ran
to the fire engine house, giving the
alarm as stated above. During the fire
the big gas main which supplied the
house burst and helped the spread of
the flames before it could he shut off.
The fire came at most OppOrtune
hour for the theatrical companies. All
the baggage of the "McCartny's Mis-
haps" company had been removed the
night before. The loads of scenery re-
quired for the production of "The
Great Metropolis" would have arrived
in about an hour. To the expected az
rival of that scenery is due the saving
of some of the scenery belonging to the
house, which had been packed away at
one side of the stage to make room for
the special scenery of "The Great Me-
tropolis." As 1t is, however, the loss is
heavy. Lambert Hays owns the build
ing. He estimates the loss at between
$4,000 and S30.0O0. 1t will probably ex-
ceed that. 1t was insured by E. Eicnorn
& Sons in the following companies: