Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1893-11-30
A MILLION DOLLAR FIRE.

A MILLION DOLLAR FIRE.
Columbus, o.. Visited by . 1olsastrons
| Flre-Two Theaters and . Hotet Burn
ed-Both Theaters Delivered OF Their
Audiences without C0nfusi0n--The Ho.
te Guests Saved Sans BaggAEe-A Stage
Hand Burned to Death and an Actor
Missing.
COLUMBUS, O., Nov. 25.-Fire broke
out in the new Henrietta theater, corr
ner Spring and Front streets, at 8:15
last evening, and in less than an hour
and a half this elegant play house. the
Chittenden hotel and Auditorium and
Park theater were in ruins.
Felix Morris, in the Paper Cha Sc. .
was at the Henrietta theater, and the
| orchestra had just finished the ever-
ture when the manager, Albert Evans,
appeared on the stage and informed
the audience that there was small
blaze in the rear of the theater, and
suggested that they leave the building.
As no flames were to be seen and the
audience was small, they did SO in
order.
The members of the company were
dressed for their parts, and, as they
were assured the theater was fire.
proof, made no effort to remove their
| wardrobes. In a few minutes the flames.
which first appeared in the large audi
torium adjoining the theater and
which was unfinished, broke out in the
rear of the stage. Almost instantly
the whole proscenium was ablaze. The
members of the company fled in their
stage clothes The manager said to
the United Press reporter that he had
saved almost nothing.
A high wind was blowing from the
west, which famed the flames so that
when the fire department arrived the
theater was doomed, and the Chitten-
den hotel, adjoining on the east was
burning.
A man, who was recognized as An
drew Armstrong, a stage hand. and
who worked above the scenery, APP
peared at a fourth-story window of the
theater and cried for help. He was told
not to jump and he would be saved.
He disappeared from the window and
was not seen again. The walls of the
theater fell in soon after.
So far as now known this was the
only life lost. The guests of the Chit
tenden hotel had ample time to escape,
hut few of them saved any property.
Steadily the flames worked away at
the fine hotel, the fire department be-
ing apparently helpless. In an hour
after the fire broke out in the Henri
eta the hotel was fast falling into
ruins
just north of the hotel, on the High
street front, stood the Park theater.
Gray & Stephens, with their trained
dogs and ponies. were giving an exhi-
bition there. The curtain was sud-
denly rung down, and the audience
was informed that the hotel adjoining
was on fire. So far was the audience
from being panic-striclsen that they re-
fused to go out, and demands were made
that the performance proceed. They
finally went out slowly. A half hour
later this theater, which was frame
building, was in ruins. Here also the
company lost their properties but saved
their animals
The Henrietta had just entered upon
its second season. This theater, the
Auditorium adjoining. and the Chit
tenden hotel were built three years
ago by Henry T. Chittenden and were
owned by him. The Henrietta was
supposed to be fireproof. The Park
theater was owned by a stock COM
pany. The loss on the Henrietta thea
ter and Auditorium is about 5000, 900:
that on the Chittenden hotel, including
furnishings and property contained,
about 100000 and the Park theater
$4,000.
There were also in the buildings the
Ohio sayings bank, the Star shoe store,
Rice's drug store and Goodman's cloth
ing store. The losses on these will ag-
gregate 5O.O00.
There was insurance on all the build
ings and property burned, the exact
amount of which could not be learned
in the confusion last night.
Gov. Mckinley lived at the Chittenden,
but both he and Mrs. Mckinley are in
the east now. The private property OF
value that the governor had in his
apartments was saved by Capt. Heis-
tenden, of the regular army, who hap
pened to be in the hotel
The fire destroyed the whole square
bounded by High. Spring and Front
streets and the first building north of
Spring street. 1t is not known how
the fire originated, but it was proba-
bly, from defective fiue in the the
eter.
The engineer of the theatcr, man
named Thompson, is missing, but his
duties kept him in the basement. 1t is
not likely that he has been burned.
The stage of the Henrietta was one
of the largest in the country, and the
theater was elegant and modern in
construction.
Julia NARROW opened the house the
first week in September, 1892. Stewart
Robson was billed to play there next
Monday night. Messrs. Dixon & Tai
bot, lessess of both theaters, claim that
an actor named Howard, with the Fee
lix Morris Co., has not been seen since
the fire, and fear he is lost.
Mysterious Crime OF n ST. Louis Bartend-
err Committed While Drunk.
ST. LOUIS, Nov. 25.-Annie Naesens,
Is years DID, a domestic in the family
of Emil Albin, who keeps a saloon ut
FOOL South Broadway. died at the city
hospital last night at midnight, hav-
ing been shot through the head by
her accepted lover, James Fitzgerald.
aged 81, barkeeper in Albins saloon,
who is locked up in the Carondelet Jail,
still protesting his innocence. The
cause and the manner of the shooting
remain mysteries.