The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-05-05
Ia old Paris, constructed of prettily
planted canvas.

Press has had an interview with Miss
Elsie Bushbeck of Philadelphia, who,
with the Misses Hawthorne and Bush
| beck, was one of the few who escaped
though not unscathed. Miss Bushbeck
| said:
L was a salesWoman at Booth No.
| 10, near the place where the fire orr
| ginated. / arrived at 4:10 with my
| friends. We stopped to look around the
bazaar, and stopped at a lottery wheel,
where I won a bunch of asparagus.
Just then, happening to turn round, 1
saw and called my friends attention to
flicker in the corner of the wall, about
| fifteen yards away. Hardly had 1 done
so, when a gentleman behind me cried
| Fire, ladi hasten out and pushed
me toward the door rather roughly,
but fortunately for me- AS this was
my second experience under such cir
cumstances I advised my two friends to
raise their skirts in the front so they
would not stumble over them
| I'VE were just stepping on the first
| three steps leading out of the building.
| Turning my head to look back 1 saw
the whole place in flames. AS I left [
caught a glimpse of an old lady emery
stumble on her skirts The next in
/ slant quite twenty persons piled on
| top of her. L crossed the street and
turned around to face the fire. but al
ready the heat was so intense that it
! scorched me, and 1 was obliged to
raise my hands to protect my face.
| When the roof fell in with a terrific
crash, certainly not more than five
| r1oin ha6 ole
warning. Such was the intensity of
| the heat that L saw a fireman's jack
ct ignited, and several of the horses
were badly singed. Out of the pile of
| persons who fell near the door none
were saved. All was burned in a mo-
ment. OF the four nuns at my booth
| two were saved and one of the three
blind girls who We're engaged there
| The visitors We're for the most part la
| dies gorgeously dressed
| The Duchess d'Alencon. sister of the
Austrian Empress, is among the in
| jured the list of whom includes the
Duchess Uzes, the Countess Savigny,
and Mile. de la Boulye.
In the streets adjacent to the ba-
Ear were long lines of sumptuous
| eQuippages. Many of these returned
empty; their owners We're dead The
others were seen moving off with oc-
cupants injured in head or limb, in
| many cases with faces streaming with
! blood.
| CAUSE OF THE FIRE.
| The search in the debris will con-
tinue all night. 1t appears that the
fire originated on the left side of the
| bazaar. The Illuminating apparatus of
the kinetematograph exploded and set
| fire to the Turkish curtains and hang
| ings.
In few moments the flames spread
! along the whole side of the baZar The
public threw themselves instinctively
/ to the right of the building which
| backed on the high wall of an adjoining
| edif1ce.
The bazaar altogether had eight doors,
| three in front and one on the left side.
| In the rear We're four French
windows. which We're apparently re-
moved for the employees.
| The crowd near the main entrances
were able to escape but those at the
| other end, not knowing of the doors
reserved for the employees, found them
selves hemmed in.
AS the fire spread the pressure on the
right SIDE where there were no exits,
! kept steadily increasing. Here a num-
| Der of victims were crushed to death.
Happily, the wall of the Hotel du Pa
| lais, against which the bazaar backed
| furnished a barred window Immedi-
ately on the alarm being given the SER
wants hurriedly broke the bars and
were able to rescue a large number of
persons.
BURNED ALIVE.
Suddenly above the roar of the flames
were heard cries of terror and despair
| ing appeals for help from the cul de
sac end, where the unfortunates We're
| being burned alive The firemen threw
hundreds of buckets of water upon
them from above at the greatest risk
to themselves, but their courageous eff
forts We're all in vain. The fire made
| furious Roadway. Cries of despair
| arose outside. In the Avenue Montague
the Place Alma and the Rue Francois,
adjacent streets. On all these thor
oughfares there was a veritable fight
| of people, mostly women, without
skirts petticoats or hats, their feet
naked and their clothing either burned
! off or torn off. Every available fiacre
was taken by assault
! The whole Of the highest society in
Paris is in a horrible pell nell, a prey
to the deepest despair, husbands seek
ing and calling for wives, and fathers
seeking and calling for daughters. One
young woman, still wearing on her
breast the badge of a stall attendant,
was seen rushing about in her petit
coat, her dress having been torn off
/ 81, 1o,I I,
I flames. Her one anxiety was to find
her parents, and tell them Of her safety.
HORRIBLE SCENES.
Words would fail to describe the hor-
ror of the scene of the Palais de I'm
| dustrie, where the bodies are exposed
on the side next to the Avenue Banton,
| in a portion of the building now in
course of demolition. Here in a large
room rudely covered with rough planks
and on sheets spread over planks the
bodies as they arrived from the ambu
| lances are being placed in three long
! rows.
| Here is exemplified death by fire with
all its horrors-bodies completely nude
limbs twisted in the writings of agony
some still having shreds of clothing
which assist in recognition in spite of
horrible disagreement; bones visible
through fire-eaten flesh: some mere
skeletons or grinning skulls blackened
with smoke.
FEW BODIES IDENTIFIED.
At $50 p. m, only six bodies have
been recognized with certainty These
are the bodies of Nine. Henriette Han
ihadal, Baroness Elizabeth ST. Martin,