Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-21
BIG THEATER BURNED
Auditorium Building in Kansas City
Totally Destroyed.
Loss, s45O, ,0o0;' INSURANCE, $4,000
The Structure Also Included a
Large Family Hotel.
CT ESTS PANIC STRICKEN
s45O:0Q0:: INSURANCE, $4,000
CT ESTS PANIC STRICKEN

KANSAS CITY, Mo-, December 21.-The
Auditorium. thu largest and finest play
house west of Chicago and the Auditorium
Hotel. one of the most fashionable family
hos:elries i'll the city. situated at Holmes
and 9TH streets. w6I, gutted by fire that
started in the thcater part shortly after l
O'clock this morning
The 1p6 guests escaped in safety al
though many were compelled to leave the
bulidlrS in their night clothes The loss
on the entire property, which is owned
py Alex Frazer local business man.
will aggregate si5O.G1 The aggregate in
surance amounts To but sS5p.p Owing to
a nigh insurance rate a great deal of the
Insurance had been allowed to lapse
Caused by Crossed Wires.
The fire originated in unoccuped
room on the sixth hoor of the theater and
resulted from the crossing of electric light
wires Ii Was first noticed by Night Clerk
haak' wh" turned in an alarm at 1:I2
am Haak Immediately awoke the guests
They included many families and children
OF all ages. and the greatest confusion en-
sued For time ii seemed that the flames
would be confined to ii single floor. but
after X had apparently been gotten under
control il burst forth again and delied all
efforts of The firem men. Many of the guests.
assured after the first alarm that the fir.
would not spread. returned to their rooms
Delay i'll getting a continuous strp,m
on Inc hr,. however. enabled it to get be-
5"Hd the tircmen's control. The flames
spread rapidly along the. tier of The. rooms
On the NTH and sixth floors and soon com
1nunIcatei with the hotel through the
small apertures in the fire wall, which
separated II from tn" lheater. once in the
mote l. Tie flames were beyond control
Motel guests airesh. and hurried scrdmsles
10 save Their personal effects ensue.t.
Everything available was pressed into sserv
lc" as recePtdcles for the valuf, hlrs and
ief"re The guests rad been ordered from
tEe building Il second tim-. the bulk of
tteir belongings had been carried out
Acre tlInid ones who had fed from their
icons in their night clothes at the start
1Sert Civ en- quarters in another nci5hboring
hotel.
stock Company's Effects saved.
In the theater the Woodward Stock Com
Iany, which has been the standing attrac-
ton since the reopenins of the place last
October. managed TO save the bulk of its
property.
Early after the second burst of flames
the fire men gave Up hope of saving the
structure. Although the building in which
the fire started is annex to The main
aCditcrium building, there were openings
In ali the upper stories which made the
TWO DuhIlnSS one ana made them both
an easy prey for the flames once well
started Superintendent Pelletier of the
Insurance patrol refused to allow his men
to enter the building TO spread tarpaulins
end all efforts of the ffremen were con-
fined To the outside.
Luckily the structure stood alone and
AT no one time was surrounding property
threatened. The firemen worked heroical-
ly. but within few hours both the thea
ter and the hotel had been gutted the
bigger part of the roof had fallen in and
about one-third of the west wall of the
hotel collapsed.
History of the building.
The Auditorium was built in 1856 by Colo
Eel Geo. W. Warder at a cost of S35o,TpD.
1t was named the Warder Grand Opera
House. and was opened by Booth and
Barrett After a brief but unsuccessful
season. Warder traded the property 10
Geo. W. Henry of Chicago. Henry re-
opened the theater, but IL again failed to
pay expenses. In 1886 the National Bank
OF Commerce purchased the property and
installing John i. Slocum. a well-known
eastern theatrical manager, the house was
run for season in the most approved
metropolitan style. After another failure,
the bank traded the property last October
TO Paxton and BurgisS. Frazer expended
s.J.UJS in improvements and repairs
both hotel and the theater.