The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-09
PAST FIRE DISASTERS
THEATER HORRORS RECALLED BY
THE PARIS BAZAAR ACCIDENT.
Thousands of People Have Perished
in Panies That Followed the Fright
Creating Cry of Fire"
Chicago Times Herald.

| llItS III LHSSdl6IS, pQDllC MANS ellh pAeSS9 VI
entertainment similar to the Paris horror
of Monday at the charitable bazaar. In
many cases the loss of life has been great
er and the flames have often brought about
| a national calamity.
Fire destroyed 1872 theaters between 1751
and 1885, and claimed 6,573 victims, killed
| and wounded. Since the beginning of this
century $50 theaters have gone up in flames
| and nearly five thousand persons were
| killed or wounded. In the twelve years
| from 1876 to 1889 not less than LOGO persons
were killed in the six terrible theater dis
| asters of Brooklyn, Nice, Vienna, Paris,
| Exeter and Oporto. In these fires nearly all
the victims died within ten minutes from
the time when the smoke and flames from
tire stage reached the auditorium and the
galleries.
Many theaters have been burned down
within the century, but only in those which
caught fire during the performance of
play are the horrors and heart-rending
scenes of the Paris fire of Monday paral-
leed
The earliest theater fire in which many
lost their lives was that at the theater at
Richmond, Va, Dec. &C. 1911. A special per-
Torrance had been billed that night, as it
was during the Christmas holidays. The
little theater was crowded. there being six
hundred persons in the gallery and audi
forum for the evening performance. Every
thing went well until the last act Then
some of the property men were hosting
stage chandelier of lighted candles The
| men were careless and carried the chan
| delier too near a cloth border on a piece of
| scenery. In an instant the border was
! ablaZe. The terrible cry of fire was
| raised and the audience fled, panic stricken
to the only exit. Seventy persons lost their
| lives in the crush, and many more were in
| jured.
The world was Mortified twenty-five years
| later by fearful catastrophe in the Leh-
mann Theater and Circus at st. Peters,
| burg, Russia This fire took place during
| the afternoon performance, Feb. II, 1886
| The circus was packed, and owing to the
| faulty construction there were few avenues
along which the panic-stricken people
| could rush. They ran over the benches
| which turned over and hurled the people
| to the ground, only to be trampled under
| foot by the others seeking for the only
| exit. The stage lamp had been hung too
high, and during the performance the roof
| caught fire. Few persisted in the flames.
| Eight hundred persons were tramped to
! death in the rush for the door. The panic
| stricken audience INSTRUCTED the exit, and
as the flames advanced the thousands be-
| hind pushed forward and swept down
section of the theater, killing hundreds of
| friends and relatives in their mad rush.
DEATH HARVEST IN QUEBEC.
| Quebec, Canada, had the next terrible
theater fire. On the night Of June IL, 1876,
| during the performance, lamp was upset
| on the stage and wing caught fire. Here,
! again. more lives were lost in the crush than
| in the flames. There were insufficient exits
at the end of the narrow staircases. One of
the latter broke down under the weight of
| the crowd and fifty persons were killed as
it fell In all one hundred persons lost their
! lives in this fire, and twice as many more
! were injured.
! Two thousand persons gathered in the
| Grand Ducal Theater at Carlsruhe, Baden
| Germany, on the evening of Feb. e, 1A7 to
! witness q special society performance. AS
| an attendant was lighting the gas jets in
| the grand ducal box his taper became en-
| tangled among the draperies and the flames
| spread rapidly from box to box. Three of
| the main exits were locked, and the frantic
! people hurled themselves at the barriers in
| boxes escaped. Most of the victims were in
! the gallery, sixty-three persons being killed
| and two hundred injured.
At the Teatro degli Aquidotti, Leghorn,
Italy another fearful blaze caused the loss
| of nearly one hundred lives and the iEjuring
! of two hundred persons. Again 1t was a
panic, with the most direful results Nearly
| three thousand persons were in the t1eater
when rocket, part of the fireworks or the
| stage, set the scenic decorations on lire.
! Italy went into mourning for the victims of
the dreadful disaster.
| The scene of the next theater horror was
in the United States The Nation was
thrilled with pain when the news was sent
out that 2SS persons had no lost their lives in
| lyn, N. Y, on the night of Dec. 3, 1876 The
blaze started during the last act Of The
! Two Orphans" In the parquet about 250
persons we're seated, in the balcony $50 and
in the gallery 405. A border caught fire from
one of the lights, perhaps owing TO a
draught caused by opening a window. Some
opened large door at the back of the
stage and in a second the entire stage was
! a mass of flames The screams of the ter
( ror-stricken audience could be heard loud
over the roar of the flames. Those in the
| parquet and balcony escaped, but the per-
! case and damned the exit Out of the 405 in
/ the gallery 2S3 never came out alive.
Five years later another theater II horror
Municipal was burned down. This was a
repetition of the Brooklyn horror the only
| victims being those in the upper gallery.
| Just before the beginning of the perform
ance on the night of March 90, 1881 an ex-
! plosion of gas took place while the border
! lights were being ignited The scenic deco
| ratons caught fire and panic followed.
| The auxiliary exit door from the gallery to
| the safety stairs could not be found on ac-
! count of darkness, the, gaslights having
been eXtinguished by the explosion The
lower part of the gallery stairs was very
| steep and with winding steps. and it was
| here that the bodies of the victims were
piled by the maddened hundreds who
pushed their way out over their more I'M
fortunate companions.
AUSTRIA'S THEATER OF DEATH
Perhaps the most terrible fire in a Euro
| pean theater was that in which $50 persons
lost their lives when the Ring Theater at
! Vienna, Austria, was burned down on the
| night of Dec. s. 1881. 1t occurred almost in
! the same manner the Brooklyn disaster
| About 1900 persons were in the theater
when a hanging border caught fire from
the border lights. The bursting open of a
large door in the rear Of the stage let in a
blast of air which drove the flames and the
suffocating smoke through the proscenium
opening into the auditorium. The stairways
were bad and the persons in the gallery
rushed madly to the exits, trampling down
weak and strong in their flight for life.
| Following this was terrible fire and
panic at the Victoria Hall, Sunderland
| England, where two thousand children were
| present at childrenS performance of a
cantata In the panic 1873 children were
crushed and trampled to death.
In the fearful fire at the Circus Ferroni,
! at Berditscheff in Russian Poland, on the
! night of Jan. 13. 1888, most of the victims
| were burned to death. They had no chance
| TO escape the furious flames. The circus was
a rude wooden structure without any safe
! guards against fire. A stableman was smOk-
| ing a cigarette when he dropped a spark on
the straw on which he was lying. fellow
/ labOrer ran out for bucket of water. leav-
! ing the door open. The draught fed the
| flames and before the spectators could get
any, warning they were surrounded by a
wall of fire. Six hundred persons We're in
the circus. The official figures state that 268
were burned to death. Other reports state
! that 430 lost their lives in the fire. eighty
were MORALLY injured and that one hun
! dred We're missing. Many children were
l. ,V,1 f1,,