Birmingham state herald., 1897-05-05
Building Erected For Fairs Proves
 Veritab1e Death Trap.
IT BURNED LIKE DRY FINDER
And Ere The Warning Cry Had Been Heard Throughout The Structure Hundreds
 Were Crushed and Maimed

1 cials say this evening they beIeVe II 10 l be certain that the number of deaths | would exceed 100, recalling the terrible l fire at the Opera Comique.
 Among the injured are the Duchesse | De Latorre, the Princess Kotchonbuy, the Viscomtesse D'Avenel ard Mesdames Moreau, Du Brouil, Malezieux, Eugene | femel, Reca mier and St. Didier. The missing who are supposed to be | dead i5pclude Gen. Meunier, the Mar | chioness De Gafifel the Duchesse D Alen- con the Countesses De Nun and St. Pier the MaTchoness De Flcrez, the Vis- l comtsn Hunol Holstein, Baroness Mack l an, wife of the leader elf the pro- Rallists | in the chamber of deputies and Mime. | Morlaunelamon, her son and four daugh- | ters. One hundred corpses have been laid | out in the PaTais D'Industre. IL Is be- 1, lieved that another hundred are beneath | the ruins
 The building was erected in very shabby manner, the nudity of the scaf- folding on the inside being concealed by tapestry hangings of I.he most inf1am- mable- material. Moreover, there was only one exit. The bazaar was in full swing, when suddenly about o'clock the cry of fire arose in the quarter where | the kinema tograph was being exhibited. | Olne of the survivors tells to che corre- | spopdent of the Associated Press his ex- | peTience:
 l ''The place was crammed full of people and the heat was stifling. Being very uncomfortable, my friends and determ- ined to leave, but somehow we could not make much headway through the throng toward the door. I Jagged a Ettle bshind, when on,a sudden the shout of fire was raised and instantly all was commo- tionl
 | "We tried to keep cool but the rush | from behind forced us forward and we | were separated. Then I tried to work | my way back, but I was carried off my l feet and carried backward and forward in the sway1ng crowd. I lost my hat. 1 then my coat was torn off and then my 1 waiStcoat. All this happened in a few seconds. -F 'Immediately the full extent of the calamity dawned upon us all. The flames spread with startling rapidity through the, whole building which rumbled like a living furnace, but the uproar of the con- fagration could not drown the groans and cries of the agonized crowd. Grad ually found myself pushed back against the wall of the building and finally sue ceeded in scra mbling through an opening made by some of those who were near me. Two seconds later I would have beenf'a victim, for hardly had I strug- gled through the hole before I heard a. dreadful crash as the blazing roof fell T cannot describe the struggle for life which ensued. No words can depict the horror of the scene. It seems as look back upon it like hideous nightmare The who1efthing was over in twelve min utes and nothing remained but the charred and blackened ruins of the ba- zaar.' a'rti@>s s t
 The dead were pil As.n heaps and es- peeially near the exit, where the charred remains were five feet deep arms, legs and skulls mingled in inextricable confu- sion. In some cases only the trunks re- mained with no vestige of clothing on any of the bodies.
 The firemen arrived at o'clock and company of infantry followed to clear the ruins and search for corpses. The news spread like. wild fire. All the cabinet ministers now in Paris went immediately to the scene. Hundreds of equipages streamed along the Champs D D'Elysess, their occupants with anxious, tear-stain- ed faces inquiring for relatives. There were many f1eartrending scenes of grief and despair. Cabinet ministers, ambas- sadors, noblemen and members of the highest social and financial circles were side by side with the lowliest and the poorest, anxiously inquiring for their missing relatives. About thirty were saved by Pere Ambroise and Pere Bail ley. who helped them over the wall with a ladder to the printing room of the newspaper La Croix. The staff of the hotel Du Palais lent valuable assistance. and saved 159 persons through a barred window overlooking the bazaar, where, while the hotel employees were carrying away the bars, they saw three persons
 
 covered with gloves, have been deputed by the prefect of police to pick out the portions of remains and wrap them in pieces of cloth osbeg transferred in ann bulanlces to the Palais D'Industrfe The remains present horrible spectacle of limbs burned and twisted. On all side can be seen stretchers piled with mutt
 lated ccupses, skulls. split open and brains exuding. Just behind heap of corpses. lies alone the body of a woman. The-face is downward, the head burned, the train exposed, and from the empty socket sof dhe night eye the brains are slowly yaoeziug The 4arms and legs are burned off. A little further off is the body elf another woman, nude, the en- trals protruding and the head missing. It is a ghastly sight.
 The. sbuildingssswas constructed about six months agos Al the time it was re- marked thatAit swod1ld burn like match wood. The 3nterior was divided into shopsaa la old Paris, constructed of pret- tily painted eahyas.--The Duchess DIAL encon, sister of the Austrian empress, is among the injured, the list of whom in clri1es the Duchess D,uzes. the Com Jesse Savtgny and Madame De La Bou- lave. In the streets adjacent to the ba- zaar were long Hines of sumptuoars equip ages., Most of thesey feturned empty; theirsowners were deAd. The others were seen moving off with occupants injured in head or Limb in many cases with faces streaming with blood. The search in the debris will continue all night. It appears that the fire origina ted in the