The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-05-05
A CHASTITY DISASTER


The bazaar was in full sway when a.
bout four O'clock the cry of fire rose in
| the quarter where the Kinenratograph
| was being exhibited. One Of the survi-
| vors tells to the correspondent of the AS
| sOcia ted Press his experience.
| THE CRY OF FIRE WAS RAISED.
1.-The place was crammed full of people
and the heat was sitting. Being very
| uncomfortable, my friends and l deter
| mined to leave but some how we could
not make much Roadway through the
| throng toward the door. | Jagged q little
| behind, when on a sudden the shout OF
| fire was raised Instantly all was commo-
| tion.
I'VE tried to keep cool, but the rush
from behind forced us forward and we
| were separated. Then / tried to work
my way back. but | was carried off my
| feet and carried backward and forward in
the swaying crowd. / lost my hat; then
my coat was torn off, and then my waist
coat. All this happened in few sec
onds.
Immediately the full extent of the
calamity dawned upon us all. The flames
spread with startling rapidity through the
| whole building, which rumbled like liv-
ing furnace, but the uproar of the con-
tiagratiOn could not drown the groans and
cries of the agoniZed crowd. Gradually
found myself pushed back against the
wall of theb uilding and finally succeed
ed in scramblng through an opening
made by some of those who were near me.
Two seconds later l would have been a
victim, for hardly had l struggled through
the hole before heard dreadful crash
as the blazing roof feel in.
II cannot describe the struggle for life
which ensued. No words can depict the
horror of the scene. 1t seems as | look
back upon it like hideOus nightmare
The whole thing was over in II minutes,
and nothing remained but the charred and
blackened ruins of the bazaar"
The dead We're piled in heaps and es-
pecially near the exit, where the charred
remains We're five feet deep, arms, legs,
and skills mingled in extricable confusion.
In some cases only the trunks remained
with no vestige of clothing on any of the
bodies.
The fireman arrived at six, and il COM
pany Of infantry followed, to clear the
ruins and search for corpses. The news
spread like wild fire. All the cabinet min
listers now in Paris went Immediately to
the scene Hundreds of equipages
streamed along the Champs DlElysees,
their occupants with anxious and tear
stained faces inquiring for relatives.
There were many heart rending scenes
of grief and despair. Cabinet ministers,
ambassadors. noblemen and members of
the highest social and financial circles
! were side by side with the lowlest and
the poorest anxiously inquiring for their
missing relatives About thirty were saw
ed by Pere Ambrose and Pere Bailly,
who helped them over the wall
with a ledder to the printing room of
the newspaper La Croix. The staff of the
hotel Du Palais, lent valuable assistance
and saved $50 persons through barred
window overlooking the bazaar, where,
while the hotel employees were carrying
away the bars, they saw their persons
burned to death.
SCENE OF SKULLS AND CORPSES.
Policemen their hands covered with
gloves have been deputed by the project
of police to pick out the portions of re-
mains and to wrap them i'll pieces of
cloth. to be transferred in ambulances TO
the Palais D'L'lndustres. The remains
present a horrible spectacle of limbs burn
ed and twisted. On all sides can be seen
stretchers piled with mutilated corpses,
skulls split open and brains eXuding. Just
behind a heap of corpseS hes alone the
body of a woman The face is down
ward, the head burned. the brain expos
ed and from the empty socket of the
right eye, the brains are slowly oOzlng.
The arms and legs were burned off.
4 little further off is the body of an
other woman, nude, the entrails protrud-
ing and the head missing. 1t is a CHASTITY
sight. The building was constructed Il
bout six months ago. AT the time it was
remarked that it would burn like match
wood. The interior was divided into
shops a la old Paris, constructed of pref
tily painted canvass.
The Duchess D'Alencon. sister of the
Austrian empress, is among the injured,
the list of whom includes the Duchess
Dues. the COuntesse Saw ign and Mile.
De La BOulaye. In the streets adjacent
to the bazaar, were long lines of sumptu-
Gus equipages. Most of these returned
empty; their owners were dead. The
others were seen moving off with the oc-
cupants injured in head or limb in many
cases with faces streaming with blood.
The search in the debris will continue
all night. 1t appears that he fire origin
ated ON the left side of the bazaar. The
Illuminating apparatus of the Kinemato-
graph exploded and set fire to the Turk
ish curtains and hangings.
The whole of the highest society in
Paris is in a horrible pell NELL, a prey
to the deepest despair, husbands seeking