New-York tribune., 1908-11-13
PARK THEATRE BURNS
AUDIENCE GONE An HOUR.
Tscenty Thousand Persons See Oid
Brooklyn Playhouse Disappear.

Fire which was discovered the stage at 8
O'Clock last night destroyed the Park Theatre In
Brooklyn hour after a matinee audience OF one
thousand persons had left the playhouse. The
theatre had been occupied since the beginning OF
the season by the SDo0ner stock company Inc
only persons in the building when the blaze was
discovered Mrs. Mary Gibbs Spooner' man
sger of the company; Ben F Wilson, her assistant
and three members of the company They got out
without difficulty. The loss was estimated at s'S'Ooo
on the building and $4,000 costumes, stage prop
critics and fixtures The building was leased by the
Shuberts from the Felix Campbell estate.
Situated between the high office buildings Oh the
williamsburg Trust Company and the German oaV-
ings Bank in Fulton street. opposite Borough Han
the burning building gave the hremen an eA''eiie
lv hard fight for two hours. The apparatus was
late in arriving. and the flames. unchecked oy
water played over the building for ten rplhutes
after the alarm was turned in. When the first real
test of Brooklyn's high pressure fre hghtlhs
system began the stream from the water lower
directed from Adams street. back OF the thedUe'
swept clear over the building and into Fulton
street For twenty minutes after the blaze had
assumed threatening aspect it ragged unchecked
but the flames died away soon after the hrst
streams reached them.
When the roof fell In six men OF Truck Com
pany No. 60, who had been directing two streams
from the edge under Lieutenant Brierton sprang
to the cornice. John Murray slipped and would
have fallen into the blazing theatre had not TWO
Of his comrades, balancing themselves on the cor
nice seized his hands and pulled him up The
right side Of his face burned and cut ana MS
shoulders were badly bruised.
Patrolman Charles Gallagher. Of the Adams street
police station. discovered the fire and turned IN
the alarm. Neither he nor the managers could ac-
count the origin Of the fire. but it Is thought
to have been caused by a defect in the electric
light wiring.
From the first alarm until after o'clock the sur
face car lines were blocked IN Fulton and Adams
streets tying up almost the entire downtown sys-
tenn During the blockade more than twenty thou
sand persons watched the fremen at work 1t was
found necessary TO summon one hundred and htty
reserves from half dozen police precincts.
The Park the third Brooklyn theatre de-
stroyed by fire. The other two were the old Brook-
lyn Theatre i'll which upward of three hundred
persons lost their lives December 6. 1876 and
the Academy of Music, destroyed on November 30.
1903
The Park Theatre. the first regularly established
PLAYHOUSE in the borough built by B. c. Ben
ton In 1853 Following Gabriel Harrison, Mr. and
Mrs F. 8. Conway conducted the theatre until
1871 when it passed into the hands of A. r. Sam
uels who disposed of it in turn to Edward Lamb.
Colonel William Z. Sim became manager in 1875.
and for fifteen years maintained it the best Of
Brooklyn playhouses. After Colonel Sims death
the house had been used vaudeville house,
for the production of melodramas and for moving
picture shows. The Shuberts hold insurance of
500 600 on the building and $3.50 on the scenery.
It was said last night that the ruins would be
hauled down and modern Office building erected
The management of the Fulton Theatre an
nounced last night that it would honor all tickets
without any extra charge sold for next weeks
performances at the Park Theatre.