Year: 1869

DMninH the dresden Thcntre-An Exciting


Scene.


A correspondent of the London Times, who was an
eyewitness 81 the connagration which destroyed the
splendid Royal Theatre at Dresden, on the 22d of
last month, gives the following description OF the
"It was about 12 O'Clock when the bells of the
KreuE Kirche rang out the alarm and / noticed a
column of smoke rising, but had no notice whence it
proceeded till had reached home, when the news
came that the Hof Theatre was on fire. / fastened
to the spot in drosky, and was driven to the back
of the theatre near the gardens of the Zwnger from
which the whole Of that part Of the building was
visible. Flames were rising from the central cavity,
the whole roof having fallen in, and, through
the windows and gaps in the wall it had the effect of
an enormous furnace, the smoke wreathng up in
front in a thin veil.


cat first it seemed as If the conGagration would
soon subside and this in all probability would have
been the case If active eXertfons had been made to
throw water into the building. There an engine
at work near where l stood, but it merely sent
tower, where a number Of men were stationed with
the view of saving some of the contents of the build
ing and few truck loads OF furniture passed as the
sole rescue. AS we looked the flames began to show
through the windows of the tower above named, and
at last with roar came a wave OF dame through the
window facing us, and licked the walls and roof
above This continued for nearly half an hour, till


'ihe firemen had by this time vacated their
dangerous post, and the flames We're left to burn out
OF heir own accord. The curtain wall of the build
ing, with round arch in the centre, fell in piece
IN al with loud crash, and subdued the names to a
great extent. This beautiful Opera House (perhaps,
next to that of Paris the handsomest building for
the purpose of modern times) stood alone in the
centre of an extensive open space near the great





ings OF Dresden-the Hof kirche, the Schoss, or
Palace, with its wonderful treasure-hlled Green
Vaults the Picture Gallery, with its priceless col
lections various museums, and one of the leading
hotels, the containing the matchess san Sisto
Madonna OF Raphael being the nearest point of all
to the Opera House.


"The dread on my mind, and no doubt with most
OF the spectators was that the fire might spread to,
or burning rafters fall upon, this unequalled trea
sury of art; but most proyidentiay the wind which
week, had sunk almost to a dead calm; the result
was, the flames rose straight into the air, and the
;, burning fragments all fell back within or close
around the walls The tremendous heat given out
was alone, however, great source OF danger.
one hundred and fifty yards yet so enectual were
the precautions taken that not window of the Pic
ture Gallery was SO much as cracked and on inquiry
in the afternoon was assured no injury whatever
he'd been sustained. Happily, none of the trees of
OF the closely adjoining garden took fire, or they
would inevitably have carried it to the Picture Gal
lery. No lives were lost and the Opera House was
Government property"


|. An Express Car on Ffre-NarrOw Escape of the
On Saturday evening thrilling adventure befell
the messenger in charge OF the car OF the American
| Express Company, on the night express train from
Erie to this city. Shortly after leaving the former
contents Of The car were on ire The car was packed
full of the usual assortment of express freight
disc, and the be-rope connecting with the engine
had been passed over the top of the car Both ends
% Of the car were crammed anime & with & packages ages only "a
doors, occupied by the messenger.


The periOus nature OF his condition cannot be fully
realized The train was whrliDg along through the
darkness at the rate of thirty miles an hour and the
fire rapidly spreading through the dry COM
bustibles, fast filing the with heat and smoke
He had no possible means of signaling the engineer
and means of egress to the other cars of COM
muncatlon with their occupants He might shout
himself hoarse, and his voice would be drowned by
the of the train. 1t seemed impossible for him
to give any alarm until the fire should have made
such progress to be discovered by Others, but in
the Meantime himself must be inevitably sutfOcated
compelled to take the alternative of leaping from
the train. To open the doors of the would be but
to admit the air and give new impetus to the flames
But the heat and smoke were already sitting and
I something must be done Immediately or he must
perish Opening one OF the DOORS he wheeled one
o. the iron safes to the edge OF the car and let fall
1t struck by the steps of the baggage car, pro-
ducing such a conclusion as to alarm its occupants
Rightly cOnjecturng that something was wrong, the
engineer was sgnaled and the train soon came to a
stop. The cause of the alarm was soon discovered
messenger being found leaning as far as possible
out of the to escape the smoke. Every appliance
at hand was speedily brought into requlsition, and
the fire fortunately extinguished. The safe
was picked up and the train resumed its Journey
arriving at its destination without further accident
THE amount OF the loss is not known, but 1t is
Thought it will not be very large. The fire is sup
/posed to have originated from spark from the en-
gine.-C Cleveland Herald, 4th.