Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 October 1893 — BAD BLAZE AT OMAHA. [ARTICLE]

BAD BLAZE AT OMAHA.

Destruction of the Farnham Street Theater Building. The Farnham Street Theater Building, the second-best opera-house in Omaha, was totally destroyed the other evening by fire, which broke out in the rear of the fifth floor a few minutes after 5 o'clock. Four persons are reported to have been killed by falling walls. The fire department responded promptly, and a general alarm was turned in, but the lire seemed to have gained complete control. In a short time the walls of the theater building began to totter and crumble, and bricks were flying in all directions. The roof fell in while several firemen were upon the second floor, and they just succeeded in escaping by running down the side stairway. J. M. Gaynor. athlete and dancing master, was struck in the back by falling bricks and badly hurt. In the crowd many people were knocked down and trampled on. The building was erected in 1882 by James E. Boyd, who has since been Governor. It'was then and afterward knowd as Boyd’s Opera House and was one of the best -auditoriums in the West. A few years ago it was sold to the American Bank Building Company, which is owned by the Ameri-

can Loan and Trust Company, and was entirely refitted. It hud cost originally $125,000 and is now insured for $90,000 in about twent.v-ttve companies. “The Waifs of New York” company was playing in tho theater and had iust concluded a rehearsal. The entire loss on stock and building willexcoed $200,000, of which perhaps $155,000 is secured by insurance. The origin of the fire is a mystery. It is rumored that it came from a cigarette left burning in the sawdust.