Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1875 — The Effect of Presence of Mind. [ARTICLE]

The Effect of Presence of Mind.

What coolness may do in such cases as the Holyoke disaster was once well illustrated by the great German actor, Emile Devrient. The Grand Theater at Vienna was crowded. The Emperor Francis, with several members of his family, was in the imperial box. The play, Schiller’s “ Robbers, 1 ’ had reached its third act, when a cry arose that the stage was on fire. Devrient signed at once to the prompter, who lowered the curtain, the actor stepping out in front of it ere it wholly fell. In his clear, clarion voice, he said: “There is no fire. The Emperor has been despoiled of an aigrette of diamonds on entering the theater. No honest man will object to being searched. You will pass on one by one at each several entrance and be searched by the police stationed at the several doors. Any man attempting to go out of order will be arrested.” The crowd, deceived by the coolness and the charge, poured out. As each reached the door he was simply told to hurry oh; and just as the last rows of the upper gallery were filing out the flames burst through the curtain, enveloped the auditorium, but not a life was lost, though in less than half an hour after the great building was in ruins.—Brooklyn Eagle.