Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 December 1876 — THE BURNING OF THE BROOKLYN THEATER. [ARTICLE]

THE BURNING OF THE BROOKLYN THEATER.

A Horrible Story—Over Three Hohfdred Man, Women and CMlldven Crushed or Burned to Death. . ' *4’ ••• Nrw Yesx, Dect*!' 1 ’ The Brooklyn Theater burped, ,to ground last night. The fire originated on the stage at 11:30 pi m. The fire spread with lightning rapidity, and buyst ,ops through the aodP on Washington street ing the performance of the last of,tho ‘‘Two Orphans,''' in which Mbs Claxton, who plays tho part of heroine, i lifelr on the boat-house floor. In five minutes monq the audiehed wouM have bein dismissed, and there would have been nothing,morp serious to record than the destruction of property. ThohoUte was about two-I hirdahlled. those below sitting well forward toward the stage. For those in the family circle, dress circle and galleries there was no way of escape except, by Washington street. '. r The panic -stricken people rushed peU-paell toward and down the stairways. The main exit became immediately choked up, and a scene of terror, confusion and distress ensued., whiqh beggars description-. ’ Just above the landing-plaqa of th* stair, way, a woman In the crush bad her foot pushed'between the-batasters hud'feA' The crowd behind, forced forward by the terrified people still further behind, fell fever her and piled oi) top of each other four arjd fiye feet deep. The police from the station-house,,next door, were promptly at the scene, but owing to th* manner'H whfch 7 the people' were* piled qpon top of each other and massed, together, they cotild extricate comparatively few,!aad the*e ffero nil bruised, bleeding and maimed. The firemen got to work on the ruins shortly after, daylight this morning. , They succeeded in getting as far as the *‘ fall” of the dress-circfo, where they found a great number of bodies, and immediately began the work of removal, and up till 'eleven o'clock sixty-fire bodies had been recovered, and what ’appeared tb be twenty or thirty more were seen iu-the basement into which they Mad Been precipitated by the falling of the burning floors. ■ ■<; Kate Claxton, at the preliminary inquiry of the Fire Marshal, said:

“At the beginning <M the last aet, just aa the curtain went up,' I heard a rumbling nqise on the stage, and two minutes after I saw flames. The fire seemed to be all on the stage. Mrs. Farren,' myself, Mr. Studley ana Mr. Murdock were on the stage at this time. We four remained there ana endeavored aa best we could to quiet the audience and prevent a panic. I said to people; ‘Be qtfeel; -wewre between you and the firp. , The front door is open and the passages are clear.’ Not one of the audience jumped oq tfie stage. /Flames werq then coming down on us. I ran out and jumped, over several' - people. - Mr. H. 1 8.’ Murdock; after endeavprifig,to ?a|m the fears of. fee panic-fetricken people, Went to his dreflslngroomtoget his clofeing. Md mast have been suffocated.” Although thb fire originated dlr the' stage,t thC loss of life amp ng fee theatrical.,com,, papy was not as extensive as might haVfe been imagined. t Tffo Mve* were fevo young men hi the flower ot their professional life, Henry 8; 'Murdoch Md rdughs. These two young men were playing respectively Pfenv, the crisfle, aiftf'SPiSfe, valwt to fee At the mometjfewhm ;the fire was discovered Murdoch was before .the curtain playing with Miss KatfeGMxtonC ‘AW boon aathe panic occurred, and. feegep.Mal rush "Wais made to escape, Muroothrartd Burroughs ran to their dreHngTriqompto get clothes to wear in fee street, I their garments being very-.scanty ifi the play. Their dressing-rooms .were oq the safeic ’ aide of the stage',—fee 'right wing, a? viewed from tbs. audtioitojn, ana consequent!” tarthet t from the stage-1 door, even IfecFthat meana.fehexit nit betnr 'locked by a panic-stricken janitor. The .dressing-rooms were arranged -in tiert,- apiprohehed by a narrow, stairway, which led. Mp to Use? painter’s bridge wffleh spahned fee stage. Murdoch’s rponirwa-ve* the .sefpnd tier and Burroughs’ on thd tttifd nfefore they emerged, the staircase'was.onfitMieet ol flame, so eagerly and so rapidly dld the fire do its wort, change or res treat cut.off,, the unJtortuaate nieprwwta driven back -by' the roaring -flames, step by step, iillj supposing ia the agony of tffeir peril sea t by some chance a means of,! .descent i frdfei the other Eide of the bridge might, offer, they ascended to .tihe trembling structure. Here they were last seen by -J. H-titadley, a member jpfr the com-' pany, who had left his dressing-room a few abepnds before them, and fought his way , awasaffl Once on fee bridge, their position was hopeless. They could not descend by the way they came up. There was no-other fifetaas of

escape but to Iqap. ... . ~ „ . ... ( At half-past ten this'evening the bodies of fee two men. were digged from ifee rnfas; rand both were Identified by remnants of dresses worn on tbe stage. Orly the'tronli of Murdoch remained. There were 1,200 people ill fee theater—soo lithe galleries. . ’ h p When the panic occurred on the main floor of tho theater, Thomaa chief usher performance was almost over, ana ne was about making arrangements for the departure Of the audience. At the cries ,of “ Fire!” he rushed intD the aniiitorlum and, taking in the terrible situation, endeavored to quiet the people who Were about him. Seeing they fleets Johnson street and Myrtfc aVenfle,rand ms’®aw escape through fee main eqtrauqe. 11 - All who were on fee right-hand side of fee parquet »u<J btdeouy escaped throagh these dobra. Tbe opening of the doors created a, tremeudous which So increased the might. They had remained ttanato thelaSt, ftSM.IL'SJ. andparqtetrtl flfftaes. f By feis yfenamesrly up, and there seemed to be no way ip which Greff could be relieved. .Many succeeded in ’S’ap’sf

levy. Those who happened to be aeated near doors succeeded in gaining the stairways land lowerpart of thehouse, but there were [mfiHV wlfiggot MB fuMher than thcVecoiH flabraWMte tflv difi. The flaunt fnaA such <apfil the floors fWI m reach them. FTU» slkicks << woumi, ail shouting anfi ifapriM of iu<u&nndjflUful cries of ifibUufeß, were heard below. There was no human relief for them. It was a heartrending situs--Bta-wsms -irtSfciaßstterrifele berond description. 1 Hprror fiwm horrqr accumulated as the uiy attvahrtd. Corpse after corpse, charred and blackened, was passed out, ami still the .reach 200 grew into a certainty, and, finally, ’at 4:30, the two hundredth body Was re'l mowd. Botae- w»d -ftiuSl with' Jtaibß s*d hand* burttefi pff«A»«l4 WNhinflptaft.butal ghastly, At five o’clock-the number had reached 220. Twenty bodleAMhrfalHten oUti Ito hall an hour. a tobk tote, tea #it. at thfof time still showed# owtotfowWff pile otu corpses lying crosswise, like sticks of wood, ana there were apparently still ttytrpr sixty corpeqs rest malning. This waa in the- cellar under the Inner vestibulfe, from all the. bodies taken out to-day were renfoved. Tney lay in a pile, apparently where they .bad, bqeh pitched into the cellar? WJjen the , fiber and stairway gave wft/. 'As night approached, two-' calcium lights were placed in position, and the work of removing the ghastly forms of the dead (made more so by the light) was continued. They toere fender the galleries, but no estimate could be made of .the The charred, remains of the victims -wife taken out in front and rear of the theater and rapidly loaded in boxes and placed upon unfeartakarsMrtg* oss. Still the pHe of bbdfes In the cellar did nat saem to diminish. At a late 'hour tonight 285 bodies huVfe been recovered. The Timet says that .Fire-Marshal Ready, who. has made an exhaustive examination of the circumstances attending the fire, is of opinion that at feast33D persons perished in the fiame6. . SOME dr THE SAi's'e’ENES. A young man named Dietz Was Identified by his sister and afrienfl, who, .on discovering that it was the body they were in search pf, were.so overcome that it, wps all the authorities Could db to keep them from falling on and embracing -the corpse. Thfe sister stoodffear it crying; and giving vent to Such exclamations as. “Poorabe! Oh, If mother can only stand this blow!” The body ef-oue young man was discovered by his sister, who, casting bne glance at what was left of hfo. coat, gavb a ebyof ‘’My Tomi.” and fell fainting iu the arms of her father,'and was carried insensible to the street.' It wss fopnd |hat thia young man was the' only suppop .of hfe mother and sister, his father being a 'drunkard, who had not contributed toward the support of his family for two or -three years. A dense crowd filled the streets in tire vicinity of the place Of the disaster. The crowd was so great that it was almost au impossibility for those who werC permitted to enter the line to make their way through It. All classes of people qpmposed the assemblage—women and children as well as men—all drawn to the spot by the excitement. ' ir " ' l ' ; ; A temporary ’ Wooden Inclined plane ‘Was built from the horrible pit in which most'of 'the bodies were found. Along this thCV' were carried in boxes covered with blankets. They were then:placed in the undertakers' wagons, whieh were in waiting to carry tlretri to the Morgue. The wagons- of ail‘ the undertakers in Brooklyn were in and were drawn up in tipe along the edge of the sidewalk. One after another of them Was .Mucked up to the theater-doqr to -receive the boxes containing ,thq dead- At inter•yals of a few, talntites several. men would ferrfefge froffi the door cafrying a coffin-shaped, 1 leftden-lined box, cov-. ered with a blanket to conceal the ghastlf spectacioprestated by-thfl charred and black,<mod corpses.; Ths blanket outlined the deformed and shapeless mass. A handor doofc‘protruded above the box, and in some cases bpdies were stiffened -in almost siltbkg-pcilsfi-' hre, and, as the wagons were rapidly . ,The sight caused'many stVbrifc'men to tlirt' away from tire spot with tearful. ,J. .