SCENES IN A BURNING THEATRE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXiX, Issue 7730, 25 February 1909, Page 1

SCENES IN A BURNING THEATRE.

With flames roaring above them.. 1400 people calmly marched out of the Herald Square Theatre, New York, into a raging snowstorm while the orchestra played cheerful music. Everyone is praising the management of the theatre, to whose presence of mind is due the averting of a serious disaster. It was not till nearly the end of the performance—a popular musical comedy —that a fire m the front part of the building was discovered. Miss Bessie McCoy was 6inging her final song. The manager directed the fireproof curtain to be lowered and the orchestra to proceed as though the performance war, at an end. The audience, which included MiReginald Vanderbilt and Mrs Vanderbilt and other notabilities, reached the street a few moments before the rooi fell. Behind the curtain panic reigned supreme. Miss Bessie McCoy and a dozen of the chorus girls fainted on the stage and had to be carried out. They and fifty other members of the company, who rushed into the snowstorm m their stage costumes, lost all their belongings, including their week'.s salary. The " bathing girls," a popular ieature of the play, made a pitiable eight I as they stood m the street shivering m their scanty clothing. The front portion of the theatre wa> entirely wrecked. The damage is estimated "at £9000. -