THE DESTRUCTION OF THE OPERA HOUSE AT NICE. TERRIBLE SCENES.

Evening Post, Volume XXI, Issue 129, 4 June 1881, Page 4

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE OPERA HOUSE AT NICE. TERRIBLE SCENES.

Dunedin

It appears that a large proportion of the lobb of life in connection with the above calamity is attributable to the serious error in constructing the theatre, in not having sufficient facilities for the egress of a large audience. I hose who were in the stalls and in in two or three lower tiers of the boxes were able to escape, but the more numerous crowd who had occupied the upper tiers and galleries wore hopelessly jammed on the stairs, and in the doorways, where the darkness increased their alarm. On the Btairs leading from the galleries some persons fell down, and were themselves fallen over by others ere loDg, so that those who were trying to mako their way down it in total darkness found it barred by a human wall, while soon the smoke reaching the place added to the .dangers of immediate suffocation to those already apparent. Some few jumped out of windows to meet death in their fall, and two or three others were seriously hurt by jumping over into the hall below. When the firemen, the Bailors of the squadron in harbour, and the Boldiera arrived they had to take the lamps from carriages outside in order to see their way up this staircase through the smoke. On the upper landings they found complete barriers of human bodies, from which it was only with the greatest difficulty that a few were extricated. Most of them were dead, either from the pre-sure of the crowd or suffocation from the smoke. A very few were restored to life after much care and exertion. Outside a vast crowd watched the progress of the fire, the flamea rising to a great height, while pieces of blazing wood and red hot charcoal were carried across the housetops, some falling even into the harbor. The soldiers risked their lives freely in their endeavors to save those of others, and at length General Carrey de Bellemare, who assumed the command, found it necessary to forbid further risks of their own safety in efforts which had by this time become futile. There is every reason to believe that some of the soldierß and bailors, as well as two firemen, have lost their lives. The state of the building after the fire had been put out showed how appalling was the catastrophe. The stairs leading to the galleries were covered with a confused litter of hats, coats, clothing of every kind, boots, gloves, operaglasses, &o. The walls were covered all along their length with great blotches of blood, which are to be found even near the bottom of the Btairs. Many of these traces may have been from the hands of those engaged in carrying out some of the sufferers. The stage and saloon have been entirely d<tetroyed, and the fittings of the theatre, boxes, &c, have all become a mass of cinders and ashes. The city of Nice went into mourning, and the Mayor issued a proclamation Betting forth that any public rejoicing for any event is impossible in the face of this calamity, and the fStes which were to have taken place cannot be given. The Co3t of these fttes will now be devoted to the alleviation of the miseries caused by the catastrophe. According to thoso who escaped, no words can describe the horror of the Bce.ae which ensued in the dark lobbies while the flames were licking the proscenium and the heavy smoke from the burning scenery was gradually stifling those who were trying in vain to force their way onwards through doors blockedjup with tho bodies of those who had fallen down fainting to be trampled under foot. Madame Bianca Donadia, the prima donna, in whose honor Lucia di Lammermoor was being eung, had just left the stage when the explosion took place, fche did not know her way about the theatre, but surprised in the dark by the first rash of affrighted chorus singers, she was carried out into the street before she knew where she was. The basso Cottoni's body has been identified, and fears are entertained that the tenor has shared the same fate. Signor Cottoni was a young and promising singer. It was not the first time he had been under fire, for he was very nearly burned to death at the conflagraration at the Thdatre dcs Arts at Rouen. He was to have taken tho part of the Ghost in Hamlet on that occasion, and he was compelled in his full suit of armour to jump from a second-flour window into the street. He waa caught on some mattrasses, but he was bo much hurt and shaken that very slight hopes were entertained of his recovery. He did get well, but fate appears to have marked him out as the victim of the devouring element, for, after escaping at Eouen, he has now been burnt to death at Nice.