THE CHICAGO FIRE.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12647, 6 January 1904, Page 3

THE CHICAGO FIRE.

CABLEGRAMS.

[f» mss ASSOCIATION.—COPIBIQHI,]

1 At the inquest on the victims of the fire at the Iroquois Theatre the evidence showed that the draught from the doors which were opened behind the stage blew down a fan screen containing a number of incandescent lights. The fan tell with a crash like an explosion, and the heat from the flood of lights on the screen ignited the flimsy borders of the scenery. Then 75,000 feet of oiled Manila rope, used for suspending 180 drop scenes, caught fire. The asbestos curtain had not been arranged to drop quickly. It hung on an endless rope and was lowered with difficulty. It was obstructed in its descent by a steel reflector, not by an aerial wire. The reflector had been carelessly left to itself, and swung out of its niche near the proscenium arch. BERLIN THEATRE CLOSED. (Received January 6, 1.0 a.m.) LONDON, January 6. The Kaiser has closed the Royal Opera House in Berlin, and ordered alterations to be made in it in the interests of public safety. ACTION AT GISBORNE. [PBE33 ASSOCIATION.] GISBORNE, Tuesday. The Borough Council had a long discussion to-night in regard to the Chicago fire, and it was resolved that the whole council be a committee to view the local theatre in the morning, and decide if any improvements are necessary. INTERVIEW WITH MR CUYLER

HASTINGS. Interviewed at Dunedin with respect to the Chicago theatre fire, Mr Cuyler Hastings said he knew the Iroquois Theatre well, and had rehearsed in it. Speaking of the building and its equipment, Mr Hastings unhesitatingly pronounced it to lie one of the most perfect modern theatres that had ever been built, and both from a managerial and structural point of view it ranked with the foremost of the first-class theatres of the world It was the property of the American Theatrical Syndicate, headed by Messrs Klaw and Erlanger. There ' were numerous means of exit on each side of the building which communicated with the auditorium, and the only persons who could be in danger in case of fire were some of the actors, whose dressing rooms were under the stage. Continuing, Mr > Hastings said “I was in Chicago last March or April, and rehearsed in the Iroquois Theatre, and in the following August I sailed for Australasia. I would not know any of those who were playing at the theatre at the time of this calamitous occurrence, the company being a pantomime one. I cannot, however, comprehend how there has been so much loss of life with so many exits and so many fire-escapes leading from the upper as well as the lower parts of the building to allevways and Madisonavenue, where, if necessary, the whole front of the building could be thrown open."