THE GREAT PARIS FIRE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XIV, Issue 4900, 28 June 1887, Page 3

THE GREAT PARIS FIRE.

_♦ TERRIBLE DETAILS. Albany, to-day. In the summary of European mail news brought by the mail steamer Carthage (dates to May 27) occurs the following ;— Tho disaster announced by cable at the Paris Opera Comique baars a great analogy to the terrible fire at a theatre in Vienna in December, 1881, but fortunately the loss of life waa nut nearly so great as then but the detailed circumstance* bear a great resemblanca in the|imporfect staircases, and emergency doors, the narrow passages, and the Fire Brigade arriving too late ; and, to add to the horrors, the gas being turned off at the main, leaving the panicstricken audience to grope their way through suffocating flames. Many thus loßt their way, groups of ladies and young girls in evening dress being found huddled up againifc the locked doors, suffocated. Many bodies were so charred at to be quite unrecognisable. Many were injured by clambering to tha balconies and leapins? from th^ windows in their frantic efforts to escape. The theatre company suffered severely, many being found dead in the dressing rooms. Twenty- five corpses wore found in the buffet. The Chamber of Deputies voted £8000 for the relief of the sufferers. Five bodies, terribly burnt, were conveyed to the National Library. Among them was the body of a woman clasping a littla boy in her arms. The firemen showed the greatest courage. The chemical tire apparatus, which had been placed in readiness for the burning of the palace in the second act, rolled down from its place near the roof, and oxploded on the floor. Women half clad, carrying their costumes, fled from the stage screaming. Supers and members of the chorus were so terrified that some of the latter flod with nothing on but their tights. The llam.es spread with rapidity, and in fifteen minutes the Stage waa a vase furnace. Several actors escaped by climbing to the roof on the side of the Rue Merivante, where they were rescued by fire escapes. M. Tasquin implored the audience to remain seated till the exits were opened, which they did. If they had made a rush for the doors the loss of life would have been terrible. The police outside were unable to restrain the crowd, who besieged the building inquiring for friends until a military cordon was formed. The scene outside was one of the wildest •xciteraent. The falling embers struck horses in the surrounding streets, causing them to plunge and rear. The flames shot out of every window, forcing the crowd into the narrow streets, where the crush was terrific. A figurante says there were one hundred and fifty pildons on the stage when the ire broke out. She heard the glass breaking, but told the others not to mind it : but while she was speaking a column of flame broke through the wings with a roar, and all rushed pell mell from the stage. Many policemen were injured. Only a fortnight ago M. Steinakers called attention to the dangerous condition of the Opera Comique, the oldest theatre in Paris. The Figaro also called attention to the same thing after a recont twelve hour benefit performance. The killed include four firemen. There was no frantic rush in the theatro, but it is believed the staircase became blocked. Most of the casualties so far reported were due to nervousness. Many persons who were unable to trust themselves to walk the narrow ledge of the cornice round the building jumped off in terror. One woman coolly walked round the cornice when the flames were bursting above her, until she reached the fire-escape. The victims were almost all singers. 156 missing persons have been inquired for by relatives. They are supposed to have perished in the flames. The bottom of the theatre is flooded with water to the depth of five feet. Sixty bodies have been found floating in the water by firemen. An artist named Phillippe performed prodigies of valor in saving life. He mounted a ladder three times and saved three danseuses after they had been abandoned by the firemen. In the Rue Favart a sudden gust of wind cleared away the dense smoke, when a woman and two men were aeon standing in an angle of the uppermost cornice. The woman tried to jump, but the men prevented her. When all wero finally rescued the woman was a raving maniac. A singer had a miraculous escape from his dressing room in an angle at the top of the building. He says the wind kept the flames off that part of the building, but a river of molten lead poured from the roof, the course of which he diverted with a board to prevent its weight carrying down the shaky floor. Twenty bodies have been found in the dining-room. These victims had all met their death by suffocation. The firemen saw other bodies, but were unable to reach them. It is believed there are 160 more bodies in the ruins.