(1876)
Publisher: Philadelphia, Barclay & co
Language: English
BURNING OF THE BROOKLYN
THEATRE.
PIE destruction of the Brooklyn Theatre, on the night of Tuesday,
December the 5th, was the most terrible calamity of its kind that
has occurred in this country. What was first deemed to be an ordinary
fire, naturally involving serious financial loss to the owners, the
lessees and the actors, was really a catastrophe of the most heartrending
character, causing, as it did, the loss of upwards of three hundred lives.
No theatre fire on this continent had so much horror lent to it. Even the
most stony-hearted were touched by the awfulness of this great calamity.
Three hundred human beings of both sexes and of all ages were thrust into
eternity through an agonizing and painful death. They were thus doomed at a
moment of pleasure and mental excitement over the mimic troubles of the dramatic
personages in a play possessing features that touched the hearts of those
who followed the scenes on the stage. At a moment when every eye was fixed
on the painted scene, and every ear strained on the utterances of the several
characters, the dreadful cry of "Fire!" was raised, and, in a few momenta
after, the entire building was filled with flame and smoke, and hundreds of
men, women and children were suffocated and burned to death, and their
charred and disfigured remains buried beneath the ruins.
Such is the simple and terse record of this most dreadful occurrence, and
these few sentences afford such outline and visible form to the picture that it
scarcely needs the shocking details that necessarily follow to give it color
and ghastliuess. That so much horror should attend the burning of a theatre
sent a thrill of pain through every heart in the land. The full scope of the
calamity and the dreadful scenes attending it are depicted in the accounts
that follow.
No more awful moment can be imagined than that when the fire was discovered.
The full moon of the fatal evening had tempted upwards of twelve
hundred people from their homes, and lighted them to the brilliant entrance
of the theatre. The famous play of the " Two Orphans," with an excellent
cast, mainly from the Union Square Theatre, of New York city, was the
attraction, and had renewed its fascinations over a public long since familiar
with its story. The audience was characteristically a Brooklyn gathering.
Many well-known citizens were there : among them the family of Mr. AYil......Read more
THEATRE.
PIE destruction of the Brooklyn Theatre, on the night of Tuesday,
December the 5th, was the most terrible calamity of its kind that
has occurred in this country. What was first deemed to be an ordinary
fire, naturally involving serious financial loss to the owners, the
lessees and the actors, was really a catastrophe of the most heartrending
character, causing, as it did, the loss of upwards of three hundred lives.
No theatre fire on this continent had so much horror lent to it. Even the
most stony-hearted were touched by the awfulness of this great calamity.
Three hundred human beings of both sexes and of all ages were thrust into
eternity through an agonizing and painful death. They were thus doomed at a
moment of pleasure and mental excitement over the mimic troubles of the dramatic
personages in a play possessing features that touched the hearts of those
who followed the scenes on the stage. At a moment when every eye was fixed
on the painted scene, and every ear strained on the utterances of the several
characters, the dreadful cry of "Fire!" was raised, and, in a few momenta
after, the entire building was filled with flame and smoke, and hundreds of
men, women and children were suffocated and burned to death, and their
charred and disfigured remains buried beneath the ruins.
Such is the simple and terse record of this most dreadful occurrence, and
these few sentences afford such outline and visible form to the picture that it
scarcely needs the shocking details that necessarily follow to give it color
and ghastliuess. That so much horror should attend the burning of a theatre
sent a thrill of pain through every heart in the land. The full scope of the
calamity and the dreadful scenes attending it are depicted in the accounts
that follow.
No more awful moment can be imagined than that when the fire was discovered.
The full moon of the fatal evening had tempted upwards of twelve
hundred people from their homes, and lighted them to the brilliant entrance
of the theatre. The famous play of the " Two Orphans," with an excellent
cast, mainly from the Union Square Theatre, of New York city, was the
attraction, and had renewed its fascinations over a public long since familiar
with its story. The audience was characteristically a Brooklyn gathering.
Many well-known citizens were there : among them the family of Mr. AYil......Read more
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