The New York Herald Newspaper, December 7, 1876, Page 4

4 were also on hand in great numbers, giggling and | Janghing with shocking levity within sound of the beart- | fending sobs and cries of those who had recognized | dear ones gone forever, Now and then an officer would make his way through the crowd up to the iron gate and commotion stirred all the crowd, Looking at the advance trom the elevated steps of the Morgue ft wasa strange sight. The crowd opened to admit | the officer or city official, and behind bim closed again | In a seemingly inextricable tangle. | WAITING AND GOSSIPPING. | | | } It was noticeable that a continued circulation of gos- | sip was kept up all the while, and from mouth to ear | each little grain of information or bit of sensation was | Fapidly passed. On the outer periphery of the crowd | Btood many little knots of men discussing the horrible | | Occurrence of waiting for information of s friend for whom inquiry was bdeing made Leaning against the deaad wall of the Jail were = two) women ~— sobbing ~— and wailing aloud, who had collected around them sym- | pathetic crowds of anxious inquirers into the cause of | their travail, One had not seeu her husband since Monday night and was afraid he had gone to the the- aire, aud was among the dead. The other, an elderly lady, dressed with modest good taste, had uot seeu her Bon since he left the vreakiast table on Tuesday morn- ing, and she, like the woman nearby, was full of awtul apprehension, While these poor women, whose souls wero suffering all the terrors of suspense and were un- able to get into the dead house and kuow the worst, or have their foars allayed, hundreds, whom morbid curi- osity bad called, were making their ways through the gates, passes in hand, to pass im review before the ghastly array of contoried corpses, Those whose minds were upon the missing gave no thought to the formality necessary to obtain admission into the Morgue, and of course went forthwith to where they heard the bodies had been conveyed. Here they were conironted with the officer who demanded passes and refused admission without them, Many of the poor People, disheartened at this first rebull, went and criod with despair on the outskirts of the crowd. HORROR HUNTERS. The sightseers, on the contrary, with that cool de- liberation which characterizes the play-goer who se- cures his seat in advance, went to the Coroner's office and obtained passes of admission to the Morgue, on the plea that they were searching for relatives. Among this class was quite a number of ladies whose dress indieated an ease of circumstances quite beyond the influence of that sensationalism usually supposed to move only the low and vulgar, Many of these gentle- women entered the house of horror with mach the same manner as would become them in tho foyer of tte opera, They passon, and behind them comes a Judy in black with her litte daughter clinging to her side, ‘Tho littie girl looks up into the mother’s face with a frightened look, but vo word Is spokon as they pass the guard aud enter the morgue, Here como | three schoo! girls—tney must be, for they have their | books and music rolls in their hands—-and they, too, have passes from the Coroner. They follow m the wake of the gayly dressed women and the Jady tp Dlack with the little child, A string of men, one of them with « sample of cloth in his hand, now go in, aod behind them comos a lady in deep mourning, leaning on the arm of a well known physigian. Soon tne house fs fall, and the iron gates are locked antl the searchers aud sightscers within have left, THE HUMANE UNDERTAKERS, Arattling wagon is hurrying down the street and Yebnd it comes dying a crowd of boys aud children, J isthe wagon of one of the bumane undertakers, who bave volunteered their services, with the body of ynother victim. The crowd falls back, heads are averted, and the shapeless form of one who, a few hours since, was merry at @ theatre, passes into the Morgue. Wagon after wagon comes burrying down the street, and body after body is added to the ghastly collection im the showplace of death. In alls and attitades as various and manifold as the fantastic flames that wrought tho havoc, cume the bodies of the victims, The eagerness of tho crowd to see cach codaver as it was brought tn recalled the horrors of the Westfleid disaster. On that ewful Sunday, when all the people in New York who had f is aboard | assembied on pier 1 East River and imagined that ia is the lineaments of each man taken fron the water they discovered the face of a dear one, the police wero as powerless us babes. This sone of oMicial helplessness but for the tron gates of the Morgue would have been re-enacted yesterday, As {t was, the butluing on all four sides was be- | sleged by unmanageable crowd that bulged | through the windows and strained for asight of the | dead. In one of the windows the officers in charge recognized at four o’clock the game faces that had qraced it at eleven in the morping. These buman rultures remained to feast on the scones of distrees and inexpressible sorrow being en das each searcher for a lost relative made basty and eager in- spection of the a Thus the day wore on until uight camo and lent new horrors to the scene of deso- lation, an AT THR MORGER, At this place, fron: early morning till night of yoster- day, the most extracrdinary scene was presented, aud, itis tobe hoped, euch a seene will never be presented again, Groat surging crowds of men, women children filled the street in front and ail around Of the dead, and the policemen bad a at tho resting pla laborious Ume in keeping order among the clamorous uppiicants for admission, Even old women straggied ‘with young men to get inside the butlding. MONMID VISITORS, ‘The police were sometimes rade, bat as a rule they ehowed fair diseretion, The bodies in the Morgue were pited aimost on top of each other, Not an inch ot space was wnoceupied except such part as was neces sary to admit the passage of visitors. Women in large numbers came, looking aiter friends and relatives, and there were women, too, who came from A motive of morbid curiosity aud disgusted everybody, Several of these, without any sense of teelngfor modesty, gazed on the burned corpses of te men, bodies and limbs naked, with a ghoulish sen- timent. “I came,” said one of these people in answer lo the inquiry of the writer, “to see if a gentleman friend of mine was among the victims; but her con- | durt, as she went along lilting the burned and tattered ipnymeuts trom off the persons of the hideous corpses was characterized by a levity that indicated very little womanly feeling. APPEARANCE OF THE BODIES, The great mass ot charred bodies, some with their aris and legs projected im the air and all biack as charcoal, Was a most striking spectacle and one which nobody who saw it can ever possibly forget, Some bad their brains dashed out aud a sign of biood was here aud visible, imtensifying the already awful char, acter of the sitaation, There were stalwart men with their jegs burned bare of clothing and drawn up, a8 it would appear, im agony of torture. There were others who died with their legs closed together, as if they had resigned them- selves to fate. Asa rule, however, the expression of ihe corpses was that of resistance to death; and this Was seen in ihe almost general exhibition of an ap- lifted arm or leg to fight off THR DREAD DESTROYER, “That's my sou,” said a heart-broken father to the reporter. “Hw was nineteen years old and he was my imost promising boy,” and thea the father went away ‘Weeping, with a heavy cloud of sorrow on his brow, \ As at the markot house on Adams street, so 1b was at Ahe Morgue. The bodies were the same—black and burnt, and in most cases unrecoguizable, SCENES OUTSIDE THE MARKET, When the Morgue was filled so that no more bodies could be contamed, the Coroner secured the old Brooklyn market, an institution long since gone mio disuse, Here a large force of mon were immediately set to work to clear away the aceumatated dirt of years, and make jt a more fitting place for the reception of the dead, Around this qaunt andjdeserted edifice three assembled, as soon as the first body was brought Jn, a crowd rivailing im denseness that which congre. | mted at the Morgue, Its easter access to the great fr of travel—Fulton street—made It, so to speak, more popalar centre of sightseeing All the ele ‘Ments that went to constitute the audience around the Morgue wero bere, with the strongly contrasting dif- Terence of a majority of Women. Adains street, in which tho market is located, being narrow was ‘crowded trom curb to carb, and as each body arrived the swarm of human beings divided. The noble vol- uoteere and undertakers hurried op throagh tne dark | joorway into the still darker building bearing the | bodies of the latest discovered victims. Now and sarotataed wild with anguish und rogardiess of ‘the protests of the police, darted past the gloomy por- tal and was soon lost in the equivocal Nght of the in- terior, The police in many instaucés wero not | was a crowd of proof against the carmest pleadings of mothers in search of thelr onildren, and wives looking for their husbands, Now and then there comes trow the dark market # wailing female or # sobbing man. Here emerges a woman kissing something she holds between her Angers~ it is a screw stud, plucked from | the shirt bosom of ber brother. She passes out, and 1s soon lost in the gayty colored border of the crowd. The bodies still contmue to arrive, ana the crowd grows denser as the afternoon grows into night. AT THE MARKET HOUSE. Within the market such a scene was exbibited that appalled the stoutest heart At every moment a body was brought in from the ruins im @ convenient metallic shell coffin and was immediately taken out and laid upon the wide bare floor, A smell of burnt human flesh filled the atmosphere. Over the wide aren of the deserted market were rows of calcined corpses, the hands in every instance being upward raised as if warding off the fatal flames that ultimately consumed them. There was a man whose intestines had protraded through his skim in the intensity of bis suffering, There was a woman who crew ber petti- coats over ber face and died with her teeth clenched, There Was a man all black and apparently petrified like an Egyptian mummy, whoso band clasped over his breast an opera lass, and there was one who bad seemingly let drop a pair of eye glasses and went to sleep in death from suffocation. Words utterly failed to convey the feelings of those who witnessed the sight presented by the vast array of dead and burned bodies that occupied the foor of the murket house, There they were, in al) stages of man- hood, and among them was a littie child burnt toa crisp, but giving, in ‘ts skeleton form, the expression ola fearful) appeal for pity and mercy, Ip the last embraces of death the poor child’s face exhibited a fearful but useless cry for existence, for the relenticss flames swept ou and the weak and lowly cry was stifled in Gre and smoke. 4 TOUCHING INCIDENT. ‘There were great, strong men lying blackened and lifeless on the floor of the Morgue. Their clothes in muny instances were burned almost off their bodics, Some had had their vrains dashed out, and open skulls with brains protruding ma common sight. The writer meta lady fad ond weeping, and b ed her, “Madam, have you sustaiued any loss hore?” and she auswered, with the tears standing big in ber great brown eyes, “Yes, sir, 1 think this is my brother lying in front of us,” and sure enough it was, She stooped and picked from bis vosom, all black and burned, a stud with an emerald stone, “Ob1?? she said, “that was my poor brother’s favorite stud; it was a shamrock,” and then she fell back into the re- porter’s arins, but quickly recovered and went home to, no doubt, a yery sorrowiul household, A dig, stroug man, Commissioner Pyburn, of the Brooklyn police torce, was overcome at the sight the market house, on Adams street, presented, Thero was the hkeness of God perverted into such black and unrecognizable shape as to make men shudder, To see a lot of bodies, supposed to contain immortal souls, broiled and burned like so many logs was enough of itself to fill the mind with horror and dismay, The HxwaLp reporter entered the markes building im the alternoon, while a great crowd was surging outside and pressing closely and painfully on the policemen, who, with a great deal of patience and forbearance, did their duty outside, He found inside a large Open structure, divided by several wooden par- titions and crowned vy a wooden roof, At one end people, admitted on the strength of their being related to the people who were supposed to be dead. Police Commissioner Pyburn saw at once that a great many curiosity mongers were making avail of (he erisis to come in, so he gave orders that none but reporters or those who were actuaily related to the peoplo deceased, and could show certificates to that oifect, should be admitted, A WKIMD SCENE. As darkness grew upou the scene it was found nec- essary to 1liuminate the building, and im the absenco of gas plan was adopted that adaed greatly to the terrible appearance of the place, Upon the breast of each corpse was placed a lighted candle, and the only other lighis in the vast building were can- dies carried by the Coroncr’s ussistants and the undertakers’ men. It is impossible to adequately describe that scene. The long lines of charred bodies, ghastly in their deformities, each bearing a lighted candle, the light of which sbone upon tho jittle piece ot white paper bearing their number, the solemn stillness broken only by occasional whispers and sobs that echoed among the raters until they were lost in the gloomy recesses of the building, made an awiul and weird-like scene that can never be forgotten by those that witnessed it. MISS CLAXTON’S STORY OF THE FIRE, Miss Kate Claxton, leading lady in the play of the “Two Orphans,” which was being performed when the soul-sickening catastrophe occurred, was found by a Hkkatp reporter last night in her sitting room at the Pierrepont House, Brooklyn. She received him courteously, and signified her willingness to teil the readers of the Hrkaip all she know of the circum. stancbs surrounding the calamity. What sik SAW. “I parved from roy agent,’ she said, t the foot of the stairs and, bidding him good night, walked up stairs to te down upon my paligt of straw and begia the fifth act of the play. I bad no sooner assumed my position than 1 heard noi as of the eciling ot the theatre was talitng. I was completely shut in above aud op ali sides by the canvas repreaonting the Interior of Fro- chard’s hovel, and could net see what the noise was produced by. I thought to myself, ‘*What is the mat- ter?” but I bad no time to give i thought before the curtin ascended and my atten- tion «owas = required §=for the business of the play. Mr. Thorpe, stage manager of the theatre, standing some place behind, cried *“‘Hugh!’? in a low and excited tone, Almost instantly Miss Cleaves knelt down inside of the wings beside my head, for I was lying upon the extreme right of the stage. In a thrill- ing whisper she said, “Save yourself, for Goa’s sake! I am running now.” Lying on | my back I looked up, and through the canvas roof over my head; saw little tongues of fire protrud- ing and heurd a crackling nowe, It must bave been in flames before the curtain went up, ana making headway all the time white Mr, Murdoch, who played Pierre, was bending over me, speaking the opening words of the act “So young, so lovely, and yet so hard a fate. Jacques suspect ho watches me If I do anything to assist her escape ho will discover it and kill me.” Murdoch went right on after the fire was perceived and finished that speech, expecting every minate that the audience would disco: the fire, COOLNRSS OF THE ACTORS, It was while he was 0 speaking that Miss Cleaves gave me tbe alarm. I think at this time tho greater part of the company saw the headway the fire was making and made their escape, Mr. Murdoch—— “Oh!” abruptly exclaimed Miss Claxton, clasping ber hands until the blood almost spurted trom the ends of her Gngers and tears filled her eyes, “Murdoch is gone; God help him, poor boy!’” Rogaming her composuro after a minute Miss Clax- ton continued:—“Mr, Murdoch went up to the door and proceeded calmly with his lines, ‘I have begun my work and I will finish i.’ Mrs. Farren then came on the stage as Frochard. Tho flames at this time were plainly visible, Mr. Studley came on a few speech jacer, and he must have actually passed through the fire in making his entrance. 1 think the predomi- nating idea in the minds of all four of us was, thatif we interrupted the play the audience would become frightened, and thata panie worse in its effects than the fire iself would ensue { thought the curtain might be lowered to shut out the Gre from them if we continued the play. COURAGEOUS WOMEN, “Mra. Farren came over to me and, repressing her excitement, begau to make my toilet as Louise. She whispered in my car, ‘she fire is gnining,’ and then moved back und went on with her business. As she completed my toilet I looked up and saw tbat the whole audionce bad perceived the flames They came from the back of the stage. The scenery behind had burned first, and there was no way of gotting at the outer door at all even then. Mra Farren stepped up the stage; Mr. Studley pulled me over roughly, andl ex- claimed, ‘I will beg no more.’ That was the last word that was spoken in tho piay. Then the flames had mate euch =headway = that we all felt aw was a matter of life and death. We were inclosed on ,all sides by roar- ing flames and dense smoke rolied over our heads, Stadiey stepped forward and said tothe aadience, “The play will go on and the Gre will be pat out Be quiet, wet back into your sosta,’ | said something myseit Mr. - ‘The passage is clear; get down; we are between you | and the fire, Mr, Murdock,” said Miss Claxton, ten- | vot il dung the night, go ou wh the pluy, aud’ at this ume having ieft the stage was prob ably “im bis dressing room taking a smoke. “Our idea in speaking to the audience was that some of them might think it easier to climb upon the stage and get out through the back door than to go through the front of the hoi We cried out to them continually, ‘The front passage is cleat go back and you'll all be saved.’ Whenl called out many brave women sat down and that surely pulled the men into their places: One woman in the front of the orchestra got up and said, ‘You're right, Miss Claxton,’ The musi- cians acted nobly. 1 thing they all sat still in their seats, because | saw some | of them looking at me, you know, Tho man in the end of the orchestra looked at | me the whole time—he was a trombone-player, 1 think—he looked at me and gritted his teeth as he turned to survey the panic-stricken audience, At this Ume all the scenery had surivelled toto tinder, It was canvas, you know.” “The fire must have gained great headway about this time,” remarked to the reporter. LIKE A TRANSFORMATION SCENE, The lady wrung her hands and compressed her lips with ap absent look as though she was moeutally sur- veying the terrible scene. She replied, “The beatns were falling on ali sides of us, We were in a perfect rain of fire, 1 looked up, turn- ing baif around, and saw a bright biaze of fire shoot- tug out over our heads toward the audience. It w like transformation scene !n a spectacle, you know. Then I caught Mr. Murdoch by the arm and said to him, ‘Come, it is foulbardy to wait apy longer; let us go.’ But he pulled away from me in a dazed sort of way and went toward his dressiag room, which waa by that time almost burned, He must have actually rushed into the flames. I made my way rapidly down the little flight of seven sieps which led from the stage to the level of the dressing rooms and knocked loudly at the door of that occupied by Maude Harrison, who wag picking up some of her wardrobe, WONDERFUL ESCAPE, The back entrance was by this time a perfect hell of fire, Miss Harrison, on my call, rushed from her room and darted by me into alittle subterranean pas- sage which led from the stage under the floor to tho Vox office in frout of the house. No such passage exists in other theatres, 1t was designed by Mrs. Conway, when the theatre was built, 80 that she could readily communicate with ber treasurer, 1 rapidly followed Miss Harrison, and it seemed as ifthe fire, swept by the drangbt, almost licked the clothes from our backs wo entered the passage. As we fled through it I remembered that 1t was closed at the other end by a door with a spring lock, and was usually kept closed, oue of the ushers carrying the ke, A TERRIBLE SUSPENSE, As I reacued the flight of three or four steps leading up to, the door my heart stood till, and I hesitated to try it. 1 thought, “My God, suppose it 13 locked !’” Outside of the door we could bear the roaring of the maddened multitude struggling through the passage without. We must really have hesitated only a flash, but it seemed to me that we stood there for hours, The door fortunately was open and wo were ina second inside the box office. With tho strength.of despair we barst the door open against the straggling throng and in an instant were in their midst, Miss Claxton illustrated with thrilling dramatic effect the manner in which she pressed her way under the arms and over the heads of the strong men who struggled in her path to the entrance, he Impression produced upon her by stepping over the dead bodies Was So great that she has not yet recovered trom the shock, Miss Claxton made her Way into the station house, adjoining the burning theatre, clad only in the rags of Louise, A gentlemen there sent for a carriage to ko her home, but upon its arrival it was devoted tothe use of two of the bult suffocated victims, who were even then being carried out, She then ‘threw over her the coat of the gentleman, who was a stranger to her, and accompanied by him ran rapidly in her scanty garments to her home, at the Pierre- pont House, Ali of the lady’s wardrobo was. ed; but she seemed to have no thought of that inner sor- row for the victims of the calamuy and tholr bereaved friends, ‘MISS IDA VRRNON’S LOSSES, This lady, whose singularly gentle and feeling im- personation of Sister Genevieve has made that charac- ter one of the most popular in the *‘Two Orphans,” was happily drawn from the theatre by a duty of love at the moment when the conflagration turned it intoa scene of death, She bad resided since the beginning of her present engagement tn a house on Johnson street, quite cio-e to the theatre, and there her leisure has been occupied during the last fow weeks in rurs- ing her brother, who is lying at tho point of death, The curtain fell upon the pricou of La Saltpetriere shortly after ten o’clock, and she had had time to doff the costume of the Mother Superior and reach her abode before the alarm of fire rang out, Of courso she hastened to the window, but only in time to gee the flames bursting from the building in whieh her diamonds, ber stage wardrobe aud her manuscripts were jeit, To a reporter who conversed with hor Miss Vernon raid:—‘‘I was ot course shocked at the appearance of the conflagration and a thought of the poor people who were struggling out, no less than my own losses, burried through my mind, But it was only for an instant My poor brother was lying dying in the room behind me, and how to save him was all] thought of. I have sat be. side his pillow whenever I could be spared from the theatre, and since Saturday I nave had no sleep, While he was lying thero and likely to breathe his last you can well believe that I had no thought to spare to the burning theatre, ulthough the little prop- erty I had was being consumed in it.” ‘Have you avy idea of the amount of the losses you have sustained ?”” ry Yes, I suppose I know the value of my diamonds. They are all gone and they were worth about $7,000, My wardrobe is burned and most of my private attire, This poor dress you seo on mo is about all 1 have left, I had my ‘Queen and Woman’ costumes in the Theatre too, They were worth over $2,000, and they too are destroyed, Sut I regret much as anything else tho Joss of my manuscripts, many of which were unplayed parts, but all of which are lost.” “You certainly have reason to grievo,” said the re- porter. ‘es,”’ said Miss Vernon, ‘my losses aro great, But thanks be to God, he has removed the danger! most dreaded, My brother bas survived that dreadful night, and he I hope is safe, Under the troubles which this unbappy event has brought upon me that is a consola- tion for which I am grateful,” MISS PANNY MORANT, Miss Fanny Morant took the part of the Countess do Liniéres. Until last Thursday she had appeared in the last act, though she had but two lines then to speak, Fortunately at that time she omitted these, and, with Mr. Palmor’s permission, left the theatre after her scene in the attic with Henriette. This was the case Tuesday night, and the arrangoment doubtiess savea her life. Miss Mo- rant said:;—‘‘It has always been a long wait for me between the attic scene and my appeara 1m the last act, it bemg an hour and o half, That time I usually employed reading or crocheting, yet is passed very slowly. Had I been in the theatre I must have perished. My dressing room was away at oneendof the stage, and out of the sight of every- body. There was no window nor any other way of get- ting out except across the stage If was, in fact, caged.”” W188 RTWRL ALLEN’s STORY. Miss Ethol Allen made the following statement toa Heratp reporter. The young lady exhibited a slight nervousness of manner while recounting the fearful scenes which she had witnessed the night before, showing the severity of the ordeal through whi wt haa been her fate to pats:—Misa Allon was in her dressing room, just unger a wing of th soon alter the curtain bad been raised for the she heard a confused noise, as of a crowd tramping on the stage above, and some one suid tt was @ fight Presently she -opened her room door and porcetved to her atter amazement and horror that the stage, with lis surroending paraphernalia, op. peared on fire, The place was filled wit smoke aud flames; burning cinders tell thick around ihe youug actress, and she saye that it isa mystery how ber cos- tume did not take fire instantly. The f the awial sitastion Mashed across ber mind; she heard wwe abrieka of women. the sbouts af men aad aeouis- jul reality of | é NN ae ing cries for help that issued from the writhing masa of human beings whe desperately fought thelr way out of the burning «dy Miss 2 n barred back into ber room, picked up mecnanicaliy a few articles of toilet that were strewed about, put them into a trunk and lecked it Immediately it occurred to her that by remaining shut up thus, she was losing any chance of escape which might remain open, The resolution to make | rush tor the stageentrance gleamed across her mind with the rapidity of lightaing, She opened the door and was met by volumes of dense smoke, showers of glaring cinders, and tongues of hungry fames, which latter licked and swept up everything within a few teet of her, The courageous girl covered her face with her hands, rap into the unknown passageway trection (rom whence came the | and burried off in the sound of MEN CURSING AND STRUGGLING with each other for precedence. Tnese she found to be Messrs. Matthews and Phelps, the | actors, and a crowd of ‘supers. As the company bad been but two nights in the theatre, the members of it were but partially ac- quainted with the means of exit from the house; and Miss Allen now knew not where she was going. Be- hind we wildest pitch of frenzy by their mad efforts to escape. “IT was not afraid,’? said the heroic American girl; fully comprebended the fearful perl which surrounded | me, but resolved to do ny best and leave the rest with | Goa” Thero was aman at her side who struggled more franticaliy, if possible, than the rest, Miss Allen made an effort to let Lim pass fu front of her, and the cowardly wretch did so, She thought that | im the pitehy darkness of the* passage to the vestibule, through which they were now, crowd: ing, a familiar voice of an actor met her ear. She said:—“Wil you take my hand??? but the man either did not bear or did not wish to, as he made no response to this touching ap- peak After much struggling im dark—for the passage was without %as—the people who were penned up in it shot out into the vestibule as if projected (rom acatupult. The party were saved, Misa Alleu lost all her wardrobe and joweiry,and she states that the ex- peusive costumes with much of the scenery belonging to the play of “Julius Cwsar,” lately on the boards at the samo theatre, were completely destroyed. CHARLES U. THOKNK'S STATEMENT, Mr, Charles R. Thorne, Jr., was the Chevalier de Vuu- drey, his Original part im the “Two Orphans.” A Hewanp reporter had an rview with him at the Union Square Theatre yesterday, Mr, Thoroe had not yet recovered trom the excitement oceastoned by the escape of himself and wile irom the burning building, He was very nervous, but gave tho reporter his story of the scene in a calm and dignified manner, “I was sitting,” said he, ‘in my dressing room, which is on the stage, it being tho ‘star’ room of the theatre. My wile was present and sitting beside me at the time. We were talking together quietly, und 1 had some time to spare before I was to rush on the stage and encounter Jacques, The door leading to the stage from my dressing room was open. In the m dst of our quiet conversation one of the chorus singers came tothe ioor and said to me:—‘Oh, Mr. Thorne, look atthis fre!’ 1, thinking that she bad called my at- tention to goto the back door and see a fire in the street, arose from my chair and went to the door, when, 10 my surprise and astonish- ment, | saw that ono of the ‘sky borders’ of the stage was on fire, At oncol saw the serious position, and knowing the inflammable nature of theatres, 1 returned to my wife and gaid, ‘Get your things on at once |? A Mrs, Seymour, who was stand. ing by, said there waa no,danger, I again looked up and quickly said:—‘Yes! Get out of the theatre as soon as possible? Then I rushed into my dressing room and gathered up what few things I couldin a hurry, and as J was leaving the room I distinctly heard Mr. Murdoch, who was then before tho audience as Pierre, in the fifth act, say, im a@ loud voice:—‘Keep your seats; there is no danger!’ 1 cried to him, ‘Harry, there 18; got out of the theatre as soon as possible!’ und at that momenta sheet of flame separated him from my view. J then took my wife and rushed toward the back door of the theatre. Then the whole force of the disaster fell upon my mnind, and | knew that the theatre was gone. The flames followed me, and, on opening the door and sending my wife out lirst, they almost enveloped me, My wig wag singed und the feathers on my hat were burned. Even my hair (calling the reporter’s attention to it), you see, is slightly singed. Our carriage was Standing at the back door] and I quickly put my wife inside, Of course 1 wasin full stage costume, but knowing that my own clothing was beyond recovery I got into the carriage. AsI entered the carriage a large arch window on Johnson street fell on the side- walk and caine very near striking the driver, who was in the act of taking the blankets off the horses. I leaned out of the window and saidto him:—‘Never mind the blankets; get on the box and drive away.’ He did so, and we drove two or three blocks, when I stopped him, and, leaving my wife in the carriage, I returned to the theatre. Finding it impossible to render any assistance, and feoling rather ridiculous in my costume, I returned to the carriage and then drove over to New York.’ ‘A STRANGE COINCIDENCE. “That is all I know about it,” continued Mr. Thorne, “but there is rather a curious coincidence in this fire, I was playing at the Varieties Theatre in New Orleans jn 1870 with Jack Studley. He and | were conversing relative to the production of the ‘Three Guardsmen’ the next day, and how we were to play our parts together, Soon after our conversation a fire broke out and the theatre was burned. Only last evening Studley and 1 met together at tho theatre and be- tween tho acts we again introduced the subject of the ‘Three Guardsmen,’ which was to be produced the week alter noxtin the Brooklyn Theatre. On m tioning the subject, Studley said to me, ‘Don’t men- tion the ‘Three Guardsmen;’ do you remember the Varioties Theatre at New Orleans, which burned aown the night previous to its production?” I did remem- ber it, and very well, too, but I laughed at his remarks and then went onthe stage. This morning, and after the terror of last night, the conversation came to my mind, and I think that it is avery peculiar coinci- dence,” Mr. Thorne could not describe the exeitement in the andience ashe did not go to the front of tho stage during the fifth act. ‘Poor Burroughs,” said he “must have hurriedly left the stage, thinking that he would have time to go to his dressing room and secure bis clothing, and on returning must bave been suffo- cated by the dense smoke and then fell a victim to the flames.” Thedeath of Mr. Harry Murdoch he aiso attributed to tho same cause, Mr, Thorne rogards the escape of himself and wife, and in fact of all tho others, as almost miraculous, but he fully believed that all the actors and the audience had escaped. The terrible loss of life has almost unnerved him, His friends called upon him during the day and congratu- lated bim on nis escape. HOW STUDLEY ESCAPED. Rehearsing much of what has aiready been told, Mr. J. B, Studley disclosed the following particulars of his own escape, He eatd;—‘'The fire was then tn the flys, 1 narried on thinking it would soon bo out, and in an- er to Mother Frochard said:—** ‘Well, we’llsee about that,’”? and then threw Louise down on the stage, These were the last words uttered from the piay. 1 heard Charley Thorne cry out to Harry Murdoch that thore was great danger, and Charley had tho best sense of allofus, When he yelled “Get out of this as goon as you can,’ or something like that, I saw that the flames were quickly coming down toward us, so l went forward and said:—‘‘Ladies aud gentle- men—There will be no danger at all; go out quictly; we have got to end this performance bere.” Then there wasarush. I myself walked deliberately and idiotically, if I might say ro, to my dressing room, which was under tho Asl unlocked the door the smoke came pouring and 1 came to the conclusion that there was not so much time to spare as I had expected. 1 hurriedly grasped my overcoat started to go ou, At the door I wus met by ® tongue of fi which checked my way, I then run under the stage to the other door. Here again I was met with flames and smoke, Thi 1 saw a passageway which led—well, I did not know where—but it was my only chunee, At this time I could bear the roar of the flames above me and aimost e myself ap. Hall blinded wiih smoke and cinders I felt my way through the pasenge. About balf way I found that I was not alone, ws there were from five to twelve persons after me, 1 cried vai, “Don't follow me; I might lead to your death. I don’t know where 1am going myself. It’s a matter of life and death to all of us; but Wo must eacapo lt we cam? «Wel then it seamed an the pursuing flames; in tront, smoke and | darkness; around her, men who were excited to the | NEW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1876.—TRIPLE SHEET, rata ia a trap. We could see nothing aby orbebind us, All at once I Jound a window which led to a kind of elevator. It | Was closed, but I smashed it with my band and then tg we were on going thorough we saw before usa blank wall Here we jooked around in despair, but | said, “Boys, if we bave got to die it be he: but we must fight | yet’ It was impossible to climb the wall On look- ing arountt | saw a door, and with a cry of joy Trashed atit, It was tocked onthe inside, Then we all pushed and burst it open. As it gave way I fell and my companions stepped overme. When! gotup! found myself on a stairway, which I quickly mounted and obtained my exit near the box office. 1 did not Waits moment, but rushed imto ine street, the moat astonished and pleased men'in the United States; but it Was & Narrow escape, 1 tell you. On reaching the street I went to the Pierrepont House and got a pair of shoes, and soon afterward got Axed so as to go home, Mr, Studley lost bis jewelry and clothing, but is satis- | ded with getting of with his fife, “THE CAPTAIN OF THe ‘sUrERa.’” Mr. W. 8. Quigley, captain of the ‘supers’? at the ill-fated playhouse, was found early iy the afternoon in the Union Square Theatre, stili suffering from the terrible ordeal through which he nad passed. Mr. Quigley reluted bis experience with the utmost willing: ness. 1 is as followa:— We, that is three or four.of the soldiers that appear im the last act, and myself, were sitting together in a dressing room under the stage, when ailof a sudden ove of the soldiers who bad been above rushed down and told me that the theatre was on fire; instantly the men became very excited, but I told them to keep cool, as it must be only a smail thing and easily put out Realy, 1 did not think (here was any fire at all,only some one rushing down from the stage with this alarm to burry them to their places; this is occasionally done, just for tun; tnose who were with me all passed up abend of me as quickly as they could, and that was the Jast I suw of them until they got out of tne theatre, Wheni got up stairs L tried to cross the “borders” (the drapery used to fl out the scene on top) to get to the back door of the stage, but I couldu’t, as right iu front of me was a sheet of flame that came from the borders; they wero fang all round and somebody in the flies must have been cutting them down. Finding I couidn’t reach the door back of the stuge, 1 retreated to the curtain thinking I might get out that way to the au- ditormum; but just*as I reached the - curtain it fell at my feet one mass of leaping fre, the ropes having burned off. tis not necessary for me to tell you that way of escape was cut off, so I rushed down stairs aguin under the stage where we were when the first alarm reached us; when there I found two or three others, whose names I don’t remember, in the same terrible dilemma as myself. We knew not what to do or where to go. Just then some one near Mme—I think it was Mr. George Henry, the ‘property man’’--hallooed out at the top of his voice, “Come this way and I'll save you;”’ we followed him and went throngh an areaway which lea into Jobnson street, and were thus saved, Sy this time the smoke was becoming stifling, but yet I was afraid that some of the ladies might still be in their dressing room, as somebody said so, and I rashea back through the samo way I got out to the rooms; I ballooea as loud as I could, “If there is anybody here come this way and you can get out,” There was no response, and I feel certain all bad escaped. The smoke was so thick at this time I couldn't see, and I felt my way back. Oh, it was terrible! To make matters worse, when 1 got back to the door it was locked, and I couldn't get out. 1 tugged and tugged at it, and there was no sceing the fastening. Then I tried to burst it open, and, fortunately, the door gave way to my efforts, and in a fow seconds moro 1 was out 1m the air, full of thankfulness for my es- cape. Iam afraid that two of tho ‘soldiers’ under me have been killed, as they cannot be feund. During the excitement on the stage we could not, or rather did not, bear any noises or cries in the body of the theatre. It was three o’clock this morning when [ left the place, but I had not heard of anybody boing killed, though we knew at that time that Murdoch could not bo found, and Burroughs bad not been seon. Mr. Mur- doch’s dressing room was over the proscenium box, on the right side from the audience, MR. PHILLIPS’ STORY, Mr. H, B, Phillips, a member’ of the company, was in the green room at the time the fire begun in the filles. He heard a rambling noise, which he says he thought was the ialling of a scene Going out, he met Mrs. Allen, ‘whd told ‘him tho thea- tre was on fire, He thereupon went to bis dressing room to get his watch and change his clothing, but was only ablo to secure his pantaloons when he was driven out by the smoke and flame. He went out by the subterranean passage into tho vestibule, The remarkable part of Mr. Phillips’ statement is the fact that he found the lobby and the front part of the house deserted. STORY OF MR. KINGSLEY, Mr. William C, Kingsley, one of the principal stock- holders, was in the auditorium on the evening of the fire with bis family. When the panic began he was separated from them, and for « time was unable to find any trace of them, but when his anxioty was atthe highest be learned that they had all escaped and ‘ar- rived home in salety, All those who were present testify to scenes of the wildest excitement and terror, “Run—Run for your lives,” cried one excited individual in the insanity of the moment, “QO God! O God!” shricked woman, tearing her bonnet from her bead and trampling it under ber feet, “‘My child, where is my child.” Jt had been torn from her arms in tho madness of the stampede. “Where is my hasband,”’ shrieked another, ‘Where is my husband! Won’t some one find him forme. My God! my God! Isball go mad.” Ho was afterward brought back to her, his face pounded almust toa Jelly. Attwo o'clock in the morning Mr. Kingsley, who bad remained at the seene of the disaster, was in- terviewed by a reporter, who asked him ‘What is the loss of thetheatre?”” ‘Oh, 1 care nothing about that,” Mr. Kingsley replied. ‘rhe building coat $190,000, and the insurance is $40,000; but I would gladly give the whole sum to save ono of the unfortunate vic- ‘tim: % B DICKINGON’S STATEMEXT. Mr. E. B Dickinson, of Macon street, gave the fol- Jowing description of the scene in the theatre:—I was in the Brooklyn Theatre on Teesday night, accom- panied by my wife apd another lady. The lowest part of the theatre was not more than hali full, while the balcony and gallery seemed to be very weil filled. The curtain had just been rung up on the rcene in Frochard’s hut, in the last.act of tho “Iwo Orphans,” Mr. Murdoch, Mr. Studley,” Mfs, Farren and Miss Ciax- ton were on the stage. Allat once there seomed to be an unusual disturbance among the scene shifters at the back of the stage, The confusion increased rapidly, but still the play was not interrupted. 1am an old theatre-goer, and « conviction came over me that something was wrony—citner that ono of the workmen had fallen from above while manipulating the ropes, or that tho theatre was on fire, The same uneasy feeling seemed rapidiy to pervade the audi- ence; still they kept their seate I next saw a thin wreath of smoke curling along the ceiling of the boxed in scene, Immediately afterward one corner of the canvas ceiling was raised, and through the open- ing thus made | saw the flames and men trying to rake the Gre off the ceiling with long poles. In what seemed but a second the fire burst through the heavily painted canvas. This was the mgnal for of the ‘wildest scenes I ever witnessed. PIRST SIGHT OF THE FLAMES. At the first sight of the fire the whole audience, with but few exceptions, arose and with common impulse made a rusu for the doors, Some dozen, however, re- tall their sell-possession and calmly kept their Places, As 800n as this panic seized the audience the four actors on the stage previously mentioned turned to the people, and Mr. Siudiey and Mr. Murdoch, rapidly advancing to the tootlights raisiug their voices to the highest pitch, called upop the terror stricken mass to remain seated, or if they left the theatre to leave it in an orderly manner; and through tho whole of the awful eceve that followed, with the burning fragments of scenery falling around them, these four actors maintained a most perfect coolness and sel/-possession, and did all that could be done to aliay the fronzy of the struggling, fighting crowd, Feeling convinced that to join the general stampede ‘was only to be crushed to death, leompelied my wile and her friend to remain quietly where they were, and when tho mass of the audience had left the parquet we deliberately passed around the loft side of the theatre and mado our exit by the main doorway in Washington atrens, ALOMM IM THR THRATRR, Agentieman having dropped his cloak I stopped a mement to pick 1} uo. and then I looked back at tho ————————s ‘Siago and saw the four performers hasten off by thé right wing, and almost as they left it the place wher@ they bad been standing was enveloped ina sheet of fire. A moment’s longer delay would have probably cost them their ives. Owing to my momentary deiny my wife and iriend were separated from me and reached the street in safety. At this moment, when I looked up and found 1 was alone in the theatre, a tre- menvous gust of hot alr, filled with smoke, cinders and flame, rushed from the stage through the auditorium and compelled me to hasten my retreat When I gained the long corMdor in which the ticket office Is located it was filled with the screaming, Sighting crowd of men apd women, all madly seeking safety for them- selves, Men and women were being trampled upon by those belind and above them. The men seemed to be fully as terror stricken as the women. The glare im the street and the smoke tu the corridor enhanced the terror of those secking an oxit, Ip spite of all my cflorts I was forced into the crowd, lifted off my f and Carried out into the street with the surging masee Jtound my wife and friend safe in Kitchen’s drug Store. | beheve it impossible to commend too highiy the coolness and the noble efforts of Messrs, Studley and Murdoch to allay the unreasoning impulse of thé audience to rush peli-meli trom the building, aud these efforts were bravely seconded by the quiet self-posses- sion of Miss Ciaxton aud Mrs, Farren. If Mr, Murdoch has lost his life he has sacrificed it to his heroic efforts to save the audieace from the results of their own terror, MB. JOHN HARTMAN'S STATEMENT. Mr. John Hartman, an employé of (he Department ot City Works, who was at the theatre with his wife and child, occupying seats in the balcony, mnde the fole lowing statement:--The first suspicion that I bad that there wus trouble was when (be orchestra was playing between the fourth and fifth acts, I heard a curious noe on the stage, resembling the loud talking of a number of men, which I thought very unusuzL The orchestra got through their playing and the curtain rose for the last act, Whon they had got about balf through the act I noticed the same noise again, only it Was louder, and they seemed to be hurriedly moving the scenes bebind, 1 then saw a flame moving in the top part of the hut and in @ moment afterward some sparks fell upon the stage, They kept on playing, but the people began to get excited. Some one bebiad me shouted “Sit down; there’s no uso rushing; it’s all right!” Of course people thought the tire was all in tho play. As the excilement ificreased Mr. Studley cxme forward and asked the audience to leave ag quietly as possible, Then some one cried “Fire!” and you know the rest, I found myself out inthe lobby, where I was knocked down two or three times. My wife and child got out belore me, How I got out l he know. From the time I was last knocked down unt Lfound myseifin the station house it is all a blank, I think the fire was burning before the curtain went up. GEORGE J. PLAISTED’S STORY. Mr. George J. Piaisted, a leather dealer, whose place of business is at'No, 75 Gold street, in this eity, adds the following to the story of the disaster:—ln com- pany with a lady I occupied seats A8-04, In the tront row of orchestra chairs, on the centreaisle, Thero was acry of fire in the last act, Mr. Studley, | think, in response to the cry, turned to the audience and said, ‘‘Keep quiet; there is no fire!” Then Mr, Mur- doch stepped forward, and aiter quieting the au- dience with his emphatic gestures sald, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, keep your seats; there ig no fire; it 1% all ‘mm the play!” That quieted them for a moment, and but for a moment, My companion had become excessively nervous, and looking up, said, “There is fre here; letus go!” I looked up in the flies, as my position evabled me to da 80, but saw nothing but what I took for a heavy dust reflected by the light, but nowthink it was smoke. She rose from her seat, and, pushing me off mine, started down the aisle for the door. 1 quickly fole lowed her, and this movement seemed to me to be the signal for tho whole andience to rise and start for the door. We got a httle more than half way down the aisle toward the entrance before it was choked up by those ahead; but we experienced no difficulty in getting through, On reaching the outer door of the vestibule, however, the crush from behind threw her down, and in ate tempting to raise her I fell myself, and for a moment or two we were trampled on and crushed, both sus~ taining numerous but slight bruises. She was immee diately thken to an adjoining restaurant, where thore were several thor ladics in the samo situation, some being in hysterics, She was taken home as ston ag able to go, I noticed while in the vestibule that the red glare of the fire had completely iliuminated tha atreet, and can state positively that {rom the time the first alarm was given to the time the building was blazing likea torch was not over four minutes, — STORY OF A MAN IN THE DRESS CIRCLE, Ap occupant ofa seat in the dress circle, who nar- rowly escaped with his life, tells the following story of the frigntiut position he was placed in:—When the first cry of ‘Fire!’’ rang through the house I was not alarmed, and only when the actors, who had behavod bravely, retired from the stage and the flames showed above the scenery, did I realize the extent of the con- flagration. Then that cry of ‘Fire!’ was taken up and echoed by handreds, and only one thought scemed to animate the peoplo around me, and that the suicidal one of crowding through the doorways in tumult and disorder. Once on the etairs headway wag made more rapidly, and I was about balf way down when a cry came from below that drove the uppermost back again and left the timid blundering from step to step, “For God’s sake, turn back; we cannot get out,”? wag called from tho bottom of the blocked and creaking® stairway, and immediately there was a momentary re- Jaxation of the downward pressure of the crowd. At this moment I managed to extricate myself and hur. ried back into the dress circle. The parquet below ‘was almost empty and people were dropping from tha gallery into it and lowering themselves from tier ta er, The stage was a mass of flames and the smoke was filling the anditor'um and rusbing into the corri- dors, { hurried to the front main entrance of the dress circle and there I founda mass of men and womon shrioking, shoutingand crowding madly down upon the living mass bolow. Fora while the passage scomed blocked by a boman barrier which could neither move of itself nor give way to pressure from above. Buriy men and weak women seemed alike powerless in that Gonse throng, and to aggravate the panic people at the turn of the stairs kept calling, “Go back! go back! You cannot get out this way.’’ This may have been intended to restrain the crowd above trom forcing their way down, but it had a different ef fect. People madly urged each other forward, men swore and women shricked, and to heighton the horror of the scene a volume of black smoke burst into the passage and rolled along, blinding the eyes and parch- ing the throat’ In this dreadiul moment, when the horrors of death secmed to stare those people in the face and to overshadow them like a pall, a desperate fight for lifo began. Women tainted and men tell un- der foot and were trampled down, and throagh that writhing, struggling mass, amid a tumult of cries and shrieks and groans, the lower vestibule was reached, and it was indeed a relief to find that the fire had not outstripped usas the snoutors on the stairs announced, and that the way was unimpeded. In that dreadtal rush below I do not know how many were injured, but certainly some of the poor creatures who were trouden down must have died upon the stairway where they fell. A SURVIVOR FROM THK DRESS CIRCLE, As the Hxmato representative was leaving the Morgue a gentieman was struggiing to getinat the door provided only for eyress, making a piteous appeal toa man ip blue insidoto fermit him to enter to search for a dear friend who was supposed to be among the charred remains withio. He said he was in tho theatre at the time of the firo with bis wife anda friend. They wore tn the dress circle, well away trom the door. No sooner bad he cast his eyes upon Misa Claxton, who was opon the stage when the curtain rose, than he saw flames darting up among the bor- der work. At first he thought the gas had been turned on too full, and the jets wero spurting ap in consequence, Suddenly the word ‘*Fire” rang oat from the gallery. Then a woman hastened te Miss Claxton and acted in a most excited manner, as if urging hor to get up and leave. His wife clutehed at shoulder and said, “The house is afire; let as make for the door.” In an instant he saw it was @ tua for lite, People in the betier parts of the house began aitempting to quiet the tears of the people by exclaiming, “Sit down! “Keep your seats!” &e, Buta panic had apparently occurred in the gallery. There was a terrible noise. Some could be heard Jawping from it to seal, instead of waiting to get out in the ordinary manner, Immediately the stream from inside reached tho doors there was Tho flames shot up among the scenca, beBind the coulis, and swept over yy