BURNING OF THE
Brooklyn Theatre.
A
Thrilling Personal Experience!
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Brooklyn’s Horror.
WHOLESALE HOLOCAUST AT THE BROOKLYN,
NEW YORK, THEATRE,
ON THE
NIGHT OF DECEMBER 5TH, 1876.
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Three Hundred Men, Women and Children
BURIED IN THE BLAZING RUINS!
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ORIGIN, PROGRESS AND DEVASTATION
OF THE FIRE.
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The Tragedy in the Galleries—A Wedge of Death—Into a Pit of Fire—Harrowing
Scenes and Incidents—Affecting and Exciting Stories of
Survivors—Two Actors among the Victims—The Ghastly
Array of the Disfigured Dead—Heartrending Scenes
in Identifying the Remains—Complete List of
the Victims—Burial of the Dead.
PHILADELPHIA:
BARCLAY & CO., PUBLISHERS,
No. 21 NORTH SEVENTH STREET.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by
BARCLAY & CO.,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
BURNING OF THE BROOKLYN
THEATRE.
THE destruction of the Brooklyn Theatre, on the night of Tuesday,December the 5th, was the most terrible calamity of its kind thathas occurred in this country. What was first deemed to be an ordinaryfire, naturally involving serious financial loss to the owners, thelessees and the actors, was really a catastrophe of the most heartrendingcharacter, 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 themost stony-hearted were touched by the awfulness of this great calamity.
Three hundred human beings of both sexes and of all ages were thrust intoeternity through an agonizing and painful death. They were thus doomed at amoment of pleasure and mental excitement over the mimic troubles of the dramaticpersonages in a play possessing features that touched the hearts of thosewho followed the scenes on the stage. At a moment when every eye was fixedon the painted scene, and every ear strained on the utterances of the severalcharacters, the dreadful cry of “Fire!” was raised, and, in a few momentsafter, the entire building was filled with flame and smoke, and hundreds ofmen, women and children were suffocated and burned to death, and theircharred and disfigured remains buried beneath the ruins.
Such is the simple and terse record of this most dreadful occurrence, andthese few sentences afford such outline and visible form to the picture that itscarcely needs the shocking details that necessarily follow to give it colorand ghastliness. That so much horror should attend the burning of a theatresent a thrill of pain through every heart in the land. The full scope of thecalamity and the dreadful scenes attending it are depicted in the accountsthat 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 twelvehundred people from their