THE CATASTROPHE AT VIENNA.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR." J
SIR,—In your article, " The Catastrophe in Vienna," you say, "But in Europe no conflagration that we can recall, in a single
building, has claimed even a tenth of that number of victims," —i.e., of the loss in Santiago.
In the year 1835 or 1836, I cannot recall the exact date, there was an accident in St. Petersburg nearly as calamitous as that of the Ring Theatre, in Vienna. It occured at " Lehmann's " temporary theatre. Lehmann's pantomime was the favourite resort of the vast crowds that make holiday daring the Carnival and Easter ; and his " balagan," or booth, the largest of the flimsy wooden structures 'erected at that season on the Isaacs Plain, was always crowded. It must have contained, at least, 700 or 800 people, nearly all of whom perished in an incredibly short space of time. The fire burned so furiously that numbers must have been actually burnt alive. There was but one outlet or entrance, and this, locked from the inside during the per- formance, was so blocked up by the panic-stricken audience, that it was impossible to open it. The few people who escaped owed their lives to two carpenters in the crowd who succeeded in tearing off some planks from the outside. These men were taken up by the police ! It is almost needless to add that the Government used every effort to hush up the horrible truth, and to minimise the loss of life, which was reported at " about 500"; no one was allowed to approach the spot till every trace of the calamity had been obliterated, but I have a very keen remembrance of the awe-stricken crowds who watched from a distance the long and horrible process of removing the dead bodies.
It is to the credit of the Emperor Nicholas, that the two carpenters were liberated and rewarded by his direct inter-
position.—I am, Sir, &c., ALEXR. WISIIAW. 5 Park; field Road, Liverpool, December 20th.
This was the catastrophe, we believe, in which a sentry stood to be roasted alive, because he had not been relieved.—En. Spectator.]
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