SCENES IN A BURNING THEATRE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2438, 1 March 1909, Page 2

SCENES IN A BURNING THEATRE.

PANIC ON THE STAGE. "With flames roaring above them, 1400 people calmly marched out of the Herald Square Theatre, Now York, into a raging snowstorm while the orchestra -played cheerful music. Everyone is, praising the management- of the Theatre, to whose presence of mind is duo the averting of a serious disaster. It .was not till nearly the end of the performance—a popular musical comedy'—that a fire in tho front‘part of the building was discovered. Miss Bessie McCoy was singing her final song. The manager directed the fireproof curtain to be lowered and the orchestra to proceed as though .the performance was at an end. The audience, which included Mr Reginald Vanderbilt and Mrs Vanderbilt and other notabilities, reached the street a few moments before tho roof fell. _ '- Behind tho curtain panic reigned supreme. Miss Bessie McCoy and a dozen of the chorus girls' fainted on the stage and had to bo carried out. They and 50 other members of the company, who rushed into the snowstorm in their stage costumes, lost all their belongings, including their week’s salary. The “bathing girls,” a popular feature of the play, made a pitiable sight as they stood in the street shivering in their scanty clothing. The front portion of the theatre was entirely wrecked. The damage is estimated at £9OOO.