"'Hurry to the door for your lives; the stage is afire!' THE STAMPEDE BEGINS. "It hardly needed these words of warning to perfect the demoralization which had seized upon the terrified crowd. The stampede had already commenced; the work of death had been inaugurated. "Those who escaped, and with whom the _Times_ reporter had the good fortune to talk, on last evening, say that the detail of the horrors of that scene would defy description. One or two of these informants were so far down in the dress circle that they saw the whole of the catastrophe and measured its horrible magnitude as best they could under the excitement that prevailed. How they escaped is more than they could tell, but they found themselves borne along, lifted and pushed forward till the door was reached, and the outside and safety gained. They describe the scene inside the theater as ONE OF STUPENDOUS HORRORS. "The affrighted audience, rising from their seats, began simultaneously to attempt to reach the means of egress. Timid females raised their hands to heaven, shrieked wild, despairing cries and fell to be trampled into eternity by the heels of the wild rushing throng. Mothers pleaded piteously in the tumult and the roar that their darling daughters might be spared, while they themselves were resigned to the fate which was inevitable. Stout men with muscles of iron and cheeks blanched with terror clasped wives and sweethearts to their breasts and CURSED AND BLASPHEMED, and piteously prayed--the one that their progress was impeded, the other to those who, like them, prayed for a safe deliverance, but who were unable to afford the slightest assistance. "Meanwhile the flames had eaten their way to the front, and with one fell swoop licked up the combustible drop curtain, spread themselves across the proscenium and were working up towards the ceiling. Reaching this point the destroying element seemed to pause a moment as though pitying the position of the puny individuals who were fleeing its approach, and then remorselessly swept down in forked fury and pierced venom. The terror-stricken crowd felt the hot breath of the monster and surged and swayed and tried to escape its fury. DEAD BODIES FOUND. "The corpses recovered were, as has been before stated, taken to the street, removed two blocks away from the scene of the disaster, and, for the time being, laid out upon the pavement, awaiting the recognition of friends. Fathers and mothers, who in the tumult of the stampede had become separated from children; husbands who, despite their efforts, had felt themselves torn away from wives; friends who had been SUDDENLY AND FOREVER PARTED