Foreign News: In Theatreland

The Petrograd Opera House,was destroyed by fire and “many were killed and more injured.” The dress of one of the performers caught fire and the flames spread to the scenery. The safety curtain was loweredimmediately, but not before the audience was seized with panic and the damage done.

Like most despatches from Russia, this one is annoyingly vague. The number of killed and wounded is not given, neither is any reference made as to which of the two opera houses was burnt. If it was the Marinsky, Russia lost one of her greatest treasure troves, for in it were some of the greatest of Russian art masterpieces. The other house is called Narodny Dom and was completed just before the war.