The Kentucky Gazette

A Ballet Girl Burnt at the Stake.

[From the London Telegraph.]

An inquest has been held at Sheffield, on the body of the poor ballet girl, Alma Oldale, who met her death under the wretchedest circumstances, through a fire which occurred during the performances of a pantomime at the Sheffield Theater, on the 28th of December last. The unfortunate deceased was only eighteen years of age, and was engaged to enact the part of an "extra" or "flying lady" in the transformation scene of the pantomime. She was suspended from the flies, standing on a piece of iron, and strapped to an iron rod at her back. The gauze curtains at the wing, from some unknown cause, caught fire, and were blown by a current of cold air toward the deceased; her muslin skirts—she had on beside only a single garment!—were at once enveloped in flames, and it was stated at the inquest that two minutes elapsed before she could be lowered to the stage. Being strapped to the iron rod, she was, of course, utterly powerless, and between such a fate and being burnt alive at the stake we are unable to discern any material difference. Alma Oldale appears to have undergone the process of roasting with remarkable courage, but her nervous system was entirely shattered by the shock she had sustained, and, after lingering for a few days, the poor creature died.