Fire Brigade were called to an outbreak of fire in the "Great World" at the corner of Avenue Edward VII and the Boulevard de Montigny. It seems to have started in a room occupied by the electric mechanics, and when the alarm was given a panic threatened among the habitues of the place. For a moment a rush for the doors seemed about to take place, but the police who were immediately on the scene, calmed the crowd, and trouble was averted. With the announcement that the outbreak was in a distant part of the building, the incident passed without further danger. Ae the outbreak was quelled within about a quarter of an hour, the "Great World" made an effort to resume its normal aspect, but as the dynamo which supplies the electric light had suffered from water, the illumination was not quite the same usual.
The danger of inexperienced persons attempting to deal with a fire such as this, in the closest proximity to electric currents, was illustrated by the experience of a policeman. He was one of the first on the scene, and anxious to do whatever was possible to extinguish the blaze, turned on a jet of water. From out the transformer smoke appeared to be issuing, and playing his hose thereupon he received so sharp an electric shock that he promptly abandoned his enterprise.
The damage done was comparatively little, but it may be some time before the lighting apparatus, on which depends the cinematograph and the more elaborate of the illuminations, is in working order again.
An unfortunate accident attended the turnout of the Fire Brigade from the station in Avenue Joffre. A young Chinese fireman in attempting to mount one of the engines while in motion, slipped and fell under one of the wheels.
Death was instantaneous.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.