Other Historical Fires

 

Another scene of a horrifying fire in a nightclub occurred on April 23, 1940 at an African-American club known as the Rhythm Night Club in Natchez, Mississippi. Ironically, this wooden one-floor structure previously served as a church, then a blacksmith’s forge before finally the nightclub in question. The club was rocking to the sounds of Walter Barnes and His Royal Criolians, an orchestra out of Chicago, that night.  The windows of the club had been boarded over for two reasons, both of which were designed at discouraging freeloaders; the first was to prevent anyone who didn’t pay from catching glimpses of the show and the second was so that anyone hanging around outside the club wouldn’t be able to hear the music emanating from within without paying admittance. The club was decorated with Spanish moss, making for a material that would light-up and spread quickly.  

When a fire broke out in front of the only door outside of the club, the Spanish moss carried the flames across the venue and quickly sealed the fate of the 209 individuals that lost their lives that night.  The moss also produced a flammable methane gas, furthering the fire and leaving the building burnt to the ground within an hour’s time. The majority of the victims expired due to smoke inhalation as well as the accumulation of body traffic trying desperately to make it through the flames at the one exit. Included in the fatalities was the Orchestra leader, Barnes as well as nine other members of his band.  There was great speculation over the cause of the fire.  At first it was believed to have been intentionally set with suspects arrested and later released when the remnants of the fire began to point to a cigarette that wasn’t properly disposed as its cause.

 

The scene of the fire is now home to a museum commemorating the disaster.