On the 4th of May 1911, the beloved pet dog of a famous magician passed away while he was on tour in Edinburgh, Scotland. The man known as the great Lafayette was distraught. He arranged for his canine companion to be embarmed and buried with great ceremony and told those around him with awful certainty that without his beloved pet, he himself would surely not live much longer.
In this case, as it transpired, the great Lafayette was horrifyingly correct. The man who would go on to become the great Lafayette was born in Munich in 1871. Sigman Newberger started his entertainment career in Vaudeville in the United States in 1884.
At the time, Vaudeville was one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the US with theaters hosting variety shows with as many as a dozen different performers who specialized in anything from dance to singing to magic. Sigman's first act was a demonstration of skillful and dramatic shooting with a bow and arrow. He made a living off it, but did not achieve great fame until later in life.
Inspired by Chinese magician Ching Lling Fu, an extremely high-profile performer of the time, he began to incorporate magical effects and conjuring into his routines. Over time, his act grew into something unique. Magic and illusion were important elements in all his shows, but they were mixed with elaborate staging and showstoppping acts of skill.
He was particularly known for his ability to disappear from one part of the stage and appear elsewhere or otherwise to quickly and seamlessly change costumes. One of his most famous acts, for example, was a recreation of the coronation of King Edward IIIth in which he played every single part himself. The great Lafayette's unique acts soon started drawing attention and he developed a huge following both in America and in the UK.
He traveled between the two countries performing soldout show after soldout show. The money rolled in and he found himself living a life of luxury. This life was shared with one other, his dog, Beauty.
Beauty was a mongrel terrier upon whom Sigund lavished attention and affection. The dog had been a gift to him from the famed magician and escapologist Harry Houdini, a mark of the great friendship and respect between the two showmen. Beauty lived a charmed life, especially considering the lot of many dogs in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Beauty was fed the finest food available, being treated most evenings to a five course meal prepared by a professional chef. She had her own bedroom, a diamond encrusted collar, and a golden bowl to drink from. To save her paws, the dog was wheeled around in a specially built cart and had a comfortable seat reserved for her in Sigman's car.
This was useful, as she went everywhere with the magician, and sometimes even played a part in his shows. Sigund did not wish ever to be parted from his pet. A quote often attributed to him and which he had engraved on a plate that he displayed in his home was, "The more I see of man, the more I love my dog.
" Unfortunately, on the 1st of May 1911, Beauty fell ill. The great Lafayette was visiting Edinburgh in Scotland at the time, where he was due to perform at the Empire Palace Theater. Sparing no expense, the magician hired a local doctor and several nurses to tend to his beloved pet.
But Beauty was 15 years old, a ripe old age for a dog, and additionally had spent many of those years indulging in extremely rich, fatty, and plentiful foods. She was not in good health, and her condition only worsened despite all the care she was given. On the 4th of May, Beauty passed away.
Sigund was distraught. The dog had been the main object of his affection, and her loss left him bereff. As he had done when she was alive, though he insisted on only the best for her.
She was embarmed at a local funeral parlor, where he would visit her body every day until she could be buried. And when it came to the burial plot, Sigman insisted that she be interred in one of the city's finest cemeteries. This was ordinarily something that would never be allowed, as only human burials were permitted in most graveyards.
However, Sigman was willing to spend lavishly to secure a spot for his pet, and after putting down £300, was able to secure a plot in Edinburgh's Pierce Hill Cemetery, with the one condition that when he eventually passed away himself, he would also be buried there. Beauty was put to rest, and still grieving, the great Lafayette went on with his planned run of shows at the Empire Palace Theater in Edinburgh. The loss of his pet weighed heavily on him, though, and during some shows, members of the audience reported that he had been seen shaking with grief.
Privately behind the scenes, Sigman insisted that without Beauty, he would not himself live much longer. On the 9th of May, 1911, less than a week after Beauty's death, one of the final shows of the run took place at the Empire Theater. The first half went well and the show progressed towards its climax, a 25-minute piece known as The Lion's Bride.
It was an elaborate end to the show featuring a story about a kidnapped princess who is almost thrown to a hungry lion. To realize this story, a real life horse and a real life lion would be brought on stage. And in front of the eyes of a soldout audience of 3,000, the great Lafayette would magically switch places with the lion and save the princess from an untimely death.
For this spectacle, the stage was decked out with elaborate hangings and many flickering lanterns, as well as multiple other performers in period costume. As the illusion began, however, one lantern set fire to a dangling piece of fabric, creating a plume of flame above the stage. The audience, who expected jaw-dropping special effects and illusions, gasped and applauded, not realizing that this wasn't an intended part of the show.
Following many devastating theater fires throughout history, the Empire Theater was, of course, equipped with a durable and functioning fire curtain. As the fire spread, this was dropped into place, separating the stage from the audience. Unfortunately, the curtain jammed just a few feet short of the stage floor, leaving a gap.
This gap acted like a chimney, allowing air to be sucked in to feed the growing fire. Thus, the fire on stage rapidly worsened, although the safety curtain did shield the audience from most of the effects of smoke and flame. The live band struck up a rendition of the national anthem to keep everyone calm, and patrons were told to evacuate in an orderly fashion.
Within minutes, all 3,000 audience members had vacated the theater. There were no serious injuries and no loss of life amongst the audience. Behind the scenes, however, it was a rather different story.
There were multiple exits from the back of stage area, but in order to protect the secrets that underpinned his act, and due to concerns about the lion escaping, Sigman had insisted that these be securely locked during each performance. With the stage blocked by smoke, flame, and the partially lowered curtain, dozens of people backstage were now trapped. Sigment himself managed to escape through one of very few unlocked exits.
But moments after doing so, he realized that his horse was still inside and he ran back into the building to try and rescue the animal. He was unsuccessful. Fire ravaged the theater.
In the blaze, Sigman Newberger, the lion, the horse, and 10 members of his company were killed. The theater itself was severely damaged by smoke and flames. Once the flames had been brought under control, workers searched the ruins for bodies.
They found several, including what they believed to be the body of the great Lafayette himself. He was taken to a local funeral home and cremated, only for workers to discover the real body of the magician beneath the stage the next day. The first person they had found had been Sigman's body double, attired and made up to look like the magician as part of the show.
The remains of the real Sigman Newberger were cremated in turn, and he was taken with great ceremony to the graveyard where his faithful pet was already buried. Nearly a quarter of a million people lined the route to see the great magician being taken to his final resting place. The ern containing his ashes was placed between beauty's paws and a striking white marble marker was placed at top the burial plot.
The 10 stage hands, assistants, musicians, and performers who had died in the fire were also buried. These funerals took place across the country and often attracted large crowds who had heard of and been moved by the tragedy. 15-year-old Alice Dale, who had played the part of a mechanical teddy bear in the show, and her understudy, 12-year-old Joseph Coats, were taken home to Sheffield to be buried.
Their small coffins were escorted to a cemetery there, while 10,000 people lined the streets to mourn them. These scenes were repeated across the country as the coffins of those who had died in the fire were delivered home by train. In the aftermath of this disaster, it became the accepted norm to test a theat's safety curtain at least once before each performance by raising and lowering it to ensure that it will not jam if needed.
This standard, adhered to by most theaters in the UK, is sometimes referred to as the Lafayette bill, although there is no indication that it has been written into law. The Empire Theater was restored and rebuilt as the Festival Theater, an institution that continues to entertain audiences of thousands to this day. Some people who work there have occasionally reported sightings of a figure they believe to be the ghost of the great Lafayette.
He is remembered still as a great magician and showman. His death a part of the history of a longunning theater. His grave still maintained within the cemetery of the city where he, his beloved dog, and 10 of his colleagues and crew lost their lives.
