The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-06-23 00:00:00

A SADDENING SPECTACLE.

The Daily News, in a descriptive account, says :
The scene inside baffles all description. The chil-
dren were laid out in rows terrible to behold, many
with their faces blackened, though cold in death.
Their cheeks were swollen, their lips parched; and
the tears of those beholding them could not be
restrained. As parents were let in and out and
identified their children their shrieks were terrible
to hear. In some cases they fell upon their dead
children, clasping them in their arms, and cried
over them. In many instances the mothers swooned
away, and had to be carried aside, where others
sought to restore and console them. The sight
outside the hall was appalling. Men were to be
seen carrying away in their arms the dead bodies
of their children with a white cloth over their faces.
The children had been examined and found lifeless
before they were given up to their parents or relatives.
At the front entrance of the hall every few minutes a
parent or a friend carried out a dead body and got into
a cab which drove them to their residence. As cab
after cab drove off, the occupants with their dead
children on their knees showed signs of great grief ;
and in cases where mothers had come to identify their
little ones the spectacle was heartrending. As some
came out others wept and implored to be allowed in-
side the building, and the police endeavoured in the
kindest manner to help those seeking for their chit-
dren.
On inspecting the place where the disaster had oc-
curred on the stairs there still remained the clothes,
bonnets and caps of at least 50 of the poor boys and
girls who had been suffocated two hours previously. In
the lobby below at this time two dead bodies of boys
were lying on the table awaiting removal by their
relations or friends. Stepping into the hall area, five
rows of corpses were laid out, the number by this
time reaching about 60, many having already been re-
moved upstairs at the back of the dress circle.
Upon the floor at the west side of the dress circle was a
long row of 20 corpses, nearly all girls; and on the east
side there were 21 boys laid out dead. Judging
from the appearance .of these, their ages varied from
five to thirteen. Looking along the different rows in
the hall below some dreadful evidences of the sad
nature of the event were to be seen. In the first
row only two bodies, both of girls about eight or
nine years of age, remained; the other children who
hr..d been depositcd here having all been iden-
tified and removed. In thn second row the first
body was that of is little boy, about six years old,
his face slightly discoloured. Next to him was
a lad whose face was terribly swollen and blackened;
and then came three girls, the first about nine, the
second about five, and the third about seven, all
bearing signs of suffocation. A little space, and
then two girls about eleven and six respectively were
placed together, the next bodies after these being those
of two boys, one about six and the other five years of
age. In the third row the first was a little girl about
five, then a boy about six with his hands crossed in
front, then a girl of eleven or twelve, whose clothes
had apparently been torn off in the struggle that had
taken place, her remains being covered with a brown
apror. After a short interval were three children,
two girls and a boy, of about five or six. Then came
a little girl, with her face dreadfully blackened. Her
sufferings had evidently been intense, and blood
had flowed from her left ear. Next to these, in the
same row, were seven bodies, five boys and two girls,
all with one exception bearing traces of having died a
horrible death. The exception referred to was a boy,
whose face was white and placid, and very different
from the swollen and darkened countenances of the
bodies on each side of him. At the end of the row
lay a girl about nine years of age, whose face was
painfully swollen and distorted. Many bodies had
been removed from the fourth row, but there still
remained eleven corpses, mostly boys. One little
fellow of five years of age, lying at the end, had his
jacket torn from his back; his vest was torn open
in front, and his mouth was cut and bleeding. Next
to him lay a boy very black, but otherwise IGoking
very composed. Then came five dead bodies, one poor
boy in the group being a dreadful picture, his face
being black, his mouth bleeding, and his clothes had
been torn in the struggle. It must have been a
dreadful death struggle by those poor children. It
was afterwards noted that the boy just referred to
was one of the last four to be identified. In the centre
of the batch was an affecting spectacle, saddening to
behold. It was the corpse of a little fellow who could
not have been more than four years of age. He had on
a top coat much too big for him; his little face was
white and almost unmarked, appearing to be simply
asleep. On looking close, there was a bruise on his
right eyelid. He looked quite composed, and did not
appear to have suffered beyond the slight blow or
whatever had caused the discoloured eyelid. Two
others of this group bore plain traces on their counten-
ances of a severe attempt to free themselves from
the deadly crush above them. The last of this group
was a girl of eight or nine years of age, whose
clothes were torn to some extent. A short dis-
tance further were four more bodies—three girls
and one boy, the boy being about six, and the
girls evidently about five, seven, and nine years,
one of the latter having a blackened appearance. In
the fifth row, partly removed, were two girls about
eight years of age, one of whom was in a dreadful
state, her knees being covered with blood. The other
was a taller girl of about thirteen years of age; and
then, after a short interval, were five bodies, all of
whom but one were boys, and all of whom were more
or less blackened and discoloured.