The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-10-19 00:00:00

THE PANIC IN A LIVERPOOL MUSIC-

HALL.

The Colosseum Music Hal], in Paradise•street,
Liverpool, was on Friday night in last week the scene
of a terrible panic, which resulted in the death of 37
persons and serious injury to many others.—The fol-
lowing particulars are given of the dreadful occur-
rence :

The ball, which was originally a Unitarian Chapel,
has accommodation for about three thousand people,
and was, as is usually the case on Friday evenings,
attended by a crowded audience, comprising, it is com-
puted by the lessee, between 4,000 and 5,000 persons.
About twenty minutes past eight o'clock, as
.Fred
Coyne, one of the vocalists engaged at the place was
on the stage singing a comic song, a fight, it is said,
occurred in a corner of the pit, immediately under the
gallery. The disturbance increased in intensity, and
as those who were taking part in it could not be seen
from every part of the house some excitement ensued,
in the course of which some one seems to have raised
the cry of "Fire !" Upon this a great stampede oc-
curred. A rush was made to the doors, and
In a few minutes a large number of people
were crushed under foot, unable to effect an exit
from the building, the doors of which seemed all
to have been closed. Although there are no less than
six available exits, the audience rushed to one, leading
into Paradise-street, and as the free passage of the
people was interfered with by an upright partition in
the centre of the doorway a complete block ensued.
Hundreds rushed down from the gallery in precipitate
haste, while others slid down the pillars on to the
heads of those in the pit. The police seeing the
seething crowd trying to emerge from the building,
endeavoured to persuade them to hold back, but in
vain. At length something like order was restored,
and the people gradually made their way out of the
main door as well as by the other exits. No less than
37 dead and large numbers of injured had been carried
out into the street. As fast as possible after being
taken out they were placed in cabs and taken
off to the Royal Infirmary; but in the necessary in-
terval which elapsed every means available for restor-
ing animation whs used under the direction of Dr.
Woraley, of Ardwick-green, Manchester, who hap-
pened to be about the theatre at the time. Crowds of
people followed the cabs to the Infirmary, and
assembled round the entrance to the insthution
watch the conveyance of the bodies into the
hall. Here they were received by Dr. Darner
Harrison, Resident Medical Office, Mr. Hodgson
and Mr. Turnem, assistant surgeons, one gentle-
man being ktold off to ascertain whether there was
life in the bodies, and the others recovering those
who were pronounced to be still living. The duties
of the latter were, unfortunately, light. Out
of 39 persons received, only six were living,
The dead were placed in a room, in a melancholy
array. The faces were in nearly every instance calm in
appearance, and the verdict of the doctors was that
death had resulted from suffocation. Few bore marks
of outward injuries, but the torn clothing indicated
how severe had been the struggle in which they had
been engaged. Three of the living were removed to
the wards for medical treatment—the other three being
able to walk away. Some of the injured were taken
to the Northern and Southern Hospitals. At the
former establishment one was received dead, and at
the latter three.

The structure of the theatre at the point where the
crush occurred is intricate. The exits converge into a
narrow well, and it was in this that the dead were col-
lected until they reached a ghastly pile six or seven
bodies deep. The upright partition before referred to
in the centre of the doorway stopped the passage until
one of the men attached to the theatre having procured
an axe, cut it away and so enabled some of the impri-
soned people to escape. A scene of the greatest excite-
ment prevailed outside the theatre. The fire-engine and
fue-escape arrived on the scene, and the firemen, join-
ing with the police, entered the building to re-
assure the people. Mr. Jacob Goodman, the manager,
upon the first alarm being given, rushed into the pit
from the entrance and shouted to the audience to
remain quiet, but his words had not the least effect on
the excited throng. There does not appear to have
been the least foundation for the panic. It was a
false alarm of fire, and the whole mischief arose from
the frantic efforts of a multitude of people striving to
escape from an imaginary danger. The people who
had not left the theatre remained while others re.
turned, but the performance was of course stopped,
and the stage and other parts of the building were
taken possession of by the police. Major Grey, the
head constable, was present, and took occasion to
warn the people against the folly of raising such
panics.

The following additional particulars have been given :

It was about half-past eight o'clock, when Mr. Fred
Coyne had reached the last verse of his song, that the
cry of "Fire !" was raised, without the slightest pre-
vious warning, and without the slightest justification
in fact. The scene that ensued was of the most
terrible description. Without waiting to see whether
there were any signs of fire about the place, the
audience immediately rose in a mass, and a terrific
rush ensued from all parts of the house to the various
exits. Mr. Coyne, who viewed the scene from
the stage, describes the people as rising up
hire a swarm of bees, and rushing to the doors. Mr.
Jacob Goodman, the manager, who was in the ticket-
box at the front entrance, on hearing the cry of
" Fire !" ran into the hall, and called to the people,
assuring them that there was no cause for alarm,
and begging them to be quiet and to resume
their seats. His assurance and request were, however,
alike entirely unheeded by the surging mass of per-
sons, who sontinued to press frantically forwards to-
wards the doors leading to the street, the greatest
rush being to the front exit leading into Paradise-
street. It was the outer end of this passage that the
severest pressure occurred and the most victims were
sacrificed. At the principal entrance in Paradise-
street, where the money-taker's box is situate, there
was up to the time of the accident a partition
dividing the stream of people entering the place
and taking their tickets for different parts of
the auditorium, and it was at this point that
the serious conseqeunces of the false alarm re-
sulted. The people crushed down the stairs pell-mell,
meeting at the narrow entrance in front of the pay
place the stream emerging from the lower part of the
hall. Being stopped in their headlong career by the
barrier, they were precipitated to the floor, and,
falling on each other, were quickly a struggling heap.
The crowd behind still continued to press on, and it
was speedily evident that many of those who were
underneath would have little, if any, chance of life.
It is probable that the loss of life at this point would
have been greater than it was except for the pro mpt
efforts of the police and the officials to clear the pas-
sage and allow the stream of people to flow out
uninterruptedly.
But this was not the only spot where mischief was
caused. This is apparent from the stories of people
within the house when the alarm was raised. One of
thesis, narratives gives a graphic account of the scene :
"When I and my ' pals ' entered the pit we found
the building as full as I ever saw it before; the pit
was crammed. All went right until Mr. Fred Coyne
had got to the last verse of his song, when I heard
some one call out 'Fire!' The alarm came from the
rear of the pit, and it was accompanied by a similar
cry of 'Fire ! ' from one of the balconies. Great con-
fusion followed the alarm. People began to scream,
and everybody got up and scrambled for the doors.
There was such a crush! I saw people jumping over
seats and sometimes over each other. A number
jumped from the galleries into the pit—one woman
sprang from above with a child in her arms, and, falling
Into the pit, her baby was killed on the spot. This
did not stop them from jumping, for I saw some hang
on to the gallery front with their hands and then drop.
I suppose they did this to avoid the crush on the stair-
cases, to which the people were rushing from all parts
of the galleries. I made my way towards a side window
at the rear of the pit. By this time the audience had
left the pit and was struggling to get out by the
entrances in that part of the building which is opposite
to the stage. So far as we could see, the gallery was
also deserted. The window I mentioned opens on to
School-lane, and is arched like a half moon. There
was a big butcher with me, and we together broke the
window frame, and it fell with the glass into the street.
Then I jumped out and alighted in the street—the dis-
tance is not far—and I was followed by, I should think,
from 50 to 80 other people. When outside I saw a lad
jump from another window and fall into the street."
Another man, after describing the first effects of the
cry of "Fire !" says :
"I rushed to get out because everybody else was
doing so. I found the doors all blocked and the police
breaking them in. They would not let us go out. I
went to another part of the building and got out. I
saw them carrying men from the place. The people
were all wedged together at the doors, but there was
no one injured in the part where I was."
The other narratives are much to the same effect;
the persons took fright because others were frightened,
and each strove to get out of the building. There is
no need to multiply testimony of this kind.

---
A succinct account of the scene from the exterior is
derived from Mr. Henry Worsley, surgeon, Man-
chester, who chanced to be in the Colosseum Spirit
Vaults, which ocaupy the ground floor of the music-
hrll, when he heard the cries of alarm. Mr. Woreley
says :
" I ran out and found at the Paradise-street door of
the theatre a mass of human beings, packed one on
top of the other like herrings in a barrel, right to the
top of the doorway. The crowd outside, in spite of
the remonstrances of the police, persisted in trying to
pull out the poor creatures who were at the bottom
but of course it was impossible to extrieate them in'
consequence of the weight upoi! them. I have no
doubt that in this manner many limbs were broken. kI
heard one man cry, Stop, stop, my leg is broken.' I
shouted to those who were on top, For God's sake, go
back, go back! There's no fire.' But the people only
crushed on the more. Nothing could be done until the
firemen arrived, and then they went in by another door
and pulled off those who were on the top. I went myself
to get out the dying and the dead. I got the police
to clear out the crowd, and then we set to work. It
was an unutterably ghastly spectacle. There were
there heaped together men, women, and children of all
ages—boys with their heads twisted under their bodies
and their necks broken. There was one man lying
there whose every joint seemed to have been put out.
I should not be surprised if it were found that some of
the victims have had their limbs dragged right off. We
first separated the dead from the dying. I tried the
pulses of those who were lying there, and those whom
I found to be dead I laid in a row on one side. The
clothes of the living I tore open, and set the police-
men to work to induce artificial respiration, showing
them the mode of manipulating the arms. As soon
Be possible I had cabs and sent the sufferers off to the
various hospitals. I had not a soul to assist me;
no other doctors could be found. I sent for gal-
vanic batteries, but could not get any. Ultimately
some lint and bandage e arrived, I think, from the In-
firmary. Many of the' injiired weretaken to the sur-
rounding shops, and there I attended them. Mr.
Griffith of the Colosseum Vaults, provided brandy
for all who required it, and by administering this
stimulant I restored consciousnors in several cases.
The cause of the accident was, I think, the jamb' in
the middle of the inner doors. These doors open in the
*addle. and between them there is an upright post. It
Was against this that the crush occurred. I cannot

say whether the doors open inside or outside. I my-
self was very roughly treated in the frantic crowd, and
am bruised all over.

Mr. Fred Coyne, one of the vocalists, says :—I was
on the stAge, and was just finishing my first song,
when I noticed a disturbance in the left corner of the
pit. I then heard a voice call out " Fire ! " and saw
the people gradually rise from their seats, and proceed
towards the doors. Afterwards I saw them rise, as if
in one mass, and sway to and fro in their efforts to get
out. It was a dreadful sight. Some rushed on to the
stage over the orchestra, which they broke to pieces,
and cried " Fire ! " as they came on. When I saw
them approach I made my exit through the stage door,
and a number of them followed me.

Robert Lindrop, aged about 20, one of the injured
taken to the Royal Infirmary, has been able to give a
pretty clear account of what happened. He stated
that he was in the pit at the time of the accident,
and heard somebody shout " Fire I " There was
then a general rush from all quarters, and
he made for the stage. He succeeded in get-
ting a young woman on the stage, and then he was
thrown off by the crowd, who trampled over him. He
also said that tne people were jumping from the
gallery. His legs were injured, and a spike on the
stage stuck in his right hand. He became unconscious
at the time, and the first thing he remembered was
some one giving him a drink of water on the stage.

On Saturday the melancholy task of identification
by the friends of those who lost their lives was pro-
ceeded with, and so far thirty-three of the thirty-
seven were recognised. In order to prevent con-
fusion, it was arranged that the identification of
the dead lying at the Royal Infirmary should not com-
mence until six o'clock on Saturday morning, but all
through the night there was a concourse of people at
the Dover-street entrance waiting for admission, and
as morning broke the crowd was augmented by many
whose friends or relatives had not been home on the
previous night. All the faces bore signs of deep sorrow or
apprehension; the men looked gloomy and haggard
with anxiety and suspense, while the women, less
self-restrained, gave vent to their tears and groans.
At six o'clock the doors were opened, and the dread
task of indentification began. Twenty-five of the
corpses were laid on the floor of the student's cloak
room, which was converted into a temporary mor-
tuary, and the remaining eight were placed under a
covered place in the yard. The spectacle of the
corpses lying in the cold, grey light of the early
morning was fearful in the extreme, for, although
the features were for the most part calmly
fixed, the limbs were stiffened into the position
they were in when death took place. The faces,
too, were all discoloured, and some were cut and
covered with blood from the wounds inflicted by
the feet of panic-stricken persons. The people were
admitted three at a time. Some very painful scenes
were witnessed; but, owing to the admirable police
arrangements, there was not the slightest disorder,
and as the bodies were identified they were labelled
and covered up with a sheet.
Up to Saturday the following had been identified :
James Barrett, 23, labourer; W. Toole, 30, painter;
Richard Haycocks, 20, striker; John Birmingham, 30,
roper; Thomas Davis, 26, seaman; Peter Melntaggart,
60, labourer; Joseph Wallburt, 16, boiler finisher;
Michael Walsh, 34, labourer; Roger Williams, 19,
joiner; George Roberts, 19, carter; John Walsh, 19,
ropemaker ; William Coffee, 30, fireman on board a
steamer; Joseph Harding, 19; William Tumilty,
23, dock labourer; Hugh Tumilty, 21, brother of
the above; Peter Brown, 21, plasterer; Francis
Mooney, 25, porter ; James Healey, 25, labourer;
John Owens, 23, whitesmith ; Maria Heron, 23, the
wife of a soldier at present in the West Indies;
Robert Stephens, 27, bookbinder; Charles Cadwal-
lader, 23, bricklayer; William Allen, 30, sailor;
Robert Welsby, 30, labourer; Michael Coyne, 32,
house painter; Annie Wilcox, 18; Moses Cowan, 33;
Michael Foley, 11; John Milton Hall, 17, printer's
apprentice; Henry Whitby, 17, klacksmith ; John
Howard, 27, labourer; John M'Donald, 25, porter.—
The above, with two or three exceptions, were resi-
dents in Liverpool.—There are eight widows and
twenty children left by the disaster.

The first estimate of the effects of the panic-crush
proved not to have been exaggerated. There were 29
dead bodies at the Royal Infirmary, two at the
Northern Hospital, and two at the Southern Hospital.
There were also a considerable number of persons in-
jured ; but it is not expected that their injuries will
prove fatal. It is not a little singular that the victims
are almost exclusively stalwart yoang men. No doubt
their strength and activity enabled them to obtain
front places in the surging crowd, and, being thrown
down, they formed the lower tier in the struggling
mass, and so perished through their own eagerness to
escape.

Mr. Clarke Aspinall, the Borough Coroner. was
away from home on Friday, but hearing of the terrible
disaster telegraped instructions to the officers of his
Court to make arrangements for opening the inquest at
once. .He arrived in Liverpool during the forenoon of
Saturday, and a special Jury having been collected
they were sworn, and the inquest was formally com-
menced at two o'clock.

The Coroner, after expressing his sense of the shocking
nature of the matter to be inquired into said it seemed to
him that the sooner they proceeded to view the bodies of
the deceased the more comforting it would be to the rela-
tives. The sooner they were away the less those relatives
would feel the pain of an intervention between them and
their mourning. What he proposed to do, therefore, was
to go to view the bodies at the various hospitals, and after-
wards to adjourn for some days, until they could hope to
enter upon the inquiry with sufficient evidence to enable
them to proceed with it without interruption. Another ad-
vantage of adjourning was that they would be more calm
and deliberate in their proceedings than at a time when
they might be distracted somewhat in feeling. He proposed
Friday as the day for entering upon the inquiry.
The Coroner and Jury then went to the Infirmary
and hospitals and viewed the bodies. They also
visited the scene of the catastrophe, which was duly
examined. The Jury having returned to the Court,
the inquest was adjourned to Friday.

In Liverpool on Sunday, both morning and evening,
various pulpit references were made to the calamity.
As an instance of the number of persons " missing "
at times in Liverpool, it may he stated that on Satur-
day nearly three thousand people visited the Royal
Infirmary, and on Sunday about three hundred, most
of them inquiring for missing Wends and relatives.

On Monday all the persons killed in the panic were
identified. Three injured men were in the infirmary, one
of whom was unconscious, and was not known. The
Mayor of Liverpool, having been appealed to respect-
ing a subscription, has intimated that, as only some
30 families are affected by the calamity, he would
make no special appeal, but would be happy to receive
subscriptions.

A demonstration was made at Liverpool on Tuesday
at the funeral of one of the victims of the fatal panic
at the Coliseum Theatre. The person, who was a sea-
man named Baines, was a member of the Royal Naval
Reserve. A detachment of thirty of the men, under
the command of Captain Thompson, of the White
Star Line, accompanied the remains from the resi-
dence to the Anfield Cemetery, a short distance out of
town, where the deceased was interred in the Church
of England section of the ground. A band, playing
"The Dead March in Saul," preceded the hearse, and
a vast concourse joined in the procession. Several
other victims were interred in the same cemetery.

Panics have occurred in places of public resort in
Liverpool four times during the present century; but
each time they have increased in the horror of the at-
tendant circumstances. Each time the number of
victims was larger. In August, 1811, a panic occurred
in St. Peter's Church, where the Bishop of Chester
was holding a confirmation service, at which 3,000 girls
were present. In this case, although many were in-
jured, nobody was killed. In 1815 a panic arose in
the Theatre Royal, when Mr. Kean was flaying
Richard 111., in which one woman was killed. The
last accident of the kind in Liverpool of a serious nature
was a panic at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, when 15
persons were killed on January 23, 1870.