The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-11-08 00:00:00

A

APPALLING PANIC AT A

being raised rushed down the stairs, but afterwards
he rmembered nothing more until he found himself
in a doctor's shop. Agnes MacMillan was also in the
gallery when the panic occurred. She ran down
several landings, but fell before she reached the pay-
box, and people trampled upon her. Helen Gallacher,
accompanied by her little sister, made for the gallery
door when the shouts of fire were raised. She fell,
but a man picked her up; she could not extricate one
of her legs for the crush, and she lost sight of her
wlao was one of the killed.

David Logan said: The spectators seemed highly
delighted with the performance, but when the
youngest of the Eugenes ascended to the highest
trapeze bar to prepare for his dive into the net, there
was silence, the people waiting with bated breath for
the leap. Just as the acrobatwas about to dive down
I head a shout of " Fire ! 'which was taken up by
many throughout the whole house. Looking up to the
gallery and down to the pit, I saw that everybody
appeared to be excited, and a general rush was made
for the doors. At this moment the net gave a dip,
and then I discovered a man had jumped into it,
while the Eugenes had by this time reached the
stage. As I turned away to acquaint Mr. Mackay
with what had occurred, for I knew he was down-
stairs, I observed several men drop from the
gallery into the net. When I reached the
main entrance which leads to the balcony and
stalls I was crushed by a crowd of young people
jumping over the wooden barricade to get out. Run-
ning round to the gallery and pit stair I was met
with the rush of people. Indeed there was a fair
"jam up," and I succeeded in extricating a little boy
who I believe was dead, and I carried him to the
London-street doctor. I should state that this boy
was squeeced between two men who I believe are
among the injured. Where the block occurred there
is an iron gate, and it could swing either way. There
is an iron bolt in the gate, but it is never put into the
hole in the stone for the reason that it cannot be put
in owing to the bolt being stiff. Though the gate
was wide open, yet the crowd seemed to be blocked
through many having stumbled, and I therefore
assisted the manager in relieving the crush by
pulling the panic-stricken people through the pay-
box.

_
One of the audience states: As the weather was
very boisterous outside, I entered the Star Theatre
shortly before nine o'clock, taking a seat in the dress
circle. There was a full house. ---When the Eugenes
were engaged in their performance, I was with others
near a man who was under the influence of drink,
who persisted in having a seat in the balcony,
though he had originally taken his place in the dress-
circle behind. To my utter amazement, he began to
shout "Fire, fire "and I wondered had he noticed
fire, and others not seen it. Like the rest of the
audience, I naturally became alarmel, but not
seeing any signs of tire I did not make
a rush for the doors, as all in the balcony and circle
were doing. I noticed that the man who shouted fire
rushed out with the crush. Immediately several
persons jumped from the gallery into the net, and
some man's leg went right through the ropework, and
,he lost his boot. The cries of distress from the
gallery and pit stairs were now something fearful. As
the greater portion of the people had now vacated the
theatre I made for the extt, and the spectacle here
was terrible. Men were llting the dead and assist-
ing the injured, while the steps were strew with
ribbons, hats, socks, and shawls; but I did not see a
drop of blood, the killed having been suffocated and
trampled upon.
Mr. R. S. Mackay, acting manager of the Star
Theatre and brother of the lessee, stated that the
acrobatf, " The Marvellous Eugenes," (had been per-
forming on the trapeze for about seven minutes. It
was close upon nine o'clock. He was in the pay-box,
and heard a most unusual noise or stampede down the
gallery stair and at the exit of the pit. The people
from the pit and gallery met upon the same landing
' near the pay-box. He rushed out of the office door and
saw Mr. Jewson, the assistant manager, trying to keep
some boys in the pit from jumping over the barricade
into the stalls. He tried to face the crush, but was
driven Inck against the office door by the crowd, who
were coming down the balcony, rushing out of the pit
into the balcony entrance. He then heard cries of
"Fire." He hurried to the stage, but could not get
forward. He next endeavoured to get out of the pay-
box window into the landing already referred to. He
saw this was a vain hope, as the people were pouring
down in great numbers and falling the one on the
other. He observed that a great many had reached
the street, making their exit into Watson-lane. After
the " block "he pulled between twenty and thirty
persons through the pay-box window, and in
that way they escaped the crush. The whole affair
did not take more than fifteen minutes.

A similar disaster happened in Glasgow in 1847
when there was an alarm of fire in the Old Theatre
Royal, Dunlop-street. That alarm was also a false
one but notwithstanding a crowd rushed down the
gallery stairs, where they were kept back by a shut
door, and frem fifty to sixty perished. It is affirmed
that the Star Theatre was one of those theatres with
the exits of which the Lord Dean of Guild was not satis-
fied, and it was in the contemplation of the lessee to
construct an additional stair from the gallery instead
of haling the pit and gallery audiences going down
the same stairs.

Another accoemt adds :—When the alarm of fire
was given the audience were watching in breathless
silence the preparations of one of the athletes for the
crowning feat of his performance, a somewhat
Perilous jump from the gallery into a net stretched
Over the stalls. The alarm, therefore, was heard all
over the theatre, and the response of the audience
was thrillingly prompt. In a moment, as it seemed,
the cry was taken up in terror-stricken accents, and
the people began to rush towards the doors. At this
trying moment the officials of the theatre rushed on to
the stage and shouted that the alarm was a false one
and implored the people to keep their seats. Their as-
surances, and, perhaps, more than that, their appear-
ance on the stage, arrested the movement of those in
the stalls and balcony, who, after a moment's irreso-
lution, reseated themselves. Unfo-tunately, however,
the tumult and excitement caused by the panic rush
of the people in the pit and gallery, and the terror
evoked by the sight of a number of men and boys
jumping from the gallery into the net already re-
ferred to, prevented the warning voice, penetrating
beyond the stalls and balcony, and nothing could be
clone to check the terrible rush. The staircase from
the gallery was sft. wide, with six landings. On the
sixth landing was the door leading to the pit, and it
was at this spot that the fatal block took place.
The two living streams met, only to be mixed in
one struggling and shrieking mass; and such
was the fearful crush in that confined space that
experts declared themselves astonished that the
casualties did not amount b at least a hundred.
Indeed, an opinion is freely expressed that many
scores of persons other than those now in the in-
firmary must have been injured. All the bodies of
the dead presented a sickening spectacle, death in
each case having evidently resulted from crushing and
suffocation. A man whose name Pots not yet been
ascertained reeeived a terrible fright, 'end shock to the
system, and his case is regarded/by the doctors as
serious. All the killed and injured belong to the
poorer class, chiefly owing to the fact that the theatre
is situated in the heart of a district densely peopled
by labourers, and was built expressly with the purpose
of affording cheap amusement for the working classes.
The Lord Provost of Glasgow, the Procurator
Fiscal, and Captain M'Call visited the scene of the
disaster on Sunday. The building gives terrible
evidence of the fearful struggle for life that had taken
place. The barricade dividing the pit from the stalls
was completely torn down, while the seats in the
stalls were smashed literally into matchwood. On
the alarm the crowd rushed right for the stage, and,
as a result, the orchestra is almost a total wreck,
while the gasflttings in front of the stage are com-
pletely destroyed. The Lord Provost and other
authorities were satisfied that the iron gate close to
the landing where so many lost their lives was open
at the time of the disaster. Large crowds visited the
outside of the building, and the throng was equally
great at the Royal Infirmary, for the purpose of
ascertaining the state of the injured

At a meeting of the Town Council on Monday the
Lord Provost read the following telegram he had
received from Captain Bigge, Balmoral, dated 2.20

"The Queen is much shocked at the news of the
terrible accident at the Star Theatre. Please express
her Majesty's deep sympathy with the mourners
and injured. Kindly report as to the state of the
latter."

The Lord Provost said he believA he might ex-
press the deep sense of gratification felt by the
Council on account of the kind interest taken in the
sufferers by her Majesty.

Very few new facts relating to the catastroplirn imve
transpired, although the authorities are busily engaged
in making the customary examinations. Mr. IWKay,
lessee of the hall, has offered, subject to the approval
of the relatives, to bury the dead at big own expense.
He is also starting a relief fund for the necessitous
bereaved. The bodies have been removed from the
Central Police Mortuary, the cause of death having
been certified.

_
In the forenoon of Monday, James Turner, clerk, a
Canadian, about 29 years of age, was placed at the
bar of the Central Police-court, Glasgow, on the
charged of having wantonly raised the false alarm of
fire which led to the panic. He is a respectably
dressed man of slight build. He seems to feel with
considerable keenness the position in which he was
placed, and glanced round the almost empty court-
room with some manifestations of apprehension. On
the charge being stated by the procurator fiscal, the
stipendiary magistrate, in a formal manner, remitted
the prisoner to a higher tribunal. During the day
large numbers of precognitions were submitted to the
procurator fiscal,, with- a view of enabling him to
d.:ternaine the nature of the charge to be laid against
the prisoner. The story runs that he, being refused
a seat in the front of the balcony or dress circle by
some of the officials who knew him as an ex-employe
who had been dismissed in consequence of areduction
of the staff, planted himself in a passage between two
divisions of seats, and deliberately shouted "Fire !
several times.
Some of the persons injured in the panic persist in
their statement that the iron bar gate across the stair-