The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1860-10-02 00:00:00

SHOCKING tXII7I:RENcE AT STOCKPORT.

slx Lirrs

On Monday ceasing the 24th ult., a little After eight
o'clock, • shocking cataxtroplie took place at Stockport.
by ohich six i.erSoll4 were killed, and in oilisequenee of
which six others had to he taken to the infirmary, wine
of whose lives are placed in grcat danger.
The tairough had ;wren en fete all day in conseptentroof
a great ceremony at the new people's park, the Vertion-
park, of the opening of which thin was the second ann'-
versary. The ceremony was the Lying a foundat.
stone .1 a new Gothic tower in the park. .Ifter this
ceremony, which took place at the eastern extremity of
the borough, there VIM a hobnail ascent in the afternoon,
in the market-pkee. about • lode and a half to the west
of it, and near the Lancashire boundary of the town,
form.' by the titer Mersey. In the evening there W*4
, • pyrotechnic display in the market-place, which brought
together an Monett.e concourse of people,--sunie say
nearly 20.000. The market-place, which is on a hill ot
considerable elevation, is about 100 yards long and about
I 50 yards in width, having the parish church (:it. Mary's)
at the eastern, and the market-house at time western
end. The sides are enclosed by shops. At the junction
of little Undertook with Hilleute (which is the old ameh
road to Loudon) ii a narrow, steep street ascending into
I the market-bowie, which is called Meal-house-brow.
Looking down Meal-house-brow from the market, place
it ma easy to conceive that it is a dangerous place in the
event of a cried of people deacending it. The gradient
in about one in '35, it the width of this greet is rather
leas than five yards at the entrance, including a fiagway
on either side, each of which is lean than twenty inches
in width. It is • little wider near the middle, and
curves sharply to the left. The pavement consists of
Welsh sets, which was well worn and rather slippery.
It was down this narrow way from the market-place, at
the close of the pyrotechnic display, thatsonie thousauda
of people began to hurry homewards, and the result was
that 1401110 of those in front being thrown down, others
fell over them, and the crowd beltied passed over their
bodies and trampled them to death. An eye-witness I
says that it was impoomible wholly to stem the tide when
it had once begun to flow. Sonia gallant attempts were
mosaic by men whose sympathica were deeply muved by ,
the imminent peril in which women anal children were
placed, and now and then they succeeded, if not in stop-
ping. in turning the stream oh people a little on either
side while someone WIN picked up,but the weight of such
a mats of human being. down au steep a descent was very
great, and the risk of those who attempted to amiat the
uufortunate was also very great. Meantime the cries of
those who were overborne and being trodden to death
WM heartrending. Fortunately the length of the
dement is leas than 70 yards, and the bulk of the people
had rushed onwards in 10 minute., or many more lives
might have been sacrificed.
The following is a list of the killed and wounded :
Killed.—Johu 'Thomas Gosling, aged seven years, of I
Haselgruve ; Sabrina Ford, aged seven, Crook's-court, '
Lonl-street, Sloe kport ; George Linney, aged 21, Crow-
ther-street, Hillgate. Stockiort, • mill hand ; Mrs.
Wilkinson, aged 30, Lord-street; Mrs. Brown, Howard-
street, Klstreet, wife of a sawyer ; George Worth-
ington. • eight months. nephew of Mrs. Brown.
Wounded—The following were taken to t:le in-
firmary :—Lettice Wiliam, aged 15, of Fortwood-strect.
concussion of the brain, likely to be fatal ; James Bath,
aged 14; Heaton Norris, concussion of the brain. amt in
a very dangerous state ; John Nixon, aged 16, Hazel-
grove, right thigh fractured ; Sophia Brown, aged 5,
Howard-street, fracture of the right kg ; Walter Ford.
aged 50, father of Sabrina Ford, who is among the
killed, contusion of the chest.
Several other persons were more or less injured, but
not no as to need medical aid. A great 1114/11y lost their
purses and articles of clothing, but some of them were
recovered on spplicatiou at the police-Office yesterday.