The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-02-07 00:00:00

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DREADFUL OCCURRENCE AT BURY

A dr aeful eccurreece to t plane on 14,, cloy even
tit Si him In Lcasidre, Whilst Mr. ft eps wse mimes-
dug • crowded 'met(ng ot htempterfers tnefl or of pie Melo
us gave Wa),atol he wore of Ouime rveeaut fell telo tot
new. r emir. its re-ne 1.4 cr,o-taf: and et ft wag feero
tiOt
sseet,l ten tpUtg
one tad bete "need, .1 tee. te
la mails emonedeen 10s hot, el &MI mare Aslise
fe to get al a ,r 1 to te o. 0 etearh g
asea) th ..b atmet..ity nerte•ns were'e sirnali I. It
was dtlkd en-s ill. d immedirtely eftsreards.—fhe following
In cher Per.ichlais are vren :
The place where the meetirg was held was a on!lting
warehouae, in Paradise-street, occupied by Mew*.
e Butcher and Chadwick. The meeting was not a public
'one, but was called by circulars, which were trued by
Mr. Butcher, who had charge of No. 5 pollieg district,
to about 159 of Mr. Phillips's supporters. The circular
was aigned by Mr. Botcher, and invited the person to
wboin it was sent to attend in the top room of Mr.
Butcher's warehouse. The businete to be done warreimply
that proper arrangement 4 mieht be made for the ballot.
next day. The boil ding is a very old oho. and consist. of
, tnree storeys. Jo length is about 50 ft., and is
width 27 ft. The 11 ors are rot eutquirted by p liars,
bit at one mid wnere the platform was pl. -ed, Se ii
a partition wall, which partially supperted the
upper floor, where the ineetiog was held, and
which consisted of one single room about dolt, from
the gr•fretel floor. At the otaer side of the norm,
opposite the partition, was the staircase. There heel
been pill des originally in the building, but them
had been removed in order, it is said, to give the
work people greater facility for their work. When Mr.
Poulin; came to the worehouse the knowledge of his
pretence epread rayidli, and the promoters of the
meeting found it icupeasible to keep the meeting
within the limits originally intended, an i the rcom soon
became crammed with a very excited an knee,
Irish Cathelice. Before Sir. Philips arrived the
crowd, among whom were a great many women, boys,
and girls, had almost tilled tne room, and when Mr.
, Philips entered there was a great rub, and the room
I became closely peeked with about 500 peop,e,
,1 Butcher was in the chair, and when he saw the crowd
had some heirs for the salty of the building, and
was about to propo-e an adjournment, but tile was
practicenle. lie therefore at once addressed themeetinp,
intending as soon as powilete to adj turn. lie was
, wetting in eulogistic terms of Mr. Pnilitra'm et-reit:es,
' when the an fierce began cheerfug, Mapping, arid
stamping, and soddenly the centre beam, 12a. by flia.,
broke ...Nth a satinet' snap, mid a portion ot the temple.
about 271 t. by 21ift., vv.- way, precipitating about 300
people on to the middle flaw, vidamh, being unable t
bear the stram, gave way in its turn, and th, wh- de
noes or straggling human beings fell on the grouud
floor, a distance of 31 feet. The scene war terrible in
, the extreme. A wide chasm separated those who had
been 1-ft at either end of the rem. for a moment
thel cloud of dust obscured the spectacle below,
hut the air was rent with shrieks. Alt-bomb for a
him all who escaped were appalled cud actin:led by the
ouddennese of the catastrophe, ready le Ipere were not
Mug wanting. There at he upeer or platform end of
the budding were entirely cut off from at im-
mediate means of exit or from opportunity of render-
ing awestaece, hit Mr. Butcher, eliding dowe a
44opipe, was quickly in the midst of the wreck.
Fortunately, a coneiderable stock of quiltiogs in the
hamement &or bad helped to break the fall of many
-if the people, and a large pr • portion who had es !aped
I without serious injury were able to crawl out without
assiefance. Portions of the beams and broken
toning, however, covered a large number. To get
at these a number of men et once set to work.
The work of carrying out the injured, dead,
anti dying, for which purpose the windows were
broken in, occupied about three-quarters of an hour,
end when the tea woe tioiehed it was found that ro
less than eight persons had been killed, while about
thirty had met with injuries of a mere or fetus serious
nature—some indeed, no teverethat recovery was hope-
less. During the night a ninth victim was added to
the list, and on Tuesday a truth was added, while the
oumber ot persons Ojai, d was fund be have been
hearer lifter than thirty. A numerous staff of surgeons
aiel others was promptly in attendaeee, and the
hi fired were removed either to their homes or to the
houses elope at hand, receiving eviry atten ion mud
care to relieve their sufferiege. In the meentime at-
tention had been paid to rescuing the pe ride cut off at
the upper raid of The room, an-1 for this purpose tire-
escapes and ladders were procured. One af en 11110. her
they were brought through the windows, Mr. Phillips
heng about the bet to leave the buildnig, The po-
tion of the audierice at the staircase end of the room
had, of course, a ready means of exit, and were able to
effect their escape without assistance.
The interior of the Witting presented a etrauge
14144-C• a, le offer the work of curving out the deal and
iejared had been completed. On either si me of the
hariemeat floor lay the massive broken timbers, the
position if when indicated low the great crowd in the
building had been huddled in one mass, which de.'
stro) e-1 all chanter of escape for those who lay buried
beneath. The floor was strewn with garments of poll
descriptione, wnich had Leen torn from those who had
worn them, and in a small soj rifling room lay the
bodies of the eight found dead. Their appearance ine
dicided that death had been canned more by muff-we-
Lion than by violent ihjuriee. All had occupied a very
humble station in life. Among them ley, side by side,
a father, mother, and child, and a poor wisow, who
has felt behind her eight children, two of them severely
injured by the accident. There were several marvellous
etealsee. A bey had a portion of his clog torn off, and
a policemen saved himself from falling into the ()Deem
by cliegivg to a post near the wall. As examination
of the fractured Mem showed that it was not old. It
wan not broken short, but the tregture exten led a cone
siderable distance.