The Press.
London, England, 1858-09-18 00:00:00

glaibtnts an Offences.

AWFUL CATASTROPHE AT THE SURREY
MUSIC-HALL, SHEFFIELD.

TEE most appalling casualty that has happened
for many years in Sheffield took place on Monday.
The scene of the accident is called the Surrey
Musio-hall. The attractions attendant upon the
novelty of the decorations and a new company of
performers had drawn together a very large audience,
and the hall was crowded in every part. Probably
little fewer than 3,000 persons were present. About
a quarter to eight in the evening Madame Marietta,
a favourite with Sheffield audiences, was singing on
the stage, accompanied by the band, and the utmost
silence prevailed throughout boxes, pit, and
galleries. In the middle of this lady's song the
panic arose which led to the casualty. The account
which is current is that a young man fired a pistol in
the gallery ; and it is said that several persons are
prepared to come forward and state that they saw
him do so. (heaves, a lad of nineteen, the person
alluded to, has, however; come forward and deposed
that the explosion arose from an escape of gas which
took fire from a lucifer which he had lighted for his
pipe. However the catastrophe may in the first
instance have been caused, this fact is quite certain,
that in the middle of Madame Marietta's song a
great cry of alarm suddenly rang through the build-
ing, and large numbers of those present rushed
towards the doors to escape. Madame Marietta un-
fortunately partook of the alarm, and ran screaming
behind the scenes, thus adding to the fright of the
audience. Mr. Youdan, the proprietor of the estab-
lishment, by his firm and energetic words and
demeanour, succeeded in calming the audience.
Scarcely, however, had order been restored, when
the over excited minds of the persons present were
again aroused by a cry that the building was on fire
at the top. Again the panic set in, this time with
immensely increased force. Mr. Youdan again
essayed to calm the multitude ; but this time utterly
without effect. For the moment completely wild
with terror, the crowd rushed in every direction to-
wards the doors, eager only to escape from the build-
ing. Screams of frigbt and pain arose on every
side, as the masses of people, huddled together in
heaps, strove to get before each other on their way
from the building. Whenever a door stood in their
way the panels were smashed in, and the glass
shivered. In the passages proceeding from the pit
and boxes there was comparatively little danger. It
was on the steps leading down from the galleries
that the most terrible scene occurred. The scene
was frightful. The shouts of the men were inter-
mingled with screams from the women and frantic
entreaties that they might be allowed to escape. One
young woman, who is killed, was seen to be precipi-
tated from amongst the crowd down one of the
flights of steps. She fell on her head on to the brick
flooring ; broken fragments of her comb and her coral
necklace were afterwards picked up on the spot where
she was killed. Another woman had a narrow es-
cape. She was near to the unfortunate creature
wbo was killed, and had a child in her arms. In-
spector Linley, wbo exerted himself zealously, was
standing within a doorway at the bottom of the
flight, helping the people down, and entreating them
to be calm. He saw the woman with the child in the
act of being precipitated forward. He caught her
with the child as they were falling, and thus their
lives were saved. Two young men were killed during
the struggle on the stairs. Another, who was found
dead just inside the entrance, was taken to Mr.
Todd's, cabinetmaker, whence he 'was removed to
the White Swan.

The second panic, that the building was on fire,
may possibly be explained by a circumstance that
has since been discovered. On the stairs of the
gallery there was found a woman's velvet mantle,
partially burnt. Of course, it is not known how this
garment ignited ; but it seems not unlikely that the
sight and smell of it burning gave rise, in the ex-
citable state of the audience, to the panic which
caused the mischief. The regret with which this
tragedy must be regarded is enhanced by the fact
that nothing at all happened to cause the. slightest
danger ; and that but for one of those panics which
unfortunately seize multitudes assembled in build-
ings no harm could have happened to any person.
About half.past eleven at night, the body of the
young woman was recognized by her father, who
had heard of the catastrophe, and feared that his
son, who as well as his daughter had been present,
was among the killed. After identifying his daughter,
11_6 proceeded to a public-house, Q-in-the-Corner,
Yaradtse-square, where lay the body of a young man
about eighteen years old, who had been found dead