The Express.
London, England, 1849-02-19 00:00:00

SCOTLAND.

DREADFUL ACCIDENT AT GLASGOW.
OLAIGOW, SATURDAY IfifiaT.—About a quarter to
8 this Pronleekeisiarat of Ire wooed
_vim in the gallery of
the Thesis Dnalop-etweet, wadi was eery crowded
in adrift td honk
The alarm anesei at ones greet emetteseent La ail parts of
the theatre, and the Mullion In the hens Lk the lease
ismiedis bly by *avid, peewee leading fns them to the
frost annum
The Ire sneer was as smy time of an aligning elearestar,
gmelgintir setsk,lbe greaten gam; but tors ahem
the 8
it fee ; end 111/1110111
made kends effortsba to mons by the .aurow staircase
leading bogs the gialery entrants, and by other staircases
keehai MN the box passage. The thence doon apparently
open lateens, and to this eircomstanes the calamity whichhas occurred my be Le Nmeesere emeibed. Prom the
numbon crashed on the staircase behind the eatranee lead.
lea into the lane, as the Berth side of the theatre, consider-
able time elapsed befon the door was opeatid, but the side
window Wag broken, air was freely admitted ; and
although • samba aptness was more or less injured at
this =bone% yet vendee leas of life maned ea the star-
e= lendieg ingenditdo ilions the uppermost gallery. The
erewd pressing em iles othircees, completely /amused the
deer. while amiss and moans of those nearest to the in-
seams, and evened to the severest pressure, were piteous.
Keay elfin; 111.111 lade by parties connected with the po•
lice, by slims lIIIMISIMi with the building, and by several
penthouse whe bed bon drawn to the spog,to force open the
doss ; bet it was fogad impossible. In a very short time
after the alarm at IN had been given, three of the are-
engiaes were as the spot, but their assistant., was not ne•
emery. The saperintendeat of the engine. assured the
aw.irece who still remained in the pit and the lower gal-
lery that there was no danger, end advised them to retire
in en orderly manner; but his voice could not reach
these who were crowded together on the narrow
staircase in the agonies of death, out of eight from
the stage, the pit, or the boxes, and out of hearing.
The pawns remaining in the pit had not the Labia's idea
of the calamity occurring within the walla. They wore
satithed that the firs had been extinguished, and they ex-
pected the proceedings of the evening to I.( commence.
It boccie, evident to those in the neighbourhood of the
upper staircase that no means bf access could be obtained to
the crowd indiscriminately crush( d together there except by
breaking *loath the partitions, and this was quickly done.
The scene then presented was ths most appalling that can
well be imagined.
The firemen lifted out the persona from the staresse, and
for some time those taken out exhibited only a few bruises,
and were laid down, and many of them walled out; but it
10.111 became evident that mach more serious aufferieg had
occurred, Itif the staircase had been utterly choked up, and
many bodies were taken out quite dead; and before die
pare was cleared, the (}snick Hotel opposite, and every
available room in the large theatre, were covered with the
dead I,r the dying.
Many of the sufferers had been sourly broiled ; bat,
from the appearance of the bodies, it was apparent that
death, in almost every case, had been caused by suffocatiosi.
Up to this time (11 p.m.) rixty-three lives have been loot.
The audience in the upper galiery cousisted principally of
young lads.
The details of this catastrophe are yet scarcely known, but
some very melancholy ours have occurred. Amongst the
bodies found are those of three brothers.
The tit y has been thrown into great excitement by this
event, aid during the evening Dunlop-rreet end the neigh-
bourhood of the Anse has been crowded with individuals
making inquiries for their relatives, many of whom were
identified.

--The etMae of the alarm, which eventuated in such 'melan-
choly result+, was a leakage in the block tin gm-pipe which
supplies the lights in front of the upper galkry. This
pipe, which is about half an-inch in diameter, was let into a
groove at the angle of the floor with the covering bards
which face the front of the gallery. The gas had conse-
quently escaped up ire") the open space between the front of
the gallery and the inside lining; and it is believed was
ignited by a match which mme one in the front seat of the
gallery had used to light his pipe, and then threw down in a
skits of ignition.