The Express.
London, England, 1858-12-28 00:00:00

FIFTEEN PERSONS KILLED AND MANY

OTHERS INJURED.

One of those terrible erects which occasionally
strait the public mind with a thrill of horror wand )ee.
tardily afternoon at the Victoria Theatre, in the Walsh*.
road, involving the death of no less than Men young rr
whose ages veiled from 16 to 23 years, and the merlons lejng
of misty others.
_ . . . . .

The particulars of the sad event, gleaned on the Met, sal
been the most reliable sources, are as follows :
Yesterday being Boxing-day, the proprietors and menamee
of this theatre, in common with other metropolitan place' el
ennamment, bad exerted themselves to furnish their mums
with a more than usually attractive Christmas eneetela.
meat ; and It was arranged that there should be two per.
forename of the pantomime—one in the day end one as
usual in the evening. In order to prevent any confusion at
accident larking from the egress of the visitors to the after-
noon performance at a time when the evening frequenters of
the play might be expected to arrive, it was erringd
that the people in the gallery at the Ant per.
tormenos should, instead of leaving the theatre by
the ordinary staimeass, dreamed through a lobby leading
to the bone, and go out by the principal entranoe. The
I object of the manager In making this arrangement was two-
, fold—ke avoid any collision between the ascending and de-
eteedlng people, and at the same time to enable the gallery
deem to be opened at a much earlier period than usual, so ea
to proven any very great crush at the entrance. trace-
Omately, as will be emu by the sequel, an unforeseen
cebenty conned which destroyed all there arrangemen,
sad to a greet extent rendered the very pretentious ham
to prevent sadden the mum eta deplorable ion of lib.
The doors were barn open aboat one &clog der the
morales miasmata, end the none was, as is metek,
almost hameilanly crarneted, and everything went wait
ihmaglessi the performance nearly up to the time of Ito
eariclusion, when the calamity occurred. As had ben
frermem, the evening visitors began to make their apparent
a the palmy doors at a very early period in the &karc a.
sad as there was no reason for excluding them bout the
gallery stairs, in consequence of the precentor' takes for the
exit of the then crowded gallery through the boxes, therms
permitted to ascend it to the very door of the gallery as-
trance. There was, consequently, very soon a compact ism
of puma, principally yams meet and woman, of the elms
which nattily frequents the gallery of the Victoria Shwas,
peeked together on the maim and the crowd was bag cis-
deadly augmented by fresh arrivals from below. It req
necenary to say that the entrance at the top of the deka=
was looked for the purpose of preventing creeks aid
, imicrelng the clearing of the crowd Was the ming
, vi inn were admitted.

•
It wee shoat twenty minutes to eve o'clock, while the
people were packed together on the gallery entire to the
manner described, that a strong smell of gas waa grab*
and it became evident that some rupture had tan plat
is one of the gas-pipes on the staircase. No alarm Ina at
lest felt, though the strong smell ,d the eaceptag gas et eta
attracted the attention of every one. Immediately aftermedes
however, a alight explaion tout place an the eased co did
landing, which was noticed by those anew Min
porta. of the staircase. Then mess the fugal ary d
" Firs i Are 1" " The place la on Are 1" mid a oar d
hence maned which it way be fairly rid take of
deicriptlon. The whole we of people ea the sight
pardon of the stairs where the explodes took Peet, to OA
satiety to soaks their escape, precipitated themselves MI la
seosadiag crowd below, while those on the stairs long*
the kit Wading, unconadous of what had reasnel, lit
assiadba. The malt wee that more than a lambed WO
beans wespectly wedged boners the two maw. The
Arlan cries, sad smothered groans that arms es bend
•1•111 i skater got dished what the Wean*, wen
dome sod *redden woe, are reported by mete el then the
were Feast, end wen both eye and ear alarms of Ili
occurred, to have beat awful to the sera& Son4l
the pea* at the top d the stairs fairly thaw bow
melees down the whole flight on to the heeds el then
below, end then usable to recover their lege, Ml aid area
won bang smothered is the crowd ; ethers threw
eaves over the lialashade, a swab pones WI vibe Wia
beech awn, sail abglasil I easty ; wills Mime ages
wedged to, IRO =able to serve, mad being toadied Is a an
of lasaribility, were se seethe=d.
This Mann sass, to le salsa, fatal hew tea sialetts
a easiest elm hoar, a tins ea* rallaisa to Nada be
draddid hes eel lib flat t no had bed tam plata Tim
anal blew, ma the lea light of stairs, bed assa hw
anal that asseseing the wee lespralag sheet bah
bat we Ihsandas nimble to tura, to snantrais ef be
ossuarshanof passes band thee, sal it was sia MOO
pimple st the way warm* WI ths galley stairs la ban
aware of the man a the asoldisa whet
the lower perils el
the asks at at sl enured. Thew, Jahn, they nit
freatiosay at she the theatre, paean by the cry d " rho
The saws wee as anise to the fie-brigade sada a
the Wateriarvesd, sad sows of the (aglow attended, bet
nitilosisa aid fire being bat momentary, the WIWI
Nast rantred.
liev, bowsaw, ocateesaced the harrow's' seen d
tobglag sat the deed bodies as well as these eke AM
heleeide, end which won all fond crowded tsgder
da the that hada& amid Imo is base WO"
tag she aisdnass ma. This tratevid was saw
-1410.1kiLlliliffa *Waif Irak At Wit Cableffis
lad nespeasintarintalista hsbrareisa athallfolft
sad weenie' at saes to the spot, aceteapashd ft
body atria coestabla. Us derwrihes the saes as bra
nada& sad Ids nation were awls la the sada d 1111
, gasses, sidits, eel lanstadoss of the crowd caille,110"
herd bay a ether wee aregalsed by awe ban endstin
' The bet dap of the patios was to 'soars all the pail oh'
I sad wall= and end ad= panes who we Waal WO
Welsh, oat alto to ma onkel seistace.. In • of