The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-02 00:00:00

On Saturday evening Dr. La.
for Central Middlesex, held an
Middlesex Hospital touching the des,
Smith, alias Gibson, one of the ballet girls, who
was removed in flames from the stage of 'the Priti-
cess's Theatre on the night of Friday week during
the performance of the pantomime. The crowded
state of the large apartment in which the,inquest •
was held testified to the painful excitement caused
by this melancholy occurrence.
Sarah Gibson, mother of the deceased, was the !
first witness. She stated that her daughter was 17 ,
years of age at the time of her death. She was an
extra ballet girl, and had been engaged at the
Princess's for the whole time of the pantomime.
Witness saw her in the hospital on last Saturday
week, the day after the accident. She did not tell
her how it had occurred, but she said she had been
very much burnt, and that if there had been rugs'
in the theatre she could have been saved. Witness
had heard from another young woman that the.
man who was managing the blue lights had turned
" the tin" wrong. The deceased went by the name
of Smith, her (the witness's) maiden name, at the"
Princess's.

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Mr. Edward Morgan, house-surgeon of the hos-
pital, stated that the deceased was admitted on the
She had extensive burns
night of Friday week.
on the face, forehead, neck, temples, arms, chest,
and thighs. A third of the whole surface of her
body was burnt. She never rallied, and she died
on Wednesday last at a quarter before 6 in the even-
ing. Exhaustion caused by the burns was the
cause of death. Most of the internal viscera was
congested, but there was no internal inflammation.
Mr. William Harris, " supermaster " of the
Princess's Theatre, stated that he engaged the extra
ballet girls. He was on the the night of the
accident. It happened on the prompt side of the
; that was the side to the left of the audiences_
He was standmi on the 0.P.0r opicariiiiik. He
saw Mrs. Hunt on the prompt side in flames. She
ran to the first entrance for assistance, and passed
Miss White on the way without setting fire to her.
She then met miss Smith, and set her on fire. Mr.
Roxby, the stage manager, ran after Mrs. Hunt,
threw his inverness cape over her, and put the fire
out. He and several of the men who were perform-
ing in the pantomime run to Miss Smith, and en-
deavoured to extinguish the flames that enveloped
her. She would not attend to ther calls but ran
about in her fright. The outside skirt worn by
the extra ballet girl was supplied by the mana-
ger. The young women themselves supplied
the inside skirts. Miss Smith was very par-
ticular about her appearance, and wore more
skirts than were usually worn by extra ballet girls.
It was the outside skirt, the one supplied by the
management, that took fire on this occasion. Ho
believed that it and the others worn in the
theatre had been dipped in a chemical preparation
to make them uninfiammable, and that the effects
of this had worn away. He did not, however,
know this as a fact. The girls were to have a
change of outside skirts in a few days after the
accident occurred. The two outside skirts were not
washed. The girls themselves had the inner skirts
washed.

'

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By the Jury—There were arrangements in the
theatre for putting out fires, but he was not aware
that on the evening of the accident there were any
particular arrangements for preventing the dresses
of ballet girls taking fire. They were cautioned to
be careful.

The jury found a verdict of " Accidental death."
Appended to the verdict was this resolution :
"The jury wish to express their opinion that
sufficient precautions were not taken at the Prin-
cess's Theatre to extinguish any accidental catching
tire of the clothes of the corps de ballet. They
strongly urge the necessity of rendering articles of
linen clothing fire-proof by manufacturers and
laundresses."