The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-05 00:00:00

husband. There is something peculiarly touching
in the story of this poor woman's loss. Her son had
been pressing her all day to be allowed to go to the
concert in the evening, and made his last appeal
during their evening meal, the last which they
were destined to take together as an unbroken fa-
mily. The fond mother at length gave way, on the
condition that the husband would go along with and
take care of him. He agreed to go, and we have
told the result. She has been left a widow with four
children to support. The next to be recognised was
a girl about 11 or 12 years of age, named Mary Ann
Findley, Dalfield-walk. She was identified by her
mother, whose grief at beholding her darling child'
—the' apple of her eye,' as she kept continually ex-
claiming—seemed perfectly uncontrollable. She was
removed, along with a girl of 12 years of age,
daughter of Mrs. Mitchelson, a widow, also residing
in Dalfield-walk. She has four sons, but this was
an only daughter. By about 11 o'clock the whole of
the bodies, with the exception of four, were identi-
fied and taken to their ftiends ; the others
were taken to the dead-house, where they lay
for the night. One poor' unfortunate' was among
the dead. She was recognised by several persons
in the hall ; but no one came to claim her remains,
and she was removed to the dead-house. We sub-
join .the names of the-dear identifred-S

"Andrew Smith, 7 years, son of John Smith, joiner,
Springhill; Mary Ann Findlay, millworker, 17, Borrie's-
land, Dallfield-walk, daughter of John Findlay, tailor, pre-
sently in Australia ; Joseph Swiney, 44 years, weaver, Isle's-
pend, Ilawkhill ; Peter Swiney, 13 years, son of the above
Joseph Swiney; Jane Smith, 14 years, millworker, daughter
of William Smith, grocer, Wellgate ;
14 yearsoon of ThomasM'Connell, grocer, Linver-pieseance;
Mary Clark, Dundee; Jane Mitchelson, 12 years steamloom
weaver, daughter of :Janet Mitchelson, widow, Dallfield-
walk ; Peter Mackie, 12 years, an orphan, Dyer's-pond,
Scourringburn ; Elizabeth Gowan, 13 years, daughter. of
John Gowan, weaver, Speid's-land, Perth-road ; James
Knight, 60 years, seaman,-Doig's-entry, Overgate ; Robert
Bruce, 15, son of Peter Bruce, mill overseer, Smithfield;
Lilias Urquhart, steam-loom weaver, daughter of James
Urquhart, hackle maker, Ireland's-lane, Hawkhill ; Agnes
Hamilton, mill-worker, daughter of Joseph Hamilton,
plasterer, Milne's East Wynd, Scouringburn ; Alexander
Campbell, mill-worker, Gray-street, Lochee ; John Hol-
land, 13 years.
" At 12 o'clock on Monday night five bodies remained
unclaimed, and were taken to the dead-house.
" With regard to the number of injured very little can as
yet be said. The most serious cases are those of a girl aged
five or six, residing in Session-street, a girl named Smith,
aged about 12 or 13, a girl named Jane Grey, Catherine
Settis, a girl aged 15 or 16, a boy named Peter Mackie, and
a girl named Baxter."
The following are extracts from the account published
in the Dundee Advertiser:—
" There are two accounts given of the manner in which
the accident was caused; one is, that the people forced in
by the sudden opening of the gate, were able to keep up-
right until near the bottom, when one or two lost their
footing, and, having fallen, those behind rolled over them ;
while the other is, that a mass of persons were hurled from
the top of the stair to the bottom by the sudden impetus
which they had received, and thus the catastrophe was
occasioned. The whole affair, however, was so instanta-
neous that no reliable account can be given of the manner
in which the disaster occurred; but the fact is that within
a minute after the bursting of the gate some 60 or 70 human
beings were lying on the small space at the bottom of the
stair, huddled up in one. confused mass, while the pressure
from behind prevented any efforts being made for some time
to obtain their extrication. The scene presented at this
time is described as being most horrifying and terrible. In
the small dark square lay nearly 100 human beings, of all
ages and both sexes, piled above each other in every imagin-
able position, struggling so far as they possibly could to get
free, and screaming for assistance; above them, up to and
beyond the top of the stairs, were a large crowd, anxious
to reach the hall, and pressing forward for that purpose,
and quite incredulous that such an awful drama was being
enacted beneath ; while inside.thelall the excitement among
those who had already been admitted became so intense
that they could not be restrained'from rushing to the door,
and by their screams adding to the confusion. For some
15 or 20 minutes this fearful scene continued, until at last
some conception was formed of the real nature of the catas-
trophe that had occurred, and then the crowd at the top of
the stair began. to move back, and leave space for those who
were able to do so, to render assistance to the sufferers be-
low. This, however, was not an easy matter, for the
bodies of those lying on the pavement were mixed up, arms
and legs of different persons' being interlaced and• huddled
up in one vast mass, that, in their. eagerness to render as-
sistance, those who begin to labour for the extrication of
the sufferers were in danger of inflicting ..,..I.,usritnries by
dislocating the limbs of those who still remained in life.
In the space of about half an hour their labours had been
so far carried through that some idea of the full extent of
the accident was obtained. Body after body, stark, stiff,
yet warm, was drawn from out of the writhing mass, and
conveyed into the hall, which by this time had been cleared
and there laid out in such places as were most available for
the purpose. Medical aid was at once sent for, and Dr.
Smith was the first professional man who reachedithe spot.
He states that when he arrived, about half-past 7 o'clock,
the stair was in a frightful condition, about 70 people, as
near as he could estimate, lying packed one above the other.
The first body to which his attention was called was that
of a young man lying near the door, all discoloured, but
quite dead ; and near it were about a dozen, all dead, and
presenting the same appearance of having been suffocated.
Close to the entrance to the lobby were the bodies of two
girls, aged about 14 or 16 years, lying in each other's
arms, and both quite dead. In a room to the west sido of
the lobby were four bodies, which had been deposited there
after being removed from the mass in which they had been
suffocated. To those who had been rescued with life every
attention was paid by Dr. Smith, as well as by the other
medical gentlemen who soon came to the place, and among
whom were Drs. Gibson, Langlands, Cowper, and Begg.
By 11 o'clock most of the bodies had been identified and
removed by their friends, but four which had not been re-
cognized up to that time were taken to the dead-house.
Shortly after the bodies had been laid there the place was
locked up for the night—a most inconsiderate and repre-
hensible proceeding, considering the wide-spread nature of
this calamity and the anxiety which naturally prevailed in
many families as to the safety of missing members.
" We give below the gist of several statements obtained
from persons who were eye-witnesses of this awful scene :
" Mr. John Beat, whose activity throughout the whole
affair was very commendable, said : I was at the top of
the stair leading to Bell-street Hall about 7 o'clock. There
was a large crowd gathered round the place. They opened
one-half of the gate first and let a few in, so that they
could take the money easily ; but then the crowd became
so strong and so heavy that the man at the top of the stair
was not able to keep them back, and the gate was burst
open, the man in charge of it being shoved down first. I
was about the middle of the crowd, and was carried off by
it, till I was within three steps of the bottom, when I was
made fast, and could not move either one way or the other.
My arms were fixed close to my sides. A woman and her
husband, with a child in his arms, were standing next me.
I heard the woman say the child was dead ; I could not say
if that was true. I could hardly describe the scene, for the
people were lying some heads up and some feet up—some
one way and some another. There were none of those in
front of me who were on their feet. The whole were lying in
one mass just like a heap of straw, and then the rest on the
higher part of the stair were hanging over with their whole
weight on the top of them. The people at the top of the
stairs would not clear away at first. I kept calling to those
in front to go through the hall, and also to those at the back
to clear away, but the screaming was so terrible that I sup-
pose no one could hear a word I was saying. The only
thing that could have been done was to clear away from
the back and relieve those in front from the weight, but
they were very slow about that. I should think I was at
least 15 or 20 minutes standing in that position. When the
people began to clear away from the top of the stair, those
who were on their feet could see what to do, and we set to
work as soon as we could. We began to drag out those
who appeared to be injured. The scene was indesaibblae.
One or two I got hold of by the head, and had to
out by main force, and others I got hold of by the legs, or
drag them
any part of the body which was nearest. penrsohns as
I got out I carried to the top of the stairs and lefti c arge
of one or two there till I got others. All were insensible.
Not one could speak. Afterwards a cab came and took
andone
When te I
the
d one
nne-
away five persons—four female;as dead.
firmary. lam certain the boy
or two others had been removing the persons from the
back of the crowd, others had been similarly engaged on
the other side. I saw bodies lying in rows, some dead
and
others attended by friends, and so it went on till the doc-
tors arrived. Dr. Smith was the first to come, and he pro-
nounced a number of them to be dead. After the place
was cleared I assisted to carry the bodies to the anterooms.
The only thing I can say as to the cause of the accident
was the want of proper care for keeping back the crowd.
"John Jones, the carpenter employed at Mrs. Spring-
thorpe's, stated that he was stationed at the top of the stairs
to keep the gate, and see that the people did not come down
too fast. He kept one half of the gate closed, and the other
half partially open, but the gate was driven up, and he was
swept down with the rush which followed. He had a nar-
row escape for his own life, as he fell upon his knees, but
recovered himself before the crowd came down upon him.