The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-21 00:00:00

ANOTHER ACCOUNT.

A gentleman who was present in the hall on
Sunday evening, thus describes the scene
.:-1 oc-
cupied one of the front seats in the second gallery,
when, during the second prayer, the first symptoms
of confusion wero manifested. This appeaiel to
me to be occasioned by au intentional rush of some
person or persons who were at the side of the plat-
form, causing in an instant a great deal of confu-
sion, and inducing the congregation to rise from
their seats in all parts of the building. A moment
after, and the cry of " Fire !" was raised by a
voice in the body of the hall ; added to which a
cry of " The bells ! the bells !'' and in an instant,
and in the greatest confusion, there was a simul-
taneous rush of the immense body of people for the
doors and windows. Seeing the minister appa-
rently but little moved and using his utmost
efforts to induce the people to remain in their
seats, both by voice and gesture, I jumped on my
seat and called out " A false alarm," " Keep your
seats ;" but terror had so seized upon the major
part of the congregation that an individual voice
had. but little chance of gaining a hearing. It was
endeavoured to attract the attention and to calm
the fears of the multitude by singing a verse of the
hymn that had already been sung, but, unfortu-
nately, only a few of those who were on the plat-
form were able to join. I then made for the stair-
case, partly to see the cause of the confusion which
had originated below, and partly, also, that it inglit
be safer in case anything should prove to be
wrong. Upon descending the staircase a horrible
sight presented itself—the balustrade had already
been thrown down and lay broken in fragments at
the bottom ; a great number of people, Men, wo-
men, and children, lay huddled in a heap on the
second landing, completely blocking up the stair-
case, and causing numbers who were still crowd-
ing down either to fall upon them, or in their
fright to jump down the opening caused by the
broken balustrade. The police were unable for
some minutes to ascend the staircase to render as-
sistance, and were obliged to content themselves
by calling to the people not to jump down ; while
a number of the congregation above were appa-
rently undecided what to attempt. After dragging
back by main force several who appeared deter-
mined to jump down, calling out at the same time
to those who were still crowding to keep back, we
succeeded in opening a window close by ; desiring
two or throe to jump out, and two or three others
to assist inside, we passed them into the open air
—three quite dead to all appearance, and many
others so severely injured that in some cases, no
doubt, death was the result. After collecting the
scattered articles of clothing I passed out, thank-
ing God for my own safety.
There appeared to be no police in the upper part
of the building. Had there been, the accident on
the staircase might surely have been prevented.

(From the Times.)

On Sunday night 20,000 persons wont to an
immense Music-hall in what were lately the Surrey
Zoological-gardens, to hear a great preacher. The
hall was new, and the preacher was young,—they
say only twenty-five. His hearers have outgrown
his own chapel, and outgrown Exeter-hall, till the '
Strand was all in a commotion every Sunday
evening, with crowds looking wistfully at a
notice which told them in large letters that the
place would hold no more. So they are building
him a place somewhere to hold about 15000, and
meanwhile they took the Surrey Music-hall for
four Sundays. It is a building with two or three
tiers of galleries—galleries inside, and balconies
outside, and all sorts of devices for hearers,
whether sitting or standing. It was built
for 10,000,s but on this occasion it is said
that 12,000, or even 14,000, crammed into it,
while a large crowd besieged the doors, and a still
larger ono the entrance of the gardens. Would
not any reasonable being haVe some misgiving as
to the consequences? Indeed, it appears as if
everybody had, and the misgiving itself produced
the consequences. There was au alarm ; no one
. can say certainly how or from whom. It might be
a cry of "Fire," or "The roof," or the tinkling of
a bell t but in a moment-the -vast aesomblago was
in motion to the doors, rushing, screaming, tramp-
ling down ono another, clogging the staircases,
breaking the balustrades, tumbling over to the
bottom, &Mug upon one another. By a merciful
Providence not Mx hundred, but only six' were
killed, and rather more seriously hurt. The
preacher kept his place, preaching, pn.ying, and
giving out psalms ; the surviving congregation re-
turned to their seats ; the boxes for the new chapel
were rattled about, and the service concluded
almost as if nothing had happened ; and all the
consolation to the friends of half-a-dozen well-
dressed women, as they are described, is that at
least they perished in a religious act, while listen-
ing eagerly to what they believed the voice of
Heaven for the good of their souls.
Such incidents are not uncommon, though it is
not quite true to say that they cannot be helped,
and every fresh instance suggests fresh cautions.
A good many years ago, when St. Luke's, Chelsea,
was newly built, and thought a paragon of Gothic
architecture, there were floating rumours as to the
stability of its stone vaulting. It was a new
experiment ; the old secret was lost ; the "paste-
, board walls and light flying buttresses were
mistrusted. So one evening, after a charity
sermon, while the hymn was singing and the plate
was going round, the officials aloft thought the
congregation had gone out and let down the
chandeliers ; the people in the free seats made way
for the falling galaxies in haste ; the benches were
overturned ; there was a cry " The roof, the roof;"
in an instant all was confusion, noise, and dust, and
one could only see that the whole congregation was
flying over the pews to the doors like loaves in
the autumn wind. Happily, the panic was more
on the ground than in the galleries, and by the
time the congregation had packed the passage so
closely that they could not getout they came to their
reason and returned to their places—not, however,
before the clergyman who had been reading the
prayers, after a vain attempt to open the door of the
reading-desk, vaulted clears over it. St. Luke's has
• acquired a character for stability by this time, and
so, it is to be hoped, the Surrey Music-hall will in
the end. But let not the warning pass wholly away.
All the wonder is that, the alarm once given, the
results were not worse on Sunday night. There
mig'it have been a real downfall, visible though in-
significant, a flake of falling flame, an explosion of
gas; and then what would the 12,000 people have
done ? How many would have gone over, the bal-
conies, or been jammed fifty deep in the staircases?
A public building ought to be constructed with
special regard to these fearful contingencies, and
under the Metropolitan Building Act of course the
Surrey Music-hall must be supposed to have ful-
filled the requisite conditions. The means of exit,
however, it now appears, were not sufficient for the
case of. a panic, and the balustrades could not rasis`,
the pressure or the force applied to them. If the
conditions of the act were fulfilled, they are not
themselves stringent enough, and ought to' be
amended, or, at least, some authority given to the
surveyors to profit by the warning. It is a very
common remark, and one which we have made in
this place before, that the entrances, staircases, and
pas Sages of our places of public assemblage, our
theatres, music-halls, and even our churches, are
not on a scale commensurate with the internal ac-
commodation ; and that they are not equal to those
of similar buildings abroad, or, as far as we have
the means of knowing, of ancient. ampbithea'res.
For example, it takes a quarter of an hour for the
occupants of the reserved seats in Exeter-hall
to get out of the labyrinth into the open air.
In case of actual fire, how many of them could
get out at all, or ever re-appear, except in the
form of calcined bones ? Net many, we sus-
pect. In the event of a mere alarm the exit
would soon be stopped with fifty dead bodies,
and tie rest would have to make a virtue of
necessity, and stand their ground unhurt. But
it is not creditable to this country,that we should
run such terrible risks. Gambling with life is
worse than gambling with money. When Covent-
garden was burnt there were only 200 people under
the falling beams ; au hour or two before there
were several thousand.
May not Mr. Spurgeon also condescend to tak;
a hint from this untoward event ? There are limits
to all things, even to hearers. Est modus in rebus;
sunt eerti denique fines. The human voice is
limited. Stentor himself could not be heard by
the whole human race. On certain, occasions
20,000 people are assembled in St. Paul's, but they
do not bear, or expect to hear; on the contrary,
as soon as the preacher appears in the pulpit they
take out sandwiches, buns, brandy flasks, and
newspapers, .No church in the metropolis holds
thotigh.some have a name for more. Thu°
is something, then, very ambitious, to say the
i least, in the attempt to have five times as many

hearers as any body has bad before. Let Mr.
Spurgeon be at least content with as many as the
Surrey Music-hall was intended to hold, sitting in
comfort and with sufficient means of exit. It ap-
pears that he has the means of controlling the ad-
mission, since his own special flock is secured places
before the'proselytes and strangers are let in. Ile
can charge a shilling a seat, and, if that is not
enough, half-a-crown ; in which case he will have
some hearers who would not venture to push their
way through a mob let in free. We do not say
this from any desire to stint Mr. Spurgeon of his
audience.. We have no wish to criticise his style
of oratory, which severe critics affirm to be of the
familiar, bold, and irreverent sort. On the eon-
tr..try, we are delighted to hear that there is
one man_ in_the metropolis who can get people to
hear his sermons from any other motive' than
the fulfilment of a religious obligation. The
men who have awakened slumbering generations,
who have began mighty movements, shaken idols,
or Popes, or huge vices from their throne, have
not been uniformly characterised for severity of
language, sobriety of illustration, and chasteness of
style. Luther, Latimer, and many others, were
remarkable for the contrary. Mere faults of style
ai e no concern of ours, ant apparently are tolerated
by the British pub] (when the substance finds an
echo in their understandings or their hearts. But
there is a certain moderation, as we have said, to
be observed in all things—even in the size of con-
gregations, little as we are accustomed to think of
restricting them. Woeld. Mr. Spurgeon be so good
as to attend to the subject at once ? Next Sunday,
instead of 20,000, the Surrey Gardens will be
blockaded from 4 o'clock by at least 50,000. They
will expect to hear, not only Mr. Spurgeon, but
also a sermon from him on the sudden fate of the
victims last Sunday. The prospect is rather a
serious one, and if this gentleman and his friends
have the means of providing against a crush, or
eeffect of a panic, they will be held responsible
for omitting to do so.

(From the Daily News of this clay.)

Perhaps the most deep-thoughted of Chaucer's
Tales is one in which he illustrates the unexpected
manner in which Death steals upon us. Three
roysterers in a-tavern hearing of the death of a boon
companion, ask who killed him, and are told it was
nobody but Death. In their drunken bravado they
set out iu search of this Death, to revenge them-
selves for the loss of their comrade by killing him.
On their way they meet an old, old man, who,
in reply to their inquiries, tells them that Death is
on before. By the way they find some money,
which they agree to conceal and share among them-
selves. A sequestered nook is sought out where
there they may divide the treasure unseen by any-
body. One of them is despatched to the town to
bring food and. wine. Avarice tempts him to put
poison in the viands that he may obtain the whole.
Meanwhile his fellows have entered into a simi-
lar conspiracy against him, and on his return
embrace an opportunity to stab him. They
then partake of the poisoned food and
die. The old man they met was Death,
who is often nearest to us when there is least show
of his presence. _ _ _

Of the immense multitude which flocked to the
Surrey Gardens on the evening of Sunday last,
there was probably not one who had the slightest
presentiment that he was about to witness a scene
as appalling and scarcely less fatal than a battle.
Some went in search of instruction ; others in
search of excitement ; others, again, in the faint
hope of ridding themselves of ennui. Bat none
dreamed of danger. Even among those who are
prone to make the uncertainty of life their theme
of conversation, there was not one in all likelihood
who applied to himself tha words of Scripture—
" This night thy soul shall be required of thee."
All are hushed throughout the immense hall, save
the preacher, upon whose accents they. hang in
breathless silence, when a slight tinkling is heard
—the vibration, we are assured by one who was
present, of a glass shade over a more than usually
powerful jet of gas. Two or three of the audience
cry out " Fire !" At this ill omened sound the
bulk of the congregation loss all self-possession.
Each feels his own alarm heightened by contagion
from his neighbours. Some cry out, " The roof is
falling." The human mass heaves and surges like
a tempest-tossed sea ; mad rushes are made to
doors, windows, and staircases ; the weak are
borne down by the pressure, and in the intensely
selfish agony of fear the rest trample over them ;
others crowd into narrow passages or frantically
precipitate themselves from high windows; the
wailing of the wounded, the clamorous shrieking of
those who are separated from theirfriends, heighten
the madness of the moment ; and, after an aimless
struggle of less than an hour, eight mutilated
corpses are discovered by the dim light, while
many maimed for life halt away, or are borne off by
the sur7ivors. And all this fatal panic was utterly
causeless. There never was any appearance of
tire ; the roof and wails of the building are still
compact and strong as when the builders ceased
from their labours. Thus Death steals upon us
when least in our thoughts, and effects his purposes
with weapons incognisable to mortal :ense.
But men aro not satisfied with such a view of the
matter. They nia:it have some one to be angry
with ' • some one to blame for causing the mischief.
Accordingly we find Mr. Spurgeon and his friends
attributing the alarm to a plot of the swell mob,
seeking to create confusion iu order that they might
have au opportunity to plunder. The tinkling of
the over-heated glass shade appears to have sug-
gested this idea. They magnified it into the sound
of a bell, and the sound of one bell they speedily
magnified—as in tie story of the three black crows
—into the sound of many bells. Mr. Superinten-
dent Lund has disposed of this fallacious notion.
Ho, who knows from long experience the habits of
thieves, remarks that the alarm was given by per-
sons in the very centre of the assembly, and that
swell mobsmen would have selected a position near
the door, as favourable to the exercise of their
peculiar industry. But Mr. Lund is in his turn
equally infelicitous in his attempt to explain the
origin of the panic. Without condescending to
assign any reason for his belief, he attributes the
alarm to some enemies of Mr. Spurgeon, desirous
to annoy that gentleman by dispersing his hearers.
It is really too much to call upon us to make such
an uncharitable assumption without offering one
iota of evidence. Nor is it at all necessary. History
is full of precedents of fatal and unreasoning panics
produced without any adequate cause. The obvious
aim of the authors of the two explanations to which
we have adverted is to place Mr. Spurgeon and
his friends in the attitude of martyrs to the cupi-
dity or ill-will of others. On the other hand,
voices are already raised imputing the whole cala-
mity to these gentlemen. It is asked why they
collected such a miscellaneous crowd together in
circumstances so favourable to the excitement of a
disastrous panic ; and comments the reverse of
flattering are made on the composition of the as-
sembly, and on their motives for drawingit together,
and the means they resorted to with a view to the
accomplishment of that object. We are quite as little
disposed to join in this cry as in that raised by
Mr. Spurgeon or by Mr. Lund. A similar accident
might have happened at a play, or a concert, or a
crowded political or philanthropic) meeting. Are
we to Ire told that men ought never to be allowed
to gather together in great numbers because of some
rare accident ? It is true we do not regard the
crowds attracted by Mr. Spurgeon, or his mode of
attracting them, as tending to edification ; but our
liking or disliking has nothing to do with the ques-
tion. He and his friends, we have no doubt, sin-
cerely believed that they were working fax good,
and there are some who conscientiously look on
plays and political meetings as abominations.
But while we exonerate Mr. Spurgeon and his
friends from the blame of causing the catastrophe,
we are by no means disposed to blink the question
of their conduct after it bad happened. Unless
they are grossly misrepresented, it was irrational
and callous in the extreme. Mr. Superintendent
Lund—who is obviously the reverse of unfriendly
to Mr. Spurgeon—has stated that he had the great-
est difficulty in inducing him to desist from preach.
ing. Now, what was one of the topics said to have
been insisted upon by the rev, gentleman amid the
appalling scene that was being enacted around him ?
That it showed the necessity of having a chapel of
their own ! Would the disaster have been less in
a chapel calculated to contain 12,000 people ? But
the crowd tad been assembled to collect asumbnsmcroitph-
tion towards the erection of such a m
chapel, and Mr. Spurgeon and his friends were un-
willing that the opportunity should be lost. There-
fore this untimeous reminder ; therefore Mr. Spur-
;eon's exclamation to the panic stricken fugitives,
that they were more afraid of temporal than eternal
death ; therefore the indecent rattling of money-
& go further, and
rbooixneasrkinontitiletierceaallTis tWnaennraeri in which Mr. Spur-
geon and his friends left the meeting, without one
attempt to aid or soothe the sufferers ; but we are
willing to make allowance for the bewilderment
which such a spectacle was calculated to produce.
Two morals we are disposed to draw from this
calamitous event. The first is, that every one be-
fore mingling in such a donee and excited crowd 33
that of Sunday evening should cautiously estimate
his powers of self-preservation in the event of a
panic. The man who without being able to swim
should plunge into a deep and billowy tide or
rapid torrent would warrantably be accounted mad.
But tides and torrents are not more deaf or resist-
less than a closely packed crowd wildly struggling
under the excitement of panic. The second is,
i that all who take upon themselves the charge of
education ought incessantly to impress on the
minds of those entrusted to their charge the moral
duty of preserving calmness and self-possession in,

crises of real or apparent danger, and to seize every
opportunity of training them to such habits. The
most pacific pursuits are not exempt from sudden
danger, and men should be prepared beforehand to
encounter it at any moment. In conclusion, we
may add that though crowded assemblies cannot
always be dispensed with, they ought never -to be
congregated without some adequate cause and due
preliminary precaution. Let Mr. Bpurgeou and
his friends ask themselves whether the congregat-
ing of ithmense nocturnal crowds is really calculated
to promote true religion. And let the proprietors
of places of public resort take care that their halls
have sufficient means of egress. We make this
last remark with no reference to the Hall of the
Surrey Gardens, which appears to be unusually well
provided in this respect ; but only think of such a
panic occurring in Emeter-hall or almost any of our
theatres, with their narrow and tortuous passages !