The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-29 00:00:00

SERIOUS COLLISION:

THE CATASTROPHE AT BRISTOL.

The details to band of the catastrophe at Bristol fully
boar out the very saddening news already given
of it. The news is fully confirmed that eighteen
persona lost their lives at the new theatre, in
Park-row, Bristol, on Boxing-night. Nothing so dreadful
in the way of accidents has happened in Bristol for many
years, and when the news was spread through the city it
caused consternation among all classes. Boxing-
night is a great night at the theatre. Mr. Chute,
the manager, having issued an attractive pro-
gramme, thousands flocked as usual to witness the
performance. The day was a general holiday. The pan-
tomime was "Robinson Crusoe," and it was only the
second night of its performance. On Christmas-eve, when
the piece was produced, there was a moderate attendance.
Boeing Night, however, has attractions of its own,
teed a great multitude of persons found their way to
the New Theatre, in Park-row, cagc-r and anxious
t.) witness the entertainment prceided for them. It
will easily be guessed that the greatest pressure was to
what are called the " popular parts " cf the house, viz., the
pit and gallery; and it was to the unfortunate persons
whose destination was to one of those parts that
the terrible calamity we have to record took place.
The entrance to the pit and gallery is down
a passage about twenty feet wide leading from
Park P.ow. There is a steep gradient from the
level of "the road, and at the bottom of the passage
there is a sharp turning leading at right angles to the
gallery on the left. The door to the pit is situated also
on the left-hand side, but about two feet higher up, and
consequently nearer the roadway. It is of course impos-
sible to compute the exact number of persons in the passage,
but it is stated by several persons who were near the
spot that nearly 2,000 persons were endeavouring to gain
admission either to the pit cr gallery—the crowd ex-
tending some distance into the roadway. People, in fact,
had begun to assemble a long time before the hour named
on the bills for opening the doors, and as early as six
o'clock the passage was filled with an eager mass of
persons waiting to gain admission. As the minutes
wore on the crowd grew denser, and the pressure from
the outside packed the mass in the passage closer and
closer together. There were six policemen stationed on
the spot, whose duty was simply to keep
.order, and nog
to interfere with the ingress or egress of anybody
At half-past six the deers were opened, and there wan
immediately a rush. Directly the deers were opened
these behind pushed forward, heedless of the cries of
those in front of them. An eye-witness describes the
scene as being very dreadful. Wcmen and children
were screaming for help, and even strong men seemed
powerless to act. The tide behind was too strong
to be resisted. Those behind called " Forward!'
but in vain these in front called "Sack!" The momen-
tarily gathering crowd outside—ignorant, of course, of the
imminent danger of those packed in the passage—
pressed on with all their energy. Things at this juncture
looked ugly enough, when a new alarm arose. Some
one, desirous of restraining the impetuous advance
of those behind, called out "Fire!" A panic was the
result. Men, women, and children immediately made
a frantic effort to drive back those coming in. In
consequence cf this movement, a woman of fifty years
ago fell clown, and others fell upon her. The
crowd began to sway backwards and forwards, and those
who were down were trampled upon. The scone now was
a most terrible one. Screams, cries for assistance, and
moans rent the air. People were pushed down
and trampled under foot, and when once down it was
almost impossible to recover their footing. One stal-
wart man assured the reporter that he was on
his back for nearly a quarter of an hour,
and that when, by almost superhuman exer
tier's, he managed to escape with his life it was to
find the body of a boy beneath him, whom he believed
to he dead. Another person in the crowd describes the
scene as calculated to paralyse the nerves of the
boldest. He was struggling for half an hour, and saw
many persons go down, but was unable to render them
the slightest help. The y olice did all they could to
keep any more people from entering the passage
directly they became aware cf the critical situation
o: affairs ; and after the lapse of a little time they were
enabled to rescue several who were in a fainting condition.
.t as soon as the crowd had to some extent cleared away,
Indies were found lying about the passage in various
spots. A boy named Charles Talbot, living at South
Green-street, Hotwell-road, was the first rescued,
awl he was found to be very seriously injured.
He was taken to the Infirmary, but died soon
after his admission. About sixty or seventy policemen
were soon in attendance, and they at once drew a cordon
round the entrance to the passage, thus preventing any-
one from getting admission. Meanwhile a number of
bodies had been removed, and it was found that fourteen
were quite dead. Most of them were persona varying in
age from 15 to The belies of all these were laid cut in
the lower refreshment-mom cf the theatre. Eight
persons whose eenditim aplea,led to he very
precarious veers taken instantly to the Infirmary.
Three, however, did not yield to the treatment, and died
after they had been only a short time is the institution.
Medical aid was also procured at the theatre. The awful
intelligence flew with the proverbial rapidity of ill-news,
and thousands of people—many of them incredulous—
wended their way to Park-row to learn for themselves
the true particulars of the tragic event. The news
was carried to the ether places of entertainment,
and created amongst those who heard it a pi-donna sensa-
tion. Women, wild with excitement and fear, came to
the theatre door, and begged and entreated for permission
to view the dead bodies, but with a stern sense of duty
that permission was in every case denied—whether rightly
or not we will not pretend to say. The scene outside the
Infirmary was equally painful. People, breathless with
running, rushed up to the doors, and gave incoherent
descriptions of their friends.
It should be added that the performance within the
theatre—in spite of this calamitous occurrence—was pro-
ceeded with, the manager being of opinion that an
announcement of its postponement would have resulted
in a further panic, and perhaps still greater less of life.
The fun inside, while fourteen dead bodies lay close by,
had a hideous aspect. When the manager, Mr. J. H.
Chute, became aware of the terrible occurrence, he was
anxious to at once close the performance and dismiss the
audience. He was advised, however, that by pursuing
that course lie would create a new panic, which would
in all probability lead to a catastrophe quite as great
as that which had already occurred. It was felt
that those within the building being almost wholly igno-
rant of what had happened, an announcement of it from
the stage would have caused those—and their numbers
must have been many—who had been separated from
friends to take alarm and rush from the house ; and
the panic thus created might have caused another
disaster. Yielding to the advice tendered him, Mr.
Chute allowed the performances (with some abridgment)
to proceed, but he closed the house on Tuesday, and
neither the day performances ansounced at two o'clock
nor those in the evening took place. The twelve injured
persons in the Infirmary are doing well, and none of them
can be considered in a dangerous condition.
The coroner, Mr. H. S. Wasborow'th, commenced an
inquest on the bodies of the deceaseelon Tuesday after-
noon, at the Griffin Inn, Lower St. Michael's-hill. The
names of the dead are thus given :—Mary Ellen Therwood,
16, domestic servant, 10, Alfred-hill ; John Merchant, 18,
at Mr. Locke's, baker, St. James's-back ; Eliza Lucas, 18,
2, Marsh-lane, St. Philip's ; Patrick Donovan, 17'
2, Jacob-street, St. Philip's ; Alfred Kew, 18,
Clark- street, Philip-street, Bedminsier ; Thomas
Pearson, about 21 years old, shopman to Mr.
Seth Thomas, china and glass dealer, 10 and 11,
High-
street. Deceased, a native of Blackpool, Staffordshire,
had only been a fortnight in Bristol; Samuel Hill, 13
years, Lamb-street, St. Jude's ; 'William Davis' 11, 9,
Lower Castle-street; Mr. Vining, of 21, Stanley-street,,
Euston-road ; George Potter, aged 11, son of Samuel
Potter, No. 7, Redcliff - mead - lane - Ellen Jones'
aged 15, daughter of James Jones, carrier
between Weston-super-Mare and Bristol, Regent-street,
Weston-super-Mare ; Sarah Ann Belbey, 18, West-street
Bedminster; Elizabeth Hall, 60, Croft's-end, St. George's,
Gloucestershire ; Catherine Brewer, worker at the cotton
factory, 4, Ashley-place, Kingsland-road, Dings ; Joseph
Smith, 15, 9, Phcenix-street, Barton-hill ; Charles King, 17,
Mill-lane, Bedminster; W. Alden, 21, Cape Mounted Rifts;
Alfred Talbot, 14, Green-street, Hotwells. The jury
having been sworn, the Coroner said they had been called
together to inquire into one of the most deplorable
accidents that had happened in the city for a number of
years. His memory failed to furnish any. calamity so
distressing in its nature and extent, involving as it did
the deaths of as many as eighteen persons. IN, hat made
the sad occurrence still more sad was the fact that every
one of the unfortunate persons killed left their homes.
in good health and spirits, anticipating an evening of
enjoyment ; whereas it turned out that they were thrown
down and trodden to death by their fellow pleasure-
seekers. He had been informed that there was an ii!aneese
pressure in the avenue leading to the pit nad
gallery entrances, and that a woman, while going
down the slope, fell. Others fell over her, and then
the mass pressing from behind stumbled over the peer
creatures that had fallen, sweeping over ti: e
ni
like a huge wave, and leaving them dead on the slope.
The coroner then observed that such an occurrence
naturally led to a great deal of excitement, and it
was natural that great sympathy should be felt with
the friends of the dead persons. The jury would have
however, to be guided by the evidence irrespective of
feeling, their duty being to inquire whether blame at-
taches to anyone or not. In a case of that kind it was the
magnitude of the disaster which astonished. It might turn,
out to be a very simple thing indeed, and entirely acci-
dental, but still the numbers that had fallen victi ms to
the catastrophe made the inquiry a very grave one. After
some further remarks from the coroner, the jury pro-
ceeded to view the bodies, some of which lay in an armee
of the theatre, at the infirmary, and one at the Hotwells.
The evidence of identity occupied a very considerable
time. The medical examination of the bodies shews that
while several had died from suffocation, many were vic-
tims to the shock to the nervous system. The Coronet
eventually adjourned the inquiry, observing that before
going into the evidence of fact it would be better to allow
soma Qt thq egiterioßt to allbgide•

On Sunday morning, between five end six o-crocx, a very
serious collision, resulting in the death of one man and greet
d;Amage to property, occurred on the North British Rail
way, at Longtowa station, about nine miles north o'
Carlisle. It appears that two goods trains were despatched
from Glasgow for the south, by way of Edinburgh, and that
one of them stopped at Longtown station for the purpose
of shunting off and taking on a number
.of trucks. In the
meantime the second train came up, and, the signals hav-
ing somehow or other got disarranged, dashed with ter-
rific force into the train which was engaged shunting.
The result war that waggons were knocked about in all direc-
tions and truck piled on truck ; indeed, the scene just after
tl:e collision was indescribable, and the extent of damage
was so great, b.)tb to rolling stock and goods in the company's
charge, that it is only possible now to roughly estimate it.
However, it was currently set down at not less than £1,500
or £2,000. Fortunately, the guards and drivers on both
trains escaped comparatively unhurt Lut a titter named
Sewell, belonging to Carlisle, who was on one of the trains,
received injuries which have resulted in his death.