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

/ •
..-.....:
- . ,
~:,•:!. i.,:;', - i
_,..--1
. -- - -^ - x 'r* f - • : , ,
W.W.
. i. A .... ''• ,1, ..• ... --.-.-
',...4,171.,,y (2 'e
•-•
. /
, . .
el
...----•••,-
, •
: 07 :
ii. ll
~..t:e 4:{ S
..:1: :ft
dii- i Nitittad ; lA§
. _ ,
~,,„ , ......
-44 Ni• ~
'.' - . -
reek_ P 11( '4l ••• . „,
41 -
. _ . . liftli .
,ko_,Elt •"'”O
7 ' ..
'.•
I) I,' r''' . ' • '' - • - ' '
.'
'' '''
. ' l'• ' '•--
'‘•l2-k. ''
•I?.di. -..'''• t'-e: -•- r. . . - ,•1grk,..1),,1 ..41 1,7., ''.
''''...--.:±.- 7''.... • , ~.‘ - ....,. :. e.'-‘, ','''',,
.:- ! ":''' -1
' tWi; - - : Vr',.. '•
• '''''''.. `..:1 ' . --;,:.- : :74',. ' -**: "-.:. ' - ....,..,4: 54,Z. ie. ~..' ‘ AK:- ~1 - - ..- .- . : j'''' . , ;:: • 4-... t.: ~ . 4.1:4 i
' ) 1 - •.. •-
'
i'. ' ' 4:: - i 4.. - - .• • r
1 , ' . . :, ' ..ffe.---, - , • ~,,- -, ,
,tai - , "..- ~, ' • ,ef A. -..- ff ..Vff - r.„,...•..,.,„-- :. ~,..,_ , ...4-ev,), I'm**,
~
~. . 4 ~ •. „
.„. (90 ~..., ' 4b, "
____....._- • : ' :1".1% ) 1
•
a ,•.. - ---,,,r P
t'
;4:.• ' '''' I ..I 'A' 1,1.• - - ' '
,•':‘,V) ' /.. '
.agite -'-
-"- --7
'r•-• 1 - 4.'• • ',!
\ /i +
, ~,,;
..
17
!
1..., .i ...g. • iip:.' .-Z ,-%* ' 140 ' ,Ali.,- ; re'.l ...'
-,..----t,- • ...t.) -L - ir • (•• .... ~/,,,, .
,ivte,.. ROIT• • •fs N.
-:___';'44.*;;••'''' -...,
.••

hfigiY 1116111M1 Mt owl*.
taker; place eh tho drat laudiqppliish3 fetit4 the
ground on the gallery stair, and to have exploded.
That, however, of itself, appears to have caused no
immediate harm to the people stationed at the iaoint
where it occurred; but there arose instantaneously
a cry of " Fire !" which was caught ip from mouth
to mouth by.the crowd above, and conveyed into
the gallery itself. From there, in one moment more,
there was a rush by the people downstairs so great
as"to defy all attempts to resist it. They opened
or tore down the barrier at the top of the Stairs
opposite the check-taker's box, rushed down ini mad
haste to the next landing, where again the money-
taker's barrier offered but a feeble resistance. There
the.advaneed guard cf the crowd Nwiting on the
tairs,•sharing in the panic, turned round to swell
the descending torrent and to effect their escape.
This was the crisis of the calamity. On reacbing
the last landing-place from the ground in 'their
downward course more than a score of people were
thrown down, and the greater part of them literally
trodden and
.crushed to death. Some there Were
r; ho precipitated themselves over the balustrjades
from one landing to another, on the heads of the
affrighted mass below, and either saved their 'lives
or perished in the attempt.
There is a rumour abroad, to which at' this
moment we know not what amount of credit is
due, that the alarm within the theatre originated,
not from the explosiOn of gas on the stairs, but
with a boy in one-of the boxes who had sat down
on his coat pocket, in which he carried some
fusees, and so ignited them. The accident is' cer-
tainly referred to this latter cause by some of the
people connected with the theatre, who; accounting
for it in that way, deny that the explosion of gas
oil the lariding-plaee Of the gallery stairs had any 7
thing to do with the calamity. They also state
that knowing a crowd always assembles on such
occasions on the stairs leading to the gallery before
the audience at the earlier performance has left the
theatre, they provide other means of exit for the
departing body than the ordinary descent by the.
stairs, and that could the people who left the 'gal-
lery on the panic have availed themselves of that
arrangement, the result would probably have been
harmless.

PRICE 4D. STAMPED, SD.

have made a further outlay :of nearly £6,000,000.
Consequently, we have invested in these ships
nearly £28,000,000. Now, any radical change in
the construction of war ships must tend to render
this enormous sum of money lost to us, and. entail
upon us a fresh expense of like or of greater amount.
No other power has so -large and expensive a navy,
and, therefore,no other nation has so !Much to lose
by sweeping hanges. As 'good economists, we
should not then be over hasty in developing new
means of naval warfare in times of peace. The de-
fence of our coasts ia, of course, at all times a legi-
timate subject of improvement, and no necessary
pabis should be spared in rendering that com-
plete. But that may be best. done by man-
ning a sufficient number of the ships we
have, rather than by devising new ones ;
and the existing Government will deserve
great praise if they proVide the means of doing this.
There- is no sign of weakness now visible in the
navy of England save iu its lack of men. The ships
we possess carry no less than 15,140 guns, and could
these be all discharged at once, would, at each
round,: project 254 tons of iron ! In one day of
twelve hours, firing but one round per minute, they
world therefore. project 914,000 tons, enough to
form a solid cannon ball 120 feet in diameter. To
fully man all these ships, and bring all theirpowers
into play, we should require but 162,000 men, and
if we had but a fair proportion of these to: all
upon in an emergency, our defence would surely bp-
complete. It will probably be objected by some
that the French and. Americans are building a new
class of formidable vessels, and that we Must, there-
fore, do-the same. But the assumption of such
-objectors requires proof. The "rams nest," lately
discovered in America, is very much like another_ ,
kind of nest which some people are very often find-
ing. The " ram" that it contains need occasion no
alarm. It has already cost the American Govern 7
ment 800,000 dollars, and a committee appointed to
examine it is said to have reported that it will take
800,000 more to complete the operations begun. It
is, therefore, exceedingly likely to remain in its
nest for very many years to come ; indeed, an
American scientific .paper some time since pre-
noUnced it fit only for exhibition to visitors, at
three cents. a piece, as a monument of folly. As
to the French, they have, like . ourselves, many
inducements to refrain from great innovations.
Where we have. sixty steam line-of-battle ships
they haVe thirty ;, where we have 330 steam-ships
they have 220 ; and where we have 600 ships in all ,
they have 400. Further, much that we have
heard of their proceedings is not only false,. but
ridiculous. The- rumour that they were:build-
ing six polished steel frigates, by which some per-
sons were recently plunged into deep distress,_ was
manifestly put forth to excite our foolish fears ;
and statements less evidently absurd are doubtless
often started with a like object. The French navy
itself, though too costly to be thrown lightly aside,
is greatly inferior to ours, as we have just seen
and the Emperor can be doing nothing that our
Government are:not advised of, and. which they are
not, therefore, at liberty to do also • and, doubtless,
would-do, were it anything formidable:-Certainly
nothing yet made public need excite . our appre-
hension. Give us a strong Channel fleet, liberally;
-manned and well disciplined, and no power that the
French, or any other Government, possesses would
dare to menace. our coasts ; nor , would. any man
venture to say, with Sir Francis Head, that no-
thing but the will of a, foreign Emperor kept Lon-
don secure from a foreign army. Let it not be
thought that the economical. considerations before
alluded to should be suppressed in the discussion of
this topic. certainly_ economy should not be car-
ried so far as to cripple the Government in defend-
ing either Great Britain or its dependencies ; nor
should it be permitted to impede those researches
and. experiments which may be essential to the frill
and prompt development of our strength in the
time of war, 'should that arrive. But. surely this
country, with no offensive or aggressiue ends to
attain, and yet possessing a navy worth 28 millions
of money, and crowded, as it is, with a fearless and
patriotic people, need not wince at every-hostile
whisper, or spend another million on war ships every
time a foolish foreigner boasts ; nor can it be
amiss for such a nation to count the cost of so timo-
rous a policy. But if we are resolved on advancing
at full speed in these matters, we have need to pre-
pare ourselves for such navy estimates as we have
never before known: For there never was a period
when the art of naval warfare was more susceptible
of change than it is at this moment. Fifty years
ago the dimensions of vessels were, by common con-
sent at least, limited; the power of our ordnance
was practically stationary ; the winds of heaven
were our only propellers, and blew on all fleets
equally. But now we build frigates much larger-
than the line-of-battle ships of that day, and know
of nothing to hinder us from building them twice
as large if we will. Our guns are incessantly im-
proved—now by one, now by another, and the
breech-loading rifled cannon which Mr. Armstrong
has just given us, and which ranges, I am told, four
miles, may be quickly succeeded by another of twice
its range. The paddle-wheel has made us independ-
cut of sails ; the screw has made us independent of
the paddle-wheel ;. and the 200-horse power engine
of the Rattler has been followed by the 1,000-horse
power engine which is to drive the Mersey, and
that may speedily be replaced by one ten times its
power. A single improvement in the manufacture of
iron, which hundreds are now seeking to improve,
may at any moment give us the Means of carrying
our steam pressure to unheard-of heights, of resist-
ing shells with the utmost ease, and of augmenting
the strength of our ordnance tenfold."

It remains to be told, that in spite of this fright-
ful calamity the entertainment at the theatre in
the evening went on as if nothing uncommon had
happened,and that long before the doors. opened
an immense multitude congregated at all the points
of entrarie2waiting for admission. It may bt as-
sumed, in charity towards our common humanity,
that few of them could have been cognisant of, the
melancholy
.event which had. happened only an
hour before, but the conduct of those concerned in
the management of the theatre is not susceptible of
any .such construction.
Up .to an advanced hour last night only two of
the dead had been identified by their relatives. One
is a boy about 15 or 16, named Wm. Jones, of 12,
Wellington-place, Waterloo-road, whose body lies at
the Lambeth dead-house ; the other -is a youth of
17, named Win. ,CoOper, mho resided with his
parents at 7, Autheny,:street,-SalisburyTplace, Ber-
mondsey; and who was recognised by a younger
brother who had accompanied him to the theatre.
.He lies at St. Thomas's Hospital, with the body of
another, which, at 9 o'clock yesterday evening, had
not been identified. It is a noteworthy circumstance
that among the whole fifteen who have lost thei
lives, there is not one woman ; and that they are
all boys and youths whose ages apparently run
between 21 and 14. Ten of them were taken in
cabs by the police to the Lambeth workhouse, the
master of which, Mr. Piercy, promptly secured the
attendance of Mr. Bullen, but without avail, for

they were all dead on their arrival there. It was
a touching spectacle to witness the whole ten as
they lay side by side, just as they had been brought
in from the scene of the calanuty. Though they
had all met with a violent death, the features of
every one of them were remarkably composed.
Their lineaments, indeed, were slightly discoloured
and swollen in places, but they bore an expression
so placid that one might have fancied them asleep.
While we were there several half-frantic men and
women who had sons missing came in to see if they
wore among the dead, but at 8 o'clock last night
none of -them had been identified. By their dress
and aPpearanee they all evidently belonged to the
very humblest elass. The dead body at Christ

Chu-reh workhouse is that of a fine looking hid of
about 14, and it too had not been recognised at the
time of our visit. He was seen by Mr. Bianchi, a
surgeon, shortly after he was brought into the
house, but he was then quite dead.

To the ten who were taken to St. Thomas' Hos-

pital, eight of whom were living, Mr. Gervis, the
house-surgeon, and Mr. Bone, the dresser on duty,
promptly attended. The names of those who were
able to give them were, Richard Hodge, 30,
Walnut-tree-place, Lambeth ; Edward Churchill, or
Churchman, 11, Green Dragon-court, King.street,
Snow-hill ; John Stone, 29, Fox-court, Holborn ;
William Barnes, and Benjamin Romaine. There
were two other lads, names unknown, suffering from
concussion. Barnes was insensible last night, as
was also a lad about 14 years of age, not
known. Mr. Gervis and Mr. Bone sought to
restore life to the two bodies apparently dead
by the application of galvanism, and Marshall
Hall's method of artificial respiration, but without
avail. Several other persons who had sustained
injuries in the accident were brought to the hospi-
tal in the course of the evening, but after receiving
the attention of the house-surgeon and dresser, were
enabled to be taken to their homes.
Messrs. Johnson, Donohoo, Dodd, Brookes, Babe-
son, and several other surgeons residing in the
vicinity of the theatre, rendered prompt assistance
to many of the poor sufferers, several of whom, how-
ever, were either dead or beyond the reach of all
human skill when brought under their notice.

ANOTHER ACCOUNT.

In order to prevent any confusion or accident
arising from the egress of the visitors to the after-
noon performance at a time when the evening fre-
quenters of the play might be expected to arrive,
it was arranged that the people in the gallery at
the first performance should, Instead of leaving the
theatre by the ordinary staircase, descend through
a lobby leading to the boxes, and go out by the
principal entrance. The object of the manager in
making this arrangement was twofold—to avoid
any collision between the ascending and descend-
ing people, and at the same time to enable the gal-
lery. doors to be thrown open at a much earlier
period than usual, so as to prevent any very great
crush at the entrance. The doors were thrown
open about 1 o'clock for the morning performance,
and the theatre was, as is usual, almost immediately
crammed, and everything went well throughout
the performance nearly up to the time of the con-
clusion, when the calamity occurred. A compact
mass of persons, principally young men and women,
of the class which usually frequents the gallery of
the Victoria, were packed together on the stairs,
and the crowd was being continually augmented
by fresh arrivals from below. The entrance at
the top of the staircase was locked for
the purpose of preventing confusion and en-
forcing the clearing of the crowd before the
evening visitors were admitted. It was about
20 minutes to five o'clock, while the people
were packed together on the gallery stairs in the
manner described, that a strong smell of gas was
perceived, and it became evident that some rupture
had taken place in one of the gaspipes in the stair-
case. No alarm was at first felt, though the strong
smell of the escaping gas at once attracted the at-
tention of every one. Immediately afterwards,
however, a slight explosion took place on the
second or third landing, which was distinctly
visible to those crowding that portion of the stair-
case. Then arose the fearful cry of " Fire ! fire !f'
" The place is on fire !" and a scene of horror en-
sued bang all description. The whole mass of
people on the upper portion of the stairs, where the
explosion took place, in their anxiety to make their
escape, -precipitated themselves on the ascending
crowd below, while those on the stairs leading to
the first landing, unconscious of what had occurred,
kept ascending. The result was that more than.-
100 people became compactly wedged
two masses, and were unable to move. between
111 ye.n
ter.
en.
rible scene, it is stated, lasted from ten minutes to
a quarter of an hour, a time amply sufficient to
create the dreadful loss of life that it was found
had taken place. The harrowing scene followed of
bringing out the dead bodies, as well as those -who
were insensible, and who were all found crowded
together on the first landing, and crushed together
in one dense sickening and motionless mass. This
was accomplished by Mr. Inspector Byron, of the
L division, who had received almost immediate in-
formation of the catastrophe, and proceeded imme-
diately to the spot, accompanied by a large body of
police constables. He describes the scene as heart-
rending, and his exertions were made in the midst
( f the groans, shrieks, and lamentations of the
crowd outside, as one dead body or other was re-
cognised by some friend or relation. The first dui r
of the police was to secure all the passing cabs alidk
ehicles, and send off the persons who were injur4