The Sun.
London, England, 1829-04-18 00:00:00

ACCIDENT AT HECKNIONDWIKE.

On Sunday evening last, during the performance
of Divine Worship in the Wesleyan Methodist cha-
pel, at Heckmondwike, a rush was caused by a part
of the congregation taking alarm at the falling of a
stove-pipe, the result of which was the death of
six individuals, chiefly young people. The follow-
ing are the particulars :—Mr. William Dawson, a
local preacher, of Barnbow, near this town, was
preaching a sermon in the evening. At about a
quarter past seven, when the preacher was apply-
ing the practical part of his discourse, it is supposed
that the pressure of the crowd had shaken or dis-
placed the stove, which was in the body of the
chapel, and a little in front of the gallery. From
the stove was an upright pipe, connected by an
elbow with a horizontal one running under the gal-
lery for three or four yards, and out of the front
wall of the building. This pipe was feebly
supported by nail crooks, and, from the cause
above-mentioned, it fell upon the people beneath,
but without injury to any one. At this moment
that part of the congregation in the vicinity of
the spc.t, began to retire. This caused an alarm
in the minds of many not acquainted with the
trifling nature of the accident. The consequence
was, that an alarm immediately became general. The
panic in the minds of the people in the gallery was
very great, from the circumstance that a large quan-
tity of dust and soot ascended towards them. Then
came a general rush front all parts of the chapel,which
was continued and increased by the crashing noise
made by trampling upon the broken fragments of
the stove-pipe which had fallen on the ground. The
shrieks of females, the cracking of the wood-work,
and the jumping of people over the pews, produced
an appalling effect upon the congregation, who
seemed engaged in one general struggle to make an
escape. The preachers in the pulpit used every
effort to quell the alarm, but their exertions were
fruitless. An individual perceiving the crowd has-
tening towards one of the doors, closed it. This
caused the accumulation of a dense mass of human
beings in a porch of but small dimensions, where
they remained a short time wedged together, till either
from excessive pressure, or from the excitement of
fear, the cries of those within induced some
persons who had made their escape from the
open door, to force the one which had
hitherto been kept closed. This being with
some difficulty effected, a scene presented it-
self which beggars all description. Those nearest
the door were young persons, who were immedi-
ately thrown down and trampled upon by those in
the rear, others fell upon them in making their way
out, and when the pressure had subsided, the passage
to the door was literally choked with males and fe-
males lying on the floor, so closely wedged that it
required considerable effort to extricate them from
each other. Those who had been fortunate enough
to have their faces exposed to the air, suffered com-
paratively little injury, but others were suffocated
before they could be removed. Part of the assem-
bly remained in the chapel. A report was at length
brought in that four persons had been killed. This
naturally excited a fear in the breasts of those who
remained, that those individuals might form a part of
their own family, and the confusion was resumed
by their retiring to ascertain whether that was the
fact. Still several people seemed disposed quietly
to remain in their pews, but their fears were again
roused by a person who had gone outside, thrusting
his umbrella through two of the windows at the
back of the chapel. After singing and praying, the
service was concluded without making any collection.
The following is a list of the dead :—John Leem-
ing, aged 14, taken out dead, apprentice to a shoe-
maker 'at Staincliffe, near Swithenbank ; Emma
Whiteley, taken out dead, Heckmondwike, aged
13; Betty Oxley, taken out dead, ditto, aged 33,
unmarried; Ann Heald, taken out dead, ditto, aged
13; Martha Street, taken out dead, ditto, aged 14;
Henry Rothery, died on Monday evening, ditto,
aged 7.
On Tuesday an inquest was held on the bodies,
at the house of Mr. Schofield, the Woodman Inn,
after which the finding of the Jury was as follows :
_" That the said Emma Whiteley, on the 12th
day of April, in the year aforesaid, was attending
divine service at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, ut
Heckmondwike, in the parish and county aforesaid,
when accidentally a stove-pipe fell suddenly down
amongst the congregation, which then and there ex-
cited such great alarm and fear, that great numbers
of the congregation so assembled rushed instanta-
neously to gain the west door of the said chapel, and
that the said ---- among the rest, in making such
attempt, was then and there accidentally thrown
down near the threshhold of the said west door, and
was then and there, by the pressure of the crowd, in-
stantly suffocated and died."—Leeds Intelligencer.

In a trial at York assizes Mr. Justice BAY-
LEY took occasion to remark, that " it might be useful
for landlords to know, that by a recent Act of Parlia-
ment it was enacted, that if any alehouse keeper was con-
victed of being drunk, he should not be capable of being
licensed for a public-house for three years."
Galway Assizes have proved maiden. JouN
LYONS, for the murder of his wife and infant son, was ac-
quitted. Most extraordinary, the Jury first found a ver-
dict of Guilty, and then one of the panel recommended him
to mercy, after which they withdrew, and altered their
verdict to Not Guilty.—Saunders's News Letter.