Mexico weekly ledger., 1877-03-22
A FATAL PANIC.

A FATAL PANIC.
Particulars of tia. Sad Affair at the
Church of st. Francis Xavier. New
York City.
New YORK, March AT the time of
the alarm last evening in st. Francis
Xavier Church, which resulted SO dis
a%strously, Father E~angiache was preach
ing on "Hell, and the Horrors of the
Damned" and perfect stiffness pre-
vailed. Suddenly, as the preacher was
picturing the torments of purgatory, a
young woman in the northern corner of
the west gallery, overcome by her feel
ings, tainted, and gave utterance to an
hysterical scream, startling the wor-
shippers and causing them to spring to
their feet. The next moment some
reckless person cried "~fire," and this
gave rise to the panic. Father Largi-
ache, who was nearing the end of his
sermon, stopped and implored the peo-
pie to keep their seats, as there was alb
solutely nc cause for alarm. Father
Merrick, the pastor, heard the screams,
and rushed into the sanctuary. He
called upon the congregation to
KEEP THEIR SEATS,
as there was no fire and no cause for
alarm. The sexton also endeavored to
stop the panic. These efforts were par
TALLY successful. Father Langiache re-
tired to the vestry-room, and in a few
moments returned, attired in his cope,
and uttered the benediction, dismissing
the congregation, and the organ began
to play. The women in the main body
of the church and the west gallery
passed out in an orderly manner, and
not a single person in the portions of
the church last named was injured.
The people occupying that portion of
the gallery where the commotion had
begun and conferred listened to neither
priests, pastor, sexton, benediction nor
organ. They rushed toward the exits
from the gallery, and, almost crazed
with fear, pushed and fought their way
into the narrow stairway leading to Six
teenth Street. The stairway is but four
feet wide, and within three or four steps
of the bottom makes a sharp urn be-
fore it reaches the vestibule.
THE CROWD OF MADDENED WOMEN
rushed down stairs, and would proba-
bly, have all reached the street in safety,
but at the bend in the stairway an aged
and very stout woman, in her eager
ness to reach a place of safety, fell
headlong down stairs. Before she
could regain her feet the frantic crowd,
pressing on toward the vestibule, came
upon the PROSTATE form, and those in
the foremost ranks fell upon her. In
a moment the passage-way was choked,
and a scene of the widest confusion
and most intense excitement ensued.
The crowd, in fear, passed on with al
most irresistible force, and nothing
could be done to stop their advance.
The crazed women fought their way to-
ward the choked-up stairway ,t%rampling
upon those who had fallen in front and
crushing the life out of them. They
screamed and
FOUGHT LIKE MANAGES,
and every effort to hold them back so
that the stairway could be cleared was
of no avail. Father Whyte and sever
al other priests who were in the church
parlOrs at the time the panic oc-
CURED rushed round to the front of
the church, and, assisted by patrolmen,
by main force dragged out some women
who were lying on the stairs. A num-
Der of women were then got out, and
only slightly injured. In the struggle
for life they were almost denuded of
their clothing. As the priests and po-
lice, aided by a number of citizens,
made their way up the staircase, they
found lying on the steps four other
women and a small boy. They were
taken out to the open air, but life was
extinct. One woman, Anna Forbes,
was brought out alive, and apparently
not much injured. She walked, with
the assistance of a policeman, to a drug
store on Sixth Avenue, near Sixteenth
Street, where she expired in a few mo-
ments. The assistant sexton says he
distinctly
HEARD A CRY OF FIRE,
but did not see who gave utterance to
it. A gentleman standing outside OF
the church informed Sergeant Douglas
he saw a man in the vestibule of the
church put his head inside the door.
and heard him cry "Fire!" Father
Whyte and other priests connected with
the church are of the opinion that the
cry of fire was given by one of a gang
of pickpockets with the intention OF
creating a panic, during which they
could ply their nefarious vocation. Fa-
Their Whyte says he was in the comics
sional at the time, and when he reach.
ed the front of the church he was al.
most crushed to death while endeavor.
ing to extricate some of the women who
were in imminent danger of losing their
lives.
PRAYERS FOR Fl DEAD.
This morning, at St. Xavier Church,
where the calamity of last night hap
pened, solemn mass of requiem was OF
fered for the dead, and prayers said fol
the speedy recovery of the wounded.