The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-06-20

ing one. Both the audience and officials
also were in the hall at the time of the dis
aster and were unaware for some con
sijersbl time of the terrible tragedy being
enacted at the door. They were not in
formed until Graham, the doorkeeper, who
strolling near the scene of the calamity, was
attracted by the groans and gave the alarm.
Mr.. Fay, who gave the entertainment, was
busy packing up his apparatus to
depart when men rushed up to
him and informed him OF the disaster,
and Immediately fell down speechless in
fit.
Some of the families whose homes were so
suddenly darkened lost over three children.
One man and wife pushed their way into the
hall in which lay the bodies of the victims,
and without betraying any emotion began to
scan the faces of the dead. Recognizing the
face OF one of his children, the father. point
ing with his finger, exclaimed: That's one"
Passing on again he recognized another, and
then the third. Staggering in ft OF agony
he cried: My God, all my family are gone,"
ard, overwhelmed with grief. he sank to the
floor. In some homes there are five chill
Queen Victoria sent telegram to the May
or of OfSunderland expressing her grief at the
disaster. The children of various Sunday
schools also sent kilograms of sympathy.
Flsgs vere at half-mast. One Sunday school
Loses thirty scholars by the catastrophe.
Many survivors had their arms broken in the
crush. Others are suffering from broken
rlbs or rupture of internal organs Graham,
the hall keeper, says children not
twenty yards from the door came
pressing forward unaware of the tragedy
unaware OF the tragedy, thus making mat
teTs ten times worse than they really were.
The scere inside Victoria Hall during the
identification of bodies battles description
and was painful IN the extreme. The faces
Of the dead children were almost
in every case black and swollen
from suffOcation. from which many died.
The lips were cracked and parched and noses
bleeding. and parents rushing wildly about
would fall upon the bodies Of their dead
children, and with loud wailing and weeping
clasp the unconscious forms in their arms
vGiDly endeavoring to note some sign of
life. Many poor mothers sWooned away
at the first sight of the dead, while others
were wild and almost violent in their
hystericsl grief. The act of removing the
dead from the hall to-day WAS the occasion
FOR q renewal Of lamentatiOn and confusion.
Many parents rushed through the police
Gordon appointed for the preservation of
order, and there was q scene Of great con-
fusion. One of the witnesses Of the calamity
stated today that for the FIST FIVE minutes
there was great lack Of rs is,ance
and from this cause alone there we're
certainly one hundred lives lost The
weather was warm and the passage way very
close, so that in q very short time after the
catastrophe horribly sickening stencil came
from the pile of cOrpses at the main outlet
hail.
The latest reports tonight figure
up 1ss dead, and the gravest fears
sre felt that the number will vet
be shown to haYe reached at least 2O0 The
eagerness of the children to depart from the
hall was their desire to receive the prizes
promised them. Graham throws the blame
for the calamity upon the man connected
with the entertainment, who, it appears,
fastened the door half open ia order that the
prizes might be given to the children one at
time while they we're leaving the hall. One
cad incident was witnessed in the vicin-
ity of the hall. A lad was sit
ting on railing near Carmurton
street crying. A passer-by inquired the
cause of his grief. why. sir" said he, IL
was in the place there, and when l was COM
ing out a boy that was dying bit my hand,
and that's him." pointing to the corpse of q
child lying near by.