Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1883-06-21
A HORRIFYING CALAMITY.
Nearly 200 Children Crushed to Death d
sufiOcated During a Panic.

Nearly 200 Children Crushed to Death or
suffocated During Panic.
A dreadful calamity invoking the death
ofls8 children. has occurred in the town of
Sunderland, county of Dlrham, England.
1t seems that an entertainment had been
given in Victoria hall by coniuror, which
was attended almost altogether by children,
to the number Of ssre al thousand. The
accident occurred at the close cf the PEI
tormance. Aft r the body OF the hall had
been entirely cleared o. its occupants some
rushing downstairs from the gallery. Atthe
top Of the first flight Of stairs there was q
door which opened only twenty inches, and
one child only was permitted to pass through
at time. At this point, while the mass of
children were pushing forward, some of
them fell and were unable to rise, owing to
the others crowdinG on. The result was that
great number were pushed down, trampled
on, and either sufocated or crushed to death.
Inc scene was terrible, and no effort
could stop the mad rush of the alright
ed children. They came on pell nell,
though strangely without much shouting,
and soon l6S Of them were knocked down and
killed by others trampling upon them. The
greater number of the bodies, which were
badly mangled from the trampling. laid
seven or eight deep. Many of the victims
and others who were not killed had their
clothing torn from their bodies in the
struggle. The ages of the 1873 children known
70 nave been killed ranged from four to
fourteen years.
When the disaster happened the janitor
ana ms wife and several hastily summoned
pystanders went to work Immediately to
give the sufferers relief. Those who went
70 the rescue of the unfortunate sufferers
found the work of removing tie heap Of
bruised, crushed and suffocated bodies no
easy task. Two hundred children were res
cued from the pile who were practically un-
injured. Many others were found in an un-
conscious condition, but of these number
were restored and immed; ately taken to
their homes.
Nearly all of those who were dead, with a
number of those whose wounds were re-
garded as fatal, were laid out in the main
hPll, where the local doctors in attendance
used every effort to restore those in whom a
spark of life could be detected Many Of
those who came to assist in removing the
dead and rescuing the living were utterly
MANY
dead and dying little ones.
When the news of the disaster had spread
through the town great crowds of people
hastened to the scene, until at least 10000
persons surrounded the hall. The feeling
was so intense that the authorities
ordered out the Sixty-eighth Infantry
to preserve order. The work Of getting
out the dead bodies of the victims was
begun Immediately. They were laid out
a ha ar7d no ,<u ,f 1leI
were admitted for the purpose of identifying
the bodies of their children. The most
heartrendlng scenes occurred while the
work of Identification was in progress. The
mothers of the dead children constantly
uttered piercing shrieks, and many of them
tainted on discovering the bodies of their
little ones.
The disaster was referred to in all the
churches in Sunderland the next day and by
many of the preachers in London, and
prayers were offered for the parents and
friends of the victims.
The staircase from the gallery was wind
ing one. Both the audience and the officials
who we're in the hall at the time of the
disaster were unaware for some time of the
terrible tragedy that was being enacted at
the door. They we're not informed until
Graham, the hall-keeper, who, strolling near
by 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 man 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 his wife pushed their way into
the hall in which lay the dead bodies of the
victims, and without betraying any emotion
began to scan the faces of the dead. Recog-
nizing the face of one of his children, tie
father, pointing with his finger, exclaimed: /:
That's onew Passing on again, he recog
nized another and then third. Staggering
in fit Of agony, he cried: my God All
my family gone p and overwhelmed with
grief sank to the floor. In some homes there
are five children dead.
Queen Victoria sent telegram to the
mayor of Sunderland expressing her grief at
the occurrence. The children OF various
Sunday-schools also sent kilograms of sym
pathy. Flags were at half-mast. One Sun
day-school loses thirty scholars by the
catastrophe. Many of the survivors had their
arms broken in the crush. Others are suf-
fering from broken ribs or rupture of in
ternal organs.