The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-06-19
/ TELEGRAPHlC N8 W
THE SUNDERLAND SORROW
Additional Details of the Fright.
full Calamity.

Saturday evening is the subject of un
versal unhappy comment. The hall ha G
! been 6 grounded to-day By distresse d
and excited crowds. The stairway fro IL
the gallery at the top of the landing, al
which occurred the pressure which led to
t1e accident, is from five to six feet wi de,
and the gallery door, through which the
| children were allowed to pass one at 9
| time, which circumstance is regarded az
| the direct cause of the calamity, was
! fitted with bolt which lodged in hole
| 10 the floor, thus narrowing the passage
way for the purpose Of Undertaking,
when the audience was entering the hall.
! The janitor says the scene behind the
gallery door was fearful. Some OF the
children were fixed upright in heap
and actually gssping for breath, SO great
was the pressure of the crowd behind
them. The majority of the children in the
hall we're under IL years Of age when the
disaster happened. The janitor and wife
hastily summoned bystanders and went
to WORK Immediately to give the suffer-
ers relief They fret sent out Of the
| building By other exits the little
ones still IN The hall, by this way avoid
ing the fears of further crush. Those
who went to the rescue Of the sufferers
found the work of removing the heap Of
bruised, crushed and suficsted bodies, no
easy task. Two hundred children we're
rescued irem the pile who were partially
uBiDjured. Many others were found in
an unconscious state, but Of these num-
Der were restored at once to thei- homes.
| Those who were dead or whose wounds
were regarded as fatal we're laid out in
the hall when local. doctors in attendance
used every effort to restore tkose in whom
a spark of life could be detected. One
eye witness stated that he saw lying on
flag stones a short distance from the bot
tom Of the staires the dead bodies of seven
children. Many Of those who came TO
assist in removing the dead and Tescuing
the living were utterly overcome
by the distressing sight of
SO many dead and dying children.
London, IA number ofdeaths have
occurred since the first report, end the
total list is now placed at 1856. One of
the persons who responded quickly to the
call for help says many who volunteered
to assist in rescuing the children sickened
at the spectacle and fed Mortified from
the distressing scene. The rescuers' eff
forts we e directed towards reaching the
children who were apparently alive. So
tightly we're the victims damned together
that it was regarded as dangerous to
drag them out of the helpless mass lest
the effort would result in pulling off
limbs Of living children as we'll as the
mutilated dead. They therefore pro-
ceeded steadily and system stieally to lift
off the topmost A few of those beneath
had survived, and their moaning and low
cries of pain could b3 distinctly heard
amid the excitement, and cries of the be-
reaved parents and friends who were
thronging the adjacent streets.
The disaster was referred to in all
churches in Sunderland TO day, and by
many preachers 10 Lon Ion. Prayers
were offered for the parents and friends
of the victims.
/ The staircase from the gallery was q
winding one. Both the audience and
officials in at the time Of the disaster we're
ignorant for some time of the terrible
tragedy being enacted at the door. they
were not informed till Graham, the hall
keeper, who was 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 IN
formed him Of the disaster and immedi-
ately fell down speeches. il fit. Some
of the families whose homes were so sud-
denly dsrkened lost ever three childreDe
One msn and wife pushed their way int
the hall in which lsy the bodies Of th.
victims, and without betrsying any emo.
ton began to sean the fsees Of the dead.
Recognizing the face Of one of his chill
dren, the father, pointing with his fingers
exclaimed, "Thst's one" Passing on
sgain he Recognized another, and then a
third. Staggering in fit of agony, he
cried, My, Gcd, all gone" and over
whelmed with grief he sank to the floor
In some homes there are FIVE children
dead.
Queen Victoria sent telegram to the
mayor Of Sunderland, expressing griei
over the disaster. The children of vari.
GUS Sunday schools sent kilograms Of
sympathy. Flags are at ha.f mast. One
school loses thirty scholars by the cat
aatrophe. Many Survivors had theil
arms broken in the cruah, and others
are suffering from broken ribs and rup
ture of internal organs. Graham, hail.
keeper, says children not twenty yards
from the door came pressing forward
unaware Of the tragedy, thus making
matters worse than they really were
The sceue inside the hall during the
Identification of the victims battles de
scription. It was painful in the extreme
The faces of the dead children il
almost every case were black and swoller
from suffocation Of which many died
Many lips we're crackd and bleeding
parents rushing wildly about would fal
on the bodies Of their dead children witt
loud wailing and weeping and clasp thu
unconscious forms in their arms, vainlJ
endeavoring to note any sign of life
Many poor mothers swooned away q
the sight of the dead, while others wild
and almost violent in their hysterica
grief. The act of removing the deaC
from the hall to-day was the occasion 70,
the renewal Of the lRmentalion and con
fusion. Many parents rushed through
, the police Gordon, appointed for the pres
] ervation of order, and there was seem
; Of great confusion. One of the witnesse
Of the calamity stated to-day that for tn,
first five minutes there was great lack O
assistance, and from this cause alone
certainly one hundred lives we're lost
The weather was warm ani
the passage way very close, so that in
short time after th g catastrophe, q horri
Bile, sickening stencil came from tn,
y main outlet OF tie hall. The latest re.
ports tonight figure up 16S dead. TIN
gravest fear ia felt that the number We