Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-06-30
AN ENGLISH HORROR

Many Children, a Panic Epspos BY
Hundre and Eighty-Six Little ~, oM
Meet Death In a Horrible Manner. 'feY
A terrible calamity, involving the do n.y. Is
1856 children, occurred in sunder1an,a
County of Durham. Saturday even,. l
From the details received it appears that
tainments were given in Victoria uanhs
conjurer, attended almost altogethor
children. several thousand being in o.,.
ance. The accident occurred At ~
close of the performance. The ~.
Of the hail had been entirely c,oa1
OF occupants, when some 1,2Oo Of ~
little ones came rushing downstairs ,,''
the gallery. At the top of the first f,igh,
stairs was a door which opened only twan,
inches, and thus but one child was M.
mitted to pass through at a time.
At this point, while the mass of cbior..
were pushing forward, one of them fe), a.,
was unable to rise. owing to the othoS
crowding. The result was that a cro,.
number were pushed down, tranpled on
and suffocated.
The scene was terrible. No effort com,
stop the mad rush of the affrighted cbillro,
They came on pell-mell, though. stranyo,.
without much shouting, and soon one IHs
drcd and eighty-six We're knocked don.
and sutfocated to death by others tramnlin,
upon them. The greater number of bodsS
which were badly mangled from trampljnr
lay seven or eight deep. Many of the Viz
tins and others who were not killed had ,o
clothing torn from their bodies, and this ~
gether with the bleeding bodies of the Nv
~fortunates, shows the terrible nature of III.
struggle. The ages of the one hundred anal
eighty-six children known to be killnd
ranged from four to fourteen years.
The excitement in the town when the|
news of the disaster spread was terrible
Great crowds rushed to the scene, until 90 oooI
persons surrounded the hall. The feelinsI
was so intense that the authorities ordered
out the SiXty-eighth Infantry to prcseryel
order. The work Of getting out the bodjesl
began Immediately. They were laid out in|
the hall, and the parents of those Killed.
were admitted to identify the bodies of their
children. There were most heart-rendinrl
scenes while the Identification was in nrol
gress. The mothers of the dead children
constantly uttered piercing shrieks, and
lilally IttilllCO vi UlSCONtlillS Tic DOUloS MI
their little ones. /
was busy packing up his apparatus to del
part when a man rushed up to him and inl
formed him of the disaster. He immediatel
ly fell down SPECIFICS.
One man and his wife pushed their way
into the hall in Which lay the bodies of tha
victims, and without betraying any emotion
began to scan the faces of the dead. Recog1
niZing oneof his children the father, pointing
with his finger, exclaimed: ''Ihat's one
Passing on again he recognized another, and
thcn a third. Staggering in a fit of agony,
he cried: "My God! All my family gonei'
And, overwhelmed With grief, he sank to
the floor. In some homes there are five
children dead.
A lad was sitting on the railing near Muir
ton street, crying. A passer-by INQUIRED
the cause of his grief. "Why, SIR" said
he, II was in the place there, and when
was coming out a boy that was dying bi
my hands, and that's him." he added, point
ing to the corpse of a child lying near.
The janitor says the scene behind the cal
lery door was fearful. Some children were
fixed upright in aiheap, and We're. actually
Of the crowd behind. When the dis.
aster occurred the %janitor and sew
cral others We're hastily sum.
moned. The b%ystanders went to work
Immediately to give relief to the sufferers.
They first sent out Of the building the little
ones still in the hall, thus a~verting a further
crush. Those who went to the rescue found
the work of removing the heap Of bruised,
crushed and sutfocated bodies no easy task.
and two hundred children practically unir-
lured We're rescued from the pile. Many
Others were found unconscious, some Of
Whom were restored
One Sunday-school looses thirty scholars
by the catastrophe. Many of the survivors
had their arms broken in the crush. Others
are suffering from broken ribs or the rurs
ture of internal organs. The %hall-keeper
says the children not twenty yards from the
door came pressing forward, unaware of the
tragedy, thus making matters ten times
worse thar they really We're.
The staircase from the gallery was a wind-
ing one. Both the audience and the officials
were III the hall at the time of the disaster,
and We're unaware, for some time, of the
terrible tragedy being enacted at the door.
Ihey were not informed until Graham, the
hall-keeper, who was strolling near the
scene OF the calamity, was attracted by
piteous groans, and then gave the alarm.
The eagelness OF he children to depart
from the hall was caused by 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, in
order that the prizes might be given to the
children one at a time While leaving.
Queen Victoria sent a telegram to the
Mayor of Sunderland expressing her griefa
the disaster. The children of various Sun
day-scllools also sent kilograms of syn-
pathy. The flags were at half-mast.
E.nol,4, lItn.l= d.