Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-12-28
PANIC IN AN ENGLISH THEATRE
Fire Alarm Causes IA Rush and the Los,
of a Nnmbrr Of Lives

oil Number 81 Lives.
LONDON, Dec. pa frightful panic oc
CURED Saturday night in the Roya
| theatre. Gateshead, resulting in the loss OF
mum Der of lives. Gateshead is Il consid
cradle city in Durham, and as nearly the
whole population is engaged in manufact
uring industries during the week the
places of amusement are usually
crowded on Saturday Saturday. owins
TO the Christmas season. the ROYAL theatre
was thronged with working people
lille the performance was going on E
boy dropped lighted match from the bal
cony aud 1t set fire to some theatrica
properties. \ woman noticed the fire
and shIieSed that the theatre was burn
ing. At once the audience, which hal
been al attention 10 the play, was aroused.
and not compromising the exact danger
made a sudden and simultaneous rush tc
escape.
a FrightfuI Rush and Crush.
Every aisle and avenue became packed
and the audience. which was numerous
enough to have made exit slow and difficult
had there been no panic became one pant
ing, struggling mass of cursing men and
crying, lalf sUfncatcd women and children
The strong, hearty men from iron works
and mills showed no pity for the weaker
sex. II Il woman or child fell beneath the
strain she or il was ut once crushed under
iron shod heels. Women pleaded for thcii
little ones, holding them above their heads
as far a arms could reach, and the babes
with tie breath being squeezed out ct
them, were saved in several instances by
being Grasped in the strong hands of men
able to hold them with one arm above the
crowd
The janitor Crushed to Death.
The JInitor, Foster. had rushed to oDen
the door at the foot of the main stairs The
solid crowd fell on him like an immense
krupp hammer, crushing the life ont of
his body, which was Gattened to the foo.
Down with him went the eight or ten at
the head of the mass, and they. TOO. had
the lives stamped out of them Behind.
the shrirks and loud oaths. with appeals
for mercy and excavations against the
creator made hell; in front, ut the foot oi
the stairs, was the rampant of dying and
dead, over which the escaping multitude
had to climb.
Ten Persons Lose Their Lives.
The acrors, having eXtinguished the five
with two buckets of water, did their best
TO stay the mad frenzy of the crowd by
shouting out the fact that there was no
fire, but only "a few in the rear of the panic
stricken thrOng heard them When the
panic was over it was found that ten were
dead and that many others had broken
limbs and were otherwise seriously in
jured. Many pathetic incidents occurred
in the terrible rush for the doors, but it is
also stated that the display of brutal
selfishness overcame every other feature
of the awful occurrence.
Two Incidents of the Disaster.
Constable Caisley, while assisting in the
work of cXtricating victims, was Mortified
to discover the body of his t5-year-old son
among the dead. A baby which had been
dragged from its mothers arms in the
crush WIS saved by a man who, unable
himself to gain the door. shouted to
another man who was near the exit and
motioned that he would throw the child
down from the top Of the stairs if the other
would catch it, The man below braced
himself and held up his arms and the baby
went sailing over the heads of the crowd
and was safely caught and soon borne out
of danger