Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 June 1883 — SLAIN INNOCENTS. [ARTICLE]

SLAIN INNOCENTS.

Frightful Casualty at a Public Hall in Sunderland, County Durham, England. A Swarm of Children Packed Together on a Narrow and Perilous Stairway. The Fall of One of the Number Followed by an Indescribable Panio. One Hundred and Eighty-six Dead Bodies Taken Out—-Heart-Rending Scenes. [Cable Dispatch from London.] About 200 children were crushed to death * in Sunderland, County Durham, the evening of the 16th. An entertainment had been given at Victoria Hall by a conjurer. There was an audience of several thousand, consisting almost wholly of youngsters. After the performance, and when the body Of the hall had been cleared, about 1.200 children came rushing down from the gallery. The door at the top of the first flight of stairs opened only twenty inches—merely enough to allow one person to pass at a time. While the little ones were hurrying out one lost his tooting, fell, and was unable to rise. Those following were tripped. Then the children flashed forward pell-mell. Those In front were being suffocated and trampled upon; those in the rear beoame frenzied, and pushed forward with the energy of despair. The scene was appalling. All efforts to itay the mad rush were fruitless. Many of the victims had their clothing torn from their bodiea The ages of the children tanged from 4to 14 years They lay seven t»r eight deep on the st airway. - The number M injured is estimated at 280. The excitement in thd town was intense. Ksat crowds rushed to the scene, until i-0,-persons surrounded thehalL The authorities ordered out the Fifty-eighth infantry to preserve order. The work of removing the bodies began immediately. As soon as the Uttle unangled forms were takeh from the rreat heap they were laid out in the halL l’he parents of the victims were then admitted to identify the remains Mothers uttered pirceing thrieks, and many fainted on discovering the bodies of their little Ones I The janitor says the scene behind the gallery door was fearful Home children were fixed upright in a heap, and were actually gawping for breath, so great was the pressure of the crowd behind. When the disaster occurred the janitor and several others were hastily summoned. The bystanders 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 averting a further crusn. Those who went td the rescue found the work of removing the a of bruised, crushed and suffocated 38 no easy task, and 2CO ehildron practically uninjured were rescued from the pile. Many others were found unconscious, some of whom were restored. An eye-witness says he saw lying on the flag-stones, a short distance from the bottom of the stairs, the dead bodies of seven children. Many of those who came to assist in removing the dead and rescuing the living were utterly overcome by the distressing sight bt so many dead and dying children.

The rescuers’ efforts were directed toward reaching those who were apparently alive. So tightly were the violims jammed together that it was regarded as dangerous to drag them out of the helpless mass, lest the efforo would result in pulling off the limbs of living children, as well as of the mutilated dead. They therefore proceeded steadily and systematically to lift off the topmost A few of those beneath had survived and their moaning and low cries of pa n could be distinctly hoard, and mingled with the cries of bereaved parents ana friends, who were thronging adjacent streets. Mr. Fay, who gave the entertainment, was busy packing up his apparatus to depart when a man rushed up to him and informed him of the disaster. He immediately fell down speeohless. One man and his 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 one of his children the father, pointing with his finger, exclaimed; “1 hat a one.” Passing on again he’ recognized another, and then a third. Btaggeripg in a fit of agony he Cried: *• My God I All my family gone!” 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 Murton street crying. A passer-by inquired the cause of his grief. “Why, s r,” said he, “I was in the place there, and when I was coming out a boy that was dving bit my hands, and that’s him ” he added, pointing to the corpse of a child lying near. The scene inside the hall during the identification of the victims baffles description, as the faces of the dead wore black and swollen from suffocation, of which many died. Many lips were cracked and bleeding, and parents, rushing wildly about, would fall upon the bodies of their children and with loud walling and weeping, clasp the unconscious forms in their arms, vainly endeavoring to note any sign of life. Many poor mothers swooned away, while others were wild and almost violent in their hyiterioal grief. * The removal of the dead to-day occasioned renewed lamentation and confusion. Many parents rushed through the police cordon, arid daused a wild confusion. The weather was warm, and the passageway very close, so that a short time after the terrible catastrophe a horribly sickening stench capic from the main outlet. One Sunday-school lopes thirty scholars by - the catastrophe. Many of the survivors had their arms broken in the crush. Others are suffering from broken ribs or the rupture of internal organa The hall-keeper says the children pot twenty yards from the door came pressing forward, unaware of the tragedy, thus making matters ten times worse than they really were. 1 . The staircase from the gallery was a winding one. Both thd audience and the officials were in she btUj at the time of thi disaster, and were Ironware, for sonje tilne, of the terrible tragedy being enacted at the door. They were pot informed until Graham, thd ball-keeper, who was strolling near by the scene of the calamity, was attracted by piteous groans, and then gave the alarm. Hie eagerness of the children to depart from thehail was caused by their desire to receive the prizes promised them. Graham throws the blame of the calamity upon the man connected with the entertainntent, 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 exj roesing her grief at the disaster. The children of various Sundayschools also sent telegrams of sympathy. The flags were at half-mast.