A Tyneside Tragedy.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 43, 20 February 1892, Page 3 (Supplement)

A Tyneside Tragedy.

Terrible Panic in a Theatre,

Ten People- Killed,

(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

London, January 1,, 1892.

Scarce a Christmas passes which is nob mournfully marked by a catastrophe in a place of entertainment. A terrible panic caused by an alarm of firo occurred at the Theatre Royal, Gateshead, on Boxing nighb; whilst tho pantomime 'Aladdin' was being represented. In some respects the tragedy resembles that which book place ab the Victoria Hall, Sunderland, some few years back, bub happily the death roll in the present case is small in comparison. On Saturday an awful struggle for the exits took place. Excitement gave place to fear, and then followed confusion, in which the majority of the audience lost bheir heads. In the deadlock which followed the frantic rush for the doors, nine children and one man wero crushed or trampled to death. Ab bhe end of bhe eighth scene of ' Aladdin' smoke was seen arising from tbe balcony floor, and immediately a shrill shriek of-Fire!' rang through the building. As one man the entire audience of fifteen hundred souls rose from their seats and rushed wildly for the exits.

How the Scare Arose.—A Checktaker's

Heroism

There was no apparent cause for panic, except that bhe people had become suddenly impressed with the idea that the theatre was in flames and that their lives were in danger. As a matter of fact, some one in the balcony, which is a semi-circle immediately below the gallery, had dropped a match, which had nob been properly extinguished, into a crevice between the back of ouc seat and tbe front of another. Like most apertures of the kind, the crevice had been made the receptacle of all kinds of odds and ends—pieces of paper, scraps of programmes, and rubbish of various sorts —which had, no doubt, become dry and easily inflammable owing to the warmth of tho building. Tho match ignited this accumulation, and in a short time smoke began to issue from the balcony floor. Then ib was thab the dreaded cry of ' Fire,' which was to be followed by such a fearful disaster, was heard. In their efforts to regain the open air, men shouted and women screamed; somo fainted and fell to tho floor and were trampled upon by the surging crowd. The persons forming tho crowd could not have kept clear of those who had helplessly fallen if bhey had been ever so anxious to do so, the pressure from tho rear impelling them forward and wedging them into a compact mass. At bhe bop of the stairs leading from the gallery the crush was most sovere. A checktaker named Forster here made a brave efforb to stop the deadly rush and sacrificed his own life in tho endeavour to save those who were madly struggling to make their way into the street. Ho was swept from his place, fell before tho onrush of those who had so lately been pleased spectators of a merry pantomime, and was crushed to death in the pressure. According to another account, about a quartor-past ten it was noticed thab two youths were smoking in the side balcony, which is immediately below the gallery. Some of the attendants called to them to put out their pipes, and after several warnings the lads reluctantly complied. A quarter of an hour later thoy lit their pipes again, and one of tho boys is said to havo dropped a lighted match on tho floor. Directly afterwards smoke was soon issuing from the balcony, and a woman, rising from her scat, excitedly shrieked " Firo!" Wibh great presence of mind a man who was sitting noxb her seized the woman nnd placed his hand over hor moubh, but bho mischief was already done. The conducb of all bhose connected with the theatre appears to have beon most praiseworthy.

Some Striking and Pathetic

Incidents,

The news of the calamity of course spread Quickly, and the police were soon on the spot. A constable named Waddington, who.made tho first rescue, had a singularly terrible experience. On examination of the pale features of the victim he was horrified to find that ib was his own son. Lifting him tenderly in his arms he carried him" homo, but the little follow expired just as he reached the door of tho house.

One man, in his anxiety to save his three-year-old child, threw it into the pit from the gallery. A young fireman rescued several persons. When the staircaso was blocked people lay upon each other, as is stated by eye-witnesses, to a height of six feet. One man sprang from a gallory window down to the roof of some shops. The fall was one of about thirty feot, and tho man went through the roof. He was fcsund with a broken leg and bruised ; his condition, however, is nob considered dangerous. Another man soon followed his example, jumping from another window into the street. A coat -sas held oub below to break his fatTT and, though ib did so to some extent, he sustained painful injury. Several personß were saved by sliding down planks which were passed from the stage to the pit and thence raised to the gallery. Several extraordinary escapes are recorded. In one case a baby, only seven weeks old, who had been dragged from tho arms of its mother in the rush, was picked up by a man and thrown over the crowd of the stairs into the arms of another man, and was taken oub uninjured. While the rescue waa proceeding roughs gob behind the scene*! and pillaged the actors' property. Though ten deaths are reported up to the present, bhero are several of bhe injured persona seriously ill. A boy named Burn, aged eleven, has not yet recovered consciousness, and a lad named George Crudas, who was baken oub of bhe mass of struggling people on the staircase, was conveyed home, bub haß losb his reason. Several touching incidents occurred while bhe work of rescue was in procress. One was the case of a poor little fellow who was covered with the bodies of other persons who had fallen. He caught a glimpse of tho rescuers at work, and pibeously shouted, ' Oh, save me, sir; do save me 1' The man appealed to made a dosporate effort, bub was unable to succeed, and the little fellow's life ebbed away.

A Narrow Escape.—Unconscious for

Sevi-n Hours,

'We would have got downstairs all right,' a young man of 21 told a reporter, ' but a woman with two bairns tripped and fell down. With the cnush from behind I fell ou top of her. A lot more people.fell on top of me, and I could not get out. We were juet at the very top of the stairs leading into the gallery. Poople seemed to heap up on top of me and behind, crushing me until I could not get my breath. T lay gasping for a minute or two, then everything turned dark and I lost my senses. I had nn idea that there would be about forty or fifty people on top of me and around mo. After I lost my sensor I knew nobhing unbil half-pasb five this (Sunday) morning when I came to myself aaain. I suppose bhey pulled me oub and broughb me homo when I was unconscious. I am getting better now.'

A Juirr from the Gallery to the Stage.

One of the gallery survivors' is a tall, strapping young man named Thomas Mason, eighteen years of ago: He sAid..the. gallery, in which part of the house he was, runs right round the theatre. The balcony is below that, and ah eaoh end of ib there is a private box, looking tttuwodiaKjly cm to

the stage. *My seat in 4he gallery/ Mason continued, ' was on the right-hand side, and close bo bhe stage. I saw Mr Turner get up into the balcony and begin to knock the wood away, so thofc the flames wotild nob spread. The flames were still there, and I jumped down on to the stage.' •' From bhe gallery?' 'Yes.' 'Thab was a long jump?' 'Yes; ib was about fifteen feeb." I think, and I had to jump on the slant — inwards —bo reach bhe stage and clear the footlighbs. About other ten people jumped down after me. One young chap gob his foob fast in bhe footlights and had to be helped oub. I saw a man called Hinds, employed ab tho theatre, open a trapdoor that leads from the gallery down on to the stage, and he assisted several women and children through that. When I gob on bo bhe abago a young lady near me fainted, and I held her until one of the men belonging to tho theatre took her outside. Then' I jumped out through a window. It was quite easy to get out of bhe theatre once you were on the stage. From the pit and balcony people were pouring over the stage, and the actors and others wore helping them oub.'

The Inquest.

The inquest on tbe bodies of bhe victims of the disaster at Gateshead Theatre on Saturday nighb was formally opened this morning. Evidence of identification having been given, the jury proceeded to the scone of the disaster, having been previously recommended by the coroner to particularly examine bhe single exib from the gallery to ascertain whether it woseufficient to enable an audience to depart speedily in ease of panic. Tho inquest was then adjourned until Wednesday next. In all cases burial certificates have been granted.