FRIGHTFUL CATASTROPHE.

Inangahua Times, Volume III, Issue 71, 31 January 1877, Page 2

FRIGHTFUL CATASTROPHE.

The own correspondent of the Otago Guardian, writing from San Francisco, under date November 7, gives the following details of the frightful accident which occured ot a Chinese Theatre on Sunday. October 29 :— It was a benefit night, and -nearly 2000 Chinese were wedged into the theatre. Some Chinamen catching sight of a little smoke rising somewhere near the stage, raised the cry of" fire," and a panic immediately ensued. There was a rush from the gallery to the narrow stairway leading to the main exit. The stairs gave way, and a portion of the crowd in passing the portal were overthrown by those who followed, To add to the horrors of the situation, the swinging doors opening to the narrow vestibule were r. reached off, and fell forward upon the unfortunate crowd ahead, crushing a number of them to the floor. The surging mass struggling outwardsprecipitated itself upon the fallen doors, compressing the helpless beings beneath to death. Still others crowded upon those on the doors, and trampled them to death. The exit from the flooi o f the theatre to the vestibule is down a short flight of steps, which accounts for the wedging of the mass at that point, The flight was down an inclined plane Twenty-eight bodies were carried out from the dooyway. Of these, 19 wer< quite dead, seven mortally injured, anc the others dangerously so. The coronei of the city was immediately notified, anc took charge of the dead. As may b< easily surmised, the scene outside th< theatre was ghastly— the dead and dyinj lying on the street and side-walk : th< dying groaning and struggling, and i , stream of chattering and appalled Chinamen pouring out, hopping over bodies like crossing a muddy street. Speaking first on theatrical matters, and then or 'Erisco generally, he says : It seems now to be quite an acknowledged thing that as soon as a star is " played out in this country, up bag and baggage and off tc Australia. Ko wonder when they once get out there they are loth fo feave it, for 'Frisco is . a very slow place compared with Australia. Everything is overrun in this place, and unless you are absolutely able to turn your hand to downright manual work, there's nothing but the veriest skeleton of a chance for your. Oh, yes, though — I forgot, there is still one occupation that only a man of refined taste can touch without soiling his hands and with a lit tie perseverance there is a good chance of getting plenty of work. I now refer to the "professional assassins," of which there are many in this city. The price oftbe undertaking depends almost entirely on the difficulty of the job : if the party be a woman, 40 dollars is a reasonable figure ; if a man, another 10 is generally added, and so on — each variety of undertakings having their specified scale, according to the danger and chances of detection.