APPALLING DISASTER IN A THEATRE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5193, 26 December 1884, Page 3

APPALLING DISASTER IN A THEATRE.

An appalling accident, resulting in the death of 14 persons and the serious injury of fully as mauy more, occurred on Saturday evening, Nov. 1, in a music hall known as the Star Theatre of Varieties in Watson street, Glasgow. The cause of the disaster was one of those groundless panics with regard to which so much apprehension has. been entertained since a similar catastrophe took place at the Sunderland Theatre. In the course of the performance a cry of " Fire 1 " was raised, which carried consternation throughout an - audience numbering fully 1000 persons. A rush was made to the several entrances. The occupants of the gallery aod pit met on the pit landtag, a block in conse quence took place, and the lamentable loss occurred in the. fierce struggle for escape from the building which ensued. Accounts differ as to the exact quarter from which the cry proceeded, but the preponderance of evidence seems to show that it was raised by a man seated in the second row of seats in the balcony. From this |point it is impossible to get an exact account of what took place, but it is clear that a panic seized the audience in every part of the building, and that there was a wild rush to the doors. The people continued to shout that the place wa3 on fire, and in the midst of the confusion j nothing could be done to allay the alarm that i had taken hold upon almost everyone in the house. The occupants of the gallery seem to have been seized with absolute terror, and in their desperate efforts to esoape upwards of sixteen men and lads threw themselves over the front into the acrobats' net, ' fully twenty feet below. It is believed they were encouraged to do this by seeing one of the exhibition making the leap, which is one part of the performance, thus making his escape on to the stage. The first of the audience to fall into the net was a young lad, who dropped over the front of the gallery immediately after tho performance. No sooner was it seen that | he had alighted safely than others followed j his example, and ultimately succeeded in | making their escape. Meanwhile a terrible scene was being enacted on the staircase leading from the gallery. The crowd rushed headlong down the narrow staircase. The first to make their way from j the hall reached the bottom in safety, but j almost simultaneously with the panic in the ; gallery alarm spread among the boys and ; girls in the pit. Running out, they were i met by the headlong rush from the gallery. j Some one stumbled and fell, and immedi- ; ately the passage became blocked with a : struggling mass of human beings. The stronger aud more vigorous succeeded in ! extricating themselves, but the weak and j feeble became inextricably jammed underj neath. -For a time nothing could be done I for the restoration of order. The attend- • ants in the staircase Vere swept out to the street in front of the crowd, aud no one ; was left to take the lead in the work of j rescue. By this time it was discovered :' that there was no foundation for the alarm that had been raised. Mr Carlton, one of J the artists, and Mr Cole, the stage ; manager, had gone upon the stage, and ! made an attempt to calm the audience ; | several of the attendants seconded their • efforts, and succeeded, to some extent, in j calming the excitement in the body of the . ' hall. Mr Robert M'Kay, the manager, ' who had made an attempt to reach the stage, but had been driven back by the mass of people who were forcing an exit, now entered the pay-box, and by his directions a number of people were passed through the window, and made their escape by way of Watson street entrance. By this means upwards of 20 people were res- ' cued, but still comparatively little progress i was made in relieving those who had first ' fallen in the struggle to gain the street, i the places of those pulled, through the ! window being at once taken by others who rushed down stairs from above. The staircase from the gallery was crammed I almost to suffocation, many men, women, ; and children being carried therefrom in a fainting condition. j | But it was on the pit landing that^the i chief loss of life occurred, for at this point! the mass of struggling human beings was | at one time piled as high as six or seven ; feet. When the panic in the pit first ; arose, a large body of the children endea- ! voui'cd to climb over the partition into i the passage leading to the stalls. After j : some delay a private door in the partition j i was opened, and by this means a consider- \ j able portion of the occupants of the pit ] j were passed safely into tne street by the j ! main doorway in Watson street. This had ! the effect of lessening the pressure into the ; gallery stairs from the pit exit, with the re- j suit that some progress was speedily made in | the work of the rescue. Success in allay- ! I ing the panic was eventually achieved, j | and the work of carrying out the dead I and injured was then completed. Seen j I persons were found to be dead, and seven j | more succumbed to their injuries in tho j ! Royal Infirmary, whither they wore i•■•- --| moved. In the course of the evening a ; I man named James Turner, residing at. -0 ! I Northburn street, was taken into custody \ charged with having raised the false ;iUrni of fire. He was formerly an employee in 1 tho music hall, but was dismissed a iV:tnisrht before the disaster.