"BLACK BARNSLEY’S DEATHTRAP.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9088, 6 March 1908, Page 2

"BLACK BARNSLEY’S DEATHTRAP.

“Terribly sad (says a London correspondent) was tho disaster at a children’s show at Barnsley on January „llth, when sixteen helpless little ones wdre crushed to death on the stairs of the municipal hall. It all happened so simply, and yet those in authority were powerless to prevent it. The entertainment to which these children were flocking was a cinematograph show. The gallery was reserved for children at an entrance fee of ld r and they were passed in at the side door in batches of 30. They had four flights of stairs to climb to reach the gallery, at ' the door of which a man was stationed to take the pennies. All went well until the gallery was filled. The staircase was blocked, and still the children kept pressing eargerly towards the stairs, seeking for admission. The man stationed just outside the gallery, who was taking the pennies, shouted out amid the din: “We are full here. We cannot do with any more. Go downstairs and round into the front door, and tney will let you in there for a penny.’’ Round wheeled the children. There was a wild scamper. Hundreds of other children were coming up, and at a turn in the staircase they were met by the downward rush. In a moment the youngest and weakest were hurled back, and some fell. Others stumbled over them. There was a frantic scramble, piercing shrieks were raised, the elder children struggled to free themselves, and some of them also made heroic efforts to reach and raise their brothers and sisters, of whom they had charge, but in most cases the attempt was in . vain. It took some time before the heaped mass could detach itself. Meanwhile die children already in the hall were seated, quite unconscious of the tragedy proceeding in this back staircase. What followed may easily be imagined. The children streaming homewards, after being told _ to leave the hall, were met by hurrying women eagerlyg scanning faces and shrilly shouting names and questions. There was’a heaving sigh of relief from the mothers who found their little ones; there was a continuance of the feverish race to the building of those who missed theirs. The siege-of the doors, the frenzied and persistent interrogations, and the agonised cries of those of |the poor women who found themselves' cruelly bereaved made up* a spectacle of a heart-rending character. The man at the foot of the stairs was the first to realise that something was wrong, and being unable to get up the steps, hurried round to the fmut way to acquaint his colleague at the top. His presence of mind was probably the means of saving many lives. Not all the children in the upper part had been involved in the horrible disaster, but those who bad escaped were iu terror, and consequently in jeopardy, when the attendant calmly called them back. He told them they could now get in, and be filled „ the corridor leading to the gallery when the swing doors were closed and further egress by that route was checked. The manager also contrived to avoid a panic inside the hall by turning on the first picture, and then announcing from the stage that there had been an-accident outside the hall and that the performance would not be continued. The audience of children filed out quietly. Meanwhile everything possible was being done for the mass of juvenile humanity on the stairs. The police were summoned by telephone, civilians came promptly to their aid, and doctors were also quickly on the scene. A large number of children were injured, all more or less suffering from bruises or shock. Dr. Hall, describing the scene, said; “The affair is simple—terribly and magically simple. A few of the dead looked just as though asleep, and these probably succumbed to shock. Others, as was evident from the bloated appearance, had clearly died of suffocation.’’ There was not a drop of blood upon the dead* children. They had been simply crushed, trodden on, and suffocated. Their pennies and sweetmeats dropped out of their tiny bauds where they fell.