SERIOUS ACCIDENT AT A SALVATION MEETING.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1051, 6 January 1883, Page 3

SERIOUS ACCIDENT AT A SALVATION MEETING.

A terrible accident, by which a largo number of persona were seriously in jure!—some, it is feared, fatally—occurred at Hanley lately. A short time before the hour appointed for the usual evening service at the Imperial Circus, in connection with the 1 Salvation Mission,’ under ex-Cap(nin Gipsy Smith, who, n short time ago, was the cause of a ‘ split’ in the Army ( a preliminary ‘holiness’ meeting, attended by about 300 members of the- congregation, was being held in the ante room adjoining the building, and over a part of the circus formerly used as circus stables, when the floor gave way, precipitating most of those present into the lower storey. This produced. a terrible panic, many persons having their legs and arms broken, and all the others being more or less bruised, shaken and terrified. A great number of women fainted, and for a time lay amidst the dtbris of the floor as if dead, until rescued by people who came almost immediately afterwards to the evening service in the circus.

The panic which followed the catastrophe cannot be described, and what tended to make matters worse was the unforlunate circumstance that a man whilst trying to turn the gas on fully turned the key the wrong way and enveloped the building in darkness. This more than ever terrified the uninjured in thn main part of the building, and amidst the cL.L.cas a general rush was made at all the doorways and passages, numbers being knocked down and trampled on, whilst’ Others were seriously crushed. The danger was in one sense increased by people in all parts of (he building who bad kept their seats striking matches, and probably a terrible disaster might have followed bad it not been for the presence of mind of Mr James Beddington, an extown Councillor, who instructed the band in the terrible confusion caused by the groans of the injured and the screams of the terrified, to play up one of the popular airs so common among the Salvationists. As soon as possible the gas was re-lit, and the work of extricating the injured commenced. The corridors of the building were literally strewn with men, women ard children, it being impossible for some time to ascertain the extent of the injuries received, Drs Phillips and Spanton were speedily fetched, and other medical men afterwards came on the scene, but so serious were the injuries that soma had received that they had to be removed to their homes and treated there ; while many limbs were broken, and serious injuries received, the extent of which cannot at present be ascertained. Chiefconstable Wiudle, with'lnspector Hall and an efficient staff of police officers, were speedily on the spot, and did all that was possible to maintain order and convey the wounded to their homes.

In the first confusion many females ran off terror-stricken as soon as they could escape from the building, Laving their hats, shawls, etc., behind them. As the people came out of tho various churches and chapels of the town the news of the disaster became known and a groat crowd flocked to the scene filling, the streets in the vicinity of the circus to such an extent that locomotion was almost impossible, The police at a late hour had not by any means a complete list of the injured. In one ot the ante-rooms were placed a large number of ■umbrellas, hats, bonnets, etc,, waiting identification. The cause of tho accident was the breaking through of a 9in beam connecting tho joints of tho floor.