PANIC IN A THEATRE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4049, 27 February 1892, Page 3

PANIC IN A THEATRE.

A TcrriMo Scene

A most lamentable illustration of " the ruadncß3 of orowds" is furnished hy the panio a) the Gateshead Theatre on Boxing night, The pantomime of " Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp" was being produoed when someone in the balcony dropped upon the floor a lighted match, which ignited some paper and sawdust, The lire was almost immediately extinguished, but a nervous woman screamed out in alarm, and the majority of the audience gave themselves over to abject fright, and rushed for the doors. The people in the balcony and pit escaped without any serious injury, The gallery staircase, however, was blocked, with terrible results, A Home paper, describing the scene, says ; "The gallery waßunusually well filled with women and children, and at the alarm of fire the women lost all self-control and rushed madly to the staircase in order to escape from the building, Naturally, the children shared the apprehensions of their elders, and the screaming and scrambling were pitiful to hear and behold, A large number reached the top of the stairs together, fighting madly to get out. The first flight of stairs led to a landing with a wall in front, then a turn bad to be made to the left hand side in order to desoend a second flight of stairs which led into the Btreet. This was the spot whore the iatalitieß occurred, At first several children fell and were trampled under foot | others following fell upon them in a heap, to be fallen upon themselves in turn by still more panio stricken people, who were anxious to escape, The screams of tho little ones were terrible to hear, and their agonies must have been dreadful, Their shouts were of a brief duration, however, as they were quickly crushed to death or suffocated. The exit from the gallery was thus blocked, and those yet remaining to get out had to resort to other means for their liberation, Strong men came nobly to the rescue. Tbey raised children to their backs and jumped with them from the gallery into the balcony, sliding thence to the stage, and after' wards reaching the street. The windows of the theatro were broken by some of the men inside, the air having become oppressive, A little fire was seen to be smouldering under the flooring, but it was speedily extinguished, In itself it was really no Bource of danger, and there would have been no ground for alarm if the audience had only remained calm for a few minutes. It was the panic, and the panic alone, which caused the mischief."