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April 21, 2004
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SEAHAM MINE DISASTER,
SUNDERLAND
The Seaham Colliery near the town
of Sunderland, England. opened in 1840 in one the richest coal fields of Durham County.
On August 17, 1880. one of its two main
shafts exploded at 2:30 a.m., while 246 miners out of an entire work force of about
1600 were at work.
Following sixteen hours of digging by rescue
teams, 85 miners were rescued the bodies of 161 workers were later found
VICTORIA HALL STAMPEDE
June 16th 1883
Victoria Hall. the largest
building for popular entertainment and meetings in Sunderland, England. became a bloody
scene of disaster when a total of 1.200 children Stampeded on June 16, 1883.
Mr. A. Fay and his wife were giving a
special children’s performance of "conjuring, moving and speaking
wax figures and
marionettes, and other diverting illusions and mock spectres," and almost all
of the city’s children were in attendance with only a few accompanying
parents, almost
all of whom were women chaperones.
About 1,500 children crammed into Victoria
Hall; most of these were occupying the gallery. At the end of Fay’s performance, toys
and other prizes were to be distributed, so the children eagerly pushed forward down a
lone staircase to get to the stage.
The children ran from the gallery down the
narrow staircase. At the bottom of the staircase was a door fixed so that only one child
at a time could pass: the width of the opening was about twenty to twenty-four inches.
The management had jammed the door in this
manner in order to assure that each child had purchased a ticket. This situation created a
death trap, for when the first child became jammed there, the next one piled up on top
until the bodies were twenty deep.
Those on the bottom of the gruesome heap
were crushed to death as those behind continued to stampede.
The caretaker, Frederick Graham, tried to
untangle the squirming, shrieking mass, but found the weight too much to lift. He then ran
up another staircase and led approximately 600 children to safety by another exit.
A number of adults ran forward and began
to lift the children from the bloody heap. One man cursed the owners of the
theatre as he
tore the locked door from its hinges.
It was too late for about 200 children who
were already under the weight of their companions. Mass funerals were held in Sunderland
the following day.
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