Page:Account of the dreadful accident and great loss of lives which occurred at Kirkcaldy, on Sunday the 15th June, 1828.pdf/11

11 at the bottom of the fatal stair-case, we have only heard of one man who has survived. By the pressure and the suffocating heat and dust, this person was rendered insensible; but when extricated, and removed to the open air, he recovered a little, then vomited freely, and is now out of all danger. It is remarkable, too, that those persons who were in the gallery which fell, generally escaped with bruises and contusions more or less severe; and those who had the firmness and presence of mind to keep their seats were nearly all, we believe, equally fortunate. In fact, this was their only, or at all events their best chance of safety; but, unhappily, a multitude, under the influence of the wildest consternation, is insensible to every motive or feeling except the panic by which it is actuated, and rushes blindly into the jaws of the very destruction which the brute impulse of fear impels it to shun. In this case the rush was rendered still more tremendous, and the mortality increased, by the friends of individuals who had fallen, trying to stem the human torrent that was rolling over them. After each momentary stoppage, it burst forth anew with resistless fury, and the generous efforts to save only added to the number of victims.

Such is a faint and imperfect account of this truly deplorable calamity, which has plunged Kirkcaldy and its neighbourhood into mourning, and excited a strong sensation wherever the news of it has reached. To ascribe it, however, to the crowd which had assembled upon this