Page:Account of the dreadful accident and great loss of lives which occurred at Kirkcaldy, on Sunday the 15th June, 1828.pdf/18

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The tragic scene that occurred last Sunday in this town has excited an interest unparalleled in its annals. This day week all were in high spirits, expecting to hear one of the theological stars of the age. How quickly was the spirit of the dream changed into mourning. Some who were in the bouyancy of youthful spirits, were, in the short space of a few minutes, extended cold and lifeless on the ground; the mother was heard wailing her lost child, the widow her husband, and the friend was seen clinging to the inanimate body of him that was dear to him as a brother, refusing to be separated, for he could not believe the extent of his loss. Seven have since died, but we can now state that all the injured are in a fair way of recovery; and must add, that it is now matter of surprise that the calamity did not prove much greater than it really was.

An architect has since surveyed the south gallery, and was astonished to finds some of the joists altogether off the great beam,—having no other support to prevent their fall than the nails that attached them to the floor above. Farther, he observed that the pillars which support the beam of what was the north gallery, are not placed in its centre, but towards the outer angle.

This day Mr Martin preached in the forenoon from a tent, to a considerable audience assembled in a