3-028-207 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Scene of the fatal crush at Liverpool, 1870. Inside the 'Roman Catholic Church of St. Joseph...where fifteen lives were lost by the crushing of a crowd...the building...[was] intended to accommodate about 2000 persons...Underneath the chapel is the school-room, which will hold from 500 to 800 persons. There are only two modes of ingress or egress...It was at the north entrance where the terrible struggle for life took place...The revival services...were attended each Sunday evening by congregations of two or three thousand souls, besides an equal number of children, gathered in the school-room under the church...the cry of "Fire!" was raised by some one. Then arose screams from every part of the room, accompanied by a terrible scramble by those nearest the stairs to get out...many people were thrown down on the stairs and landing, and some were trampled to death. Many others received serious injuries. The...priests exerted themselves to persuade the people to be quiet, and continued their religious services, with great presence of mind, while the police arrived and carried away the dead...Most of them had died of suffocation. An inquest has been held...with a recommendation of the jury that the doorway of the church should be widened'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870.