and a general rush
was made for the stairway, which being very contracted, they fell one
on the top of each other, creating an awful state of confusion. So
terrified were some, that they broke out the second and third storey
windows, and sprang out, falling with deadly violence in the yard
below. The screams and cries of the affrighted women and children soon
called the aid of the police; and Captain Brennen, aided by his
efficient officers, rendered every assistance in his power, and
succeeded, as quickly as possible, in extricating the injured as well
as the dead from the scene of calamity. Six dead bodies were conveyed
to the station-house, and eight persons were conveyed to the city
hospital with broken arms and bodily injuries, some of whom are not
expected to survive. Many others were injured, more or less, but not
deemed sufficiently so to be sent to the hospital. Those killed are
all children, except one, who is a young woman about twenty years of
age. They were all suffocated by the number of persons crowded on
them. The scene at the Sixth Ward Station-house presented a woful
sight, the mothers of the deceased children bewailing over them in the
most pitiful manner. At the time the alarm was given, there were about
480 emigrants in the building, the larger proportion women and
children, who were up stairs; and in forcing their way down stairs,
the balusters gave way, thus precipitating them down in a very similar
manner to the unfortunate children at the Ninth Ward School-house.
There was, it seems, no cause for the alarm of fire any more than the
bells rang an alarm; which alarm did not refer to that district, but
was misconstrued by the emigrants to be in their building. Alderman
Barr was quickly on the spot, rendering every assistance in his power
to alleviate the sufferings of the poor unfortunate emigrants.'

The details of these two calamities arising from sheer panic will not
be useless, if they serve to shew the extreme danger and folly of
giving way to a terror of fire in crowded buildings. Let us impress
upon all the necessity for so disciplining their nerves, that on
hearing a call of fire in a church, theatre, or other place of
assemblage, they may act with calmness and common sense; those nearest
the door going out, and the others quietly following. It is in the
highest degree improbable--not to say impossible--that in such places
fire, before its discovery, can gain such a height as to cut off,