Mar 13 1832 Sunday School Accident - Cumberland and Westmorland Newspaper Transcriptions

Mar 13 1832 Sunday School Accident

The Times, Tuesday, Mar 13, 1832; pg. 4; Issue 14798; col A

One of the most distressing accidents which for some time past it has fallen to
our duty to record, occurred at Cockermouth on Sunday afternoon last. The
spacious Sunday School erected at that place was opened for the reception of
pupils on the forenoon of that day, and both the conductors of that useful
establishment and the children present quitted it at the usual hour for divine
service, pleased beyond measure with the excellent accommodation which their new
erection afforded. They met again in the afternoon, and at the close of the
teaching the children, amounting, we understand, to upwards of 400, were all
assembled in the upper room for the purpose of singing a hymn, with which the
labours of the day invariably terminate. On quitting the room, the weight of so
many children pressing towards the door caused one of the beams which supported
the floor to give way, by which a majority of the scholars were precipitated,
with the falling floor and timbers, into the room below, carrying along with
them the brick partition which separates the stair-case from the lower
apartment. Several of the children were buried amongst the falling ruins, two of
whom, we regret to state, were killed upon the spot, and many others seriously
injured. - Carlisle Journal.