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men, one a Jkoc.makcr, another a brufk-maker , and the 
third a Jailor , feve rally applied to the court, that the oaths 
might he adminiftered to them to qualify them to preach 
the Gofpel. The chairman afked thefe candidates for 
ecclefiaftical fame, whether any of them had received the 
neceffary education at either of the univeriities, Oxford 
or Cambridge, or at any public fchool; or whether they 
were deeply read in theology ? They replied in the ne¬ 
gative. The chairman obferved, they mu ft neceflarily 
entertain very wild and extravagant ideas in regard to re¬ 
ligion 5 and lie wifhedto learn the inducements they had 
to become preachers. They replied, that they had no 
objefts of lucre or gain in view ; but were actuated by a 
ftrong and vehement inclination to promulgate the Gof¬ 
pel of God, for the purpofe of contributing, as far as in 
them lay, to the falvation of fouls. They intended to 
exercile their holy functions entirely within the county 
of Middlefex. The chairman granted their application, 
and they withdrew to the office of the clerk of the peace. 
Similar applications of unlettered apoftles are not unfre¬ 
quent. 
O11 the a 3d ofFebruary, a mod dreadful accident happened 
atthe execution of two men for the murder of Mr. Steele. 
The crime was perpetrated on the 6th of November, 1802 ; 
and it was not till this year that the guilty were brought 
to condign punifhment. This horrid tranfafiion excited 
fuch inteveft in London, that, on the north fide of the 
Old Bailey, the multitude to fee the execution was fo im- 
naenfeiy great, that, in their movements, they were not 
unaptly compared to the flow and.reflow of the waves of 
the fea, when in troubled motion. Juft before the cul¬ 
prits mounted the fcaffold, the feelings of the fpeftators 
■were agitated to a moft alarming degree, by the deplora¬ 
ble and pitiable fituation of a very great number of per- 
fons in the crowd, who, from the extraordinary preffure 
and other caufes, were every moment in danger of being 
fuffocated or trampled to death. In all parts there were 
continued cries of Murder! murder! particularly from 
the female part of the fpeftators and young boys ; fome 
of whom were feen expiring, without the poflibility of 
the leaft afliftance being afforded them ; every one being 
employed in endeavours to preferve his own life. The 
moft affecting feene of diftrefs was feen at Green-Arbour- 
court, nearly oppofite the Debtors’ door. The terrible 
occurrence which took place near this fpot is attributed 
to the circumftance of two pie-men attending there to 
difpofe of their pies; and, one of them having his bafleet 
overthrown, which flood upon a fort of (tool with four 
legs, fome of the mob, not being aware of what had hap¬ 
pened, and at the fame time feverely prefled, fell over the 
bafket and the man at the moment he was picking it up. 
Thofe who once fell were never more able to rife, fuch 
was. the violence of the crowd. At this fatal place, a man 
of the name of Methering-ton was thrown down, who had 
in his hand his yoimgeft fon, a fine boy about twelve 
years of age. The youth was loon trampled to death ; 
the father recovered, though much bruifed. A woman, 
who was fo imprudent as to bring with her a child at the 
breaft, was one of the number killed ; whilft in the aft 
of falling, (he forced the child into the arms of the man 
nearelt to her, requefting him for God’s fake to lave its 
life;.the man, finding it required all his exertion to pre¬ 
ferve himfelf, threw the infant from him, but it was for¬ 
tunately caught at a diftance by another man, who, find¬ 
ing it difficult to infure its fafety or his own, got rid of 
it in a iimilar way. The child was again caught by a 
perlbn who connived to druggie with it to a cart, under 
which he depoflted it until the danger was over, and the 
mob had difperfed. In other parts the preffure was fo 
great, that a horrible feene of confufion eni’ued, and feven 
perfons loft their lives by l'uffocation in one fpot. It was 
lhocking to behold a large body of the crowd, as in one 
coimilfive ft niggle for life, fight with the moft lavage 
fury with each other: the confequence was, that the- 
weakeft, particularly the women, fell ftcrifices. As fall 
D O N. 155 - 
as the mob cleared away after the execution, and thofe 
on the ground could be picked up, they were conveyed 
in carts and on boards to St. Bartholomew’s Kofpitai, 
where every attention' was (hown, and every afiiftancs 
afforded, to thofe who exhibited figns of life. As 
foon as the bodies of the deceafed were washed, and in 
a fit ftate to be expofed, they were laid out in the Eli¬ 
zabeth-,ward, in order to be claimed by their friends. No 
language can deferibe the anguifh of the feene when the 
peoplefirff recogniied thefe mutilated remains; fome found 
a brother, fome a fon, and others a father. A young wo¬ 
man, who found among!! the dead an only brother, was 
fo ftrongly affefted, that (he went into violent nts, and 
continued in that ftate throughout the whole day, and 
great doubts were entertained of her recovery. It was 
truly affefting to fee the perfons who had miffed their 
relatives, fo ftrongly agitated between hope and fear, 
as they entered the room to view the dead. Some had 
notrefolutionfufficient to convince the mfelves of that which 
they wanted to know. Many who had unified their friends 
or relatives came too late to view the dead, and were al- 
moft raving when they were told they could not fee the 
bodies till the next day. Every perfon about the hofpitai 
was employed in this melancholy duty from nine o’clock 
in the morning until nearly five in the afternoon, at which 
time the ward that contained the dead bodies was locked 
up. As fait as the bodies were owned, they were put into 
(hells, with the names of the parties upon them, tothe num¬ 
ber of twenty-eight. The coroner’s inqueft fat at Bar¬ 
tholomew’s Hofpitai for four fucceflive days. Their ver- 
dift was to this effedt; viz. “That the feveral perfons 
came by their death from comprefiion and l'uffocation.” 
Another diftrefiingoccurrence, arifing from the preffure 
of a crowd, comes naturally to be fpoken of here, though 
fome intervening matters muft be noticed afterwards.—In 
the audience-part of Sadler’s Wells, on Thurfday night, 
the 19th of October, about ten o’clock, fome one called 
out “a fight;” which was miftaken for “fire.” The fatal 
cataftrophe which followed was produced by* the violent 
preffure of perfons who had quitted the gallery of the 
theatre on the firft alarm, endeavouring, when they found 
it to have been groundlefs, to return to their places; but 
a number of others, who were (till prefling to get out, be¬ 
ing on the ftaircafe, occafioned fuch a concufiion between 
the two parties, as to produce the fatal l'uffocation by 
which eighteen lives were loft. 
A coroner’s jury wasconvened next morning in thedraw- 
ing-room of the dwelling-houfe of Mr. Dibdin, adjoining 
to this place of public entertainment. They firft examined 
the bodies of the eighteen deceafed perfons, which were 
expofed in the mufic-room and in th£kitchen. They were 
extended at length, dreffed in the clothes in which they 
appeared at the theatre, with their kgs only bare, and 
their apparel fomewhat loofened for the greater facility of 
inlpeftion. It was a remarkable faft, that, of ail thefe 
perfons, not a Angle limb was broken, although many had 
received violent contufions; and a prodigious number of 
wounded perfons, who had efcaped with life,, fuffered from 
the moft terrible fractures. Of the dead bodies, fon.e had 
undergone a material change, from the rapid progrefs of 
putrdaftion, fo that the age of one of them could not be 
afcertained within twelve or fourteen years ; and the coun¬ 
tenance of another was unknown to her companion; (he 
could only be recognized by her drefs. 
Befides thofe we h?.ve mentioned, a great many others 
were conveyed into the apartments appointed for the re¬ 
ception of the dead, who were fuppoled to have been de¬ 
prived of lire, bat who, after bleeding, and a faort inter¬ 
val of repofe, recovered. We cannot avoid noticing one 
inltance of this kind :—A hufband and a wife were both 
carried for dead into this place. On breathing a vein 
of the wife, there was no emiflion ; but, on a like ineifiom 
being made in the arm of the hufband, the blood burit 
forth, and, after a few minutes of fufpended animation, 
hi§ feufe.§ returuedj and the- firft objeft which attracted his. 
