The floor gave way

Precipitated into the cellars – Cambridge Independent Press  11 January 1873:

An extraordinary accident happened at Charleston, Cornwall, on New Year’s Eve.

The Rev. A.H.Ferris, vicar, and a number of the leading parishoners, held a tea meeting, followed by other entertainments, in the volunteer drill hall.

The company was in the act of singing the national anthem, when suddenly half the floor gave way, and about sixty persons were precipitated into the cellars – a depth of sixteen feet.

Lights being extinguished, the screams and groans caused as much alarm to those above as to the fallen.

Happily the cellars were used for the storage of china clay, which prove a soft resting place.

It was found that none had sustained worse injury than a broken limb, severe contusions, or shaking.