SHOCKING TRAGEDY

Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10302, 11 January 1927, Page 5

SHOCKING TRAGEDY

FIRE IN A CINEMA NINETY-SIX DEAD, MOSTLY CHILDREN, GREATEST DISASTER IN CANADIAN HISTORY. VICTIMS WEDGED IN STAIRWAY. HEART-READING SCENES. (United Press Assn. —Copyright.) OTTAWA Jan. 9. The Laurier moving picture theatre at Montreal was destroyed by fire this afternoon. It is believed 100 lives were. lost. (Received Jan. 10, 5.5 p.m.) MONTREAL, Jan. 9. The death roll by fire at the picture house is sixty, and perhaps more.

The fatalities were principally the result of a frenzied rush by the audience when the fire was discovered. Most of the dead children were found to have been crushed or suffocated in the stampede. The theatre was lined with eleven hundred persons, mostly juveniles. Little damage was done by the flames, which wiere quickly extinguished by the firemen.—A. and N.Z.C.A.

(Received Jan. 10, 8.20 p.m.l MONTREAL, Jan. fl. The number of dead in the cinema fire has increased to 77.

The stairway from the balcony was a death trap. It was here that children were jammed and crushed at tin 1 turning. The firemen cut a hole in’ a street wall to get at the bodies. All were victims of the stampede, and ten minutes encompassed the whole tragedy. SHRIEKING, DYING MASS.

Boys and girls in the van of the stampeding mob from the balcony were pressed on suddenly from the rear. This caused them to stumble, and fall, and in an instant panic seized those in the rear, and there was shoving and scrambling. Then boys and girls were idled in a heap, and a minute or two proved sufficient for the stairway to become a solid, suffocating, groaning, shrieking and dying mass. Firemen and police were instantly on the spot, and many children were rescued_from the jam. Holes were cut through the wooden stairs directly under the jam of the bodies, and another hole was cut in a wall. Nearly all those pulled out from the stairway were dead.—A.N.Z.C.A. VICTIMS MOSTLY UNDER 1(5. (Received Jan. 10, 9.5 p.m.) MONTREAL, Jan. 10. A slight fire due probably to crossed wires in the Laurier Cinema Theatre, caused a stampede in which 98 lives •were lost, mostly French-Canadian children under the age of 10. The actual lire was negligible. „ The deaths were duo mainly to trampling, coupled with asphyxiation by smoke. The victims struggled to escape through a narrow stairway. Scenes of terror were witnessed as parents battled with police and firemen attempting to enter the theatre. Seventy-three dead have been identified. '

HUMAN CHAIN TO PASS OUT

VICTIMS

Women and children were lodged so tightly at the foot of the stairway that the firemen were forced to break a hole in the wall to relieve the pressure, and then form a human chain and pass out the victims. One of the, children was so firmly rigid that, twenty men were unable to extricate him from the mass of bodies. A priest Lurried to ihe scene and administered the last rites. All available doctors assisted in treating the victims, many of whom woie mangled beyond recognition. Harrowing scenes were enacted at the morgue, where grief-crazed par cuts were seeking their off-spring, not knowing" whether they were dead or alive . .... The number of deaths m this fire makes it the greatest tragedy of it.? kind in Canada's history.—A. v.nd ■N.Z.C.A.

TEN-YEAR-OLD BOY’S STORY

SOMEONE TEHEED “FIRE I”

ALL RUSHED DOWNSTAIRS

(Received Jan. 10, 9.30 p.m.) OTTAWA, Jan. 10. A ten-year-old survivor related: “1 was standing in the gallery while a funny picture was. ueing shown. Everyone was laughing. Suddenly I heard someone yell ‘'Fire!” and the people began to scream. All started rushing downstairs. Everyone piled up on top of each other. I climbed over, and a boy grasped my foot and tried to pull himself from the others. I struggled and mv shoe came offA:N.Z.C ; A

SOME FAMILIES LOSE THREE CHILDREN.

LAW BANS CHILD UNDER 16 FROM CINEMA-

(Received Jan. 10, 10.10 f>.m ) MONTREAL. Jan. 10. The cinema proprietor, Ameen Lawrand, and three employees of the theatre, arc being held for the inquest to-day. Some families lost three, chilaren. Provincial laws prohibit childicn under sixteen from gaining admittance to a cinema unless special permission is given for children*s slions. a.n.z.c.a.