VERANDAH COLLAPSES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLVI, Issue 10457, 25 July 1925, Page 5

VERANDAH COLLAPSES

OVER A HUNDRED INJURED tOSS 4}F LIFE REPORTED. JfEbBOURNE FLEET DAY MARRED (Per Presß Association —Copyright.) '(Received This -Day, ;a.m.) .MELBOURNE, This Day. -The procession of sailors, the chief feature of yesterday's festivities in connection with the visit *of the • Ameris can Fleet, was marred by :a sensational accident. Enormous crowds gathered . along the .route of the procession, and watched from windows, verandahs, roofs, and other .points of vantage. • Some 50 persons were -standing on the cantilever verandah ■of Hoyt s pic-ture-theatre, Bourke Street, when it suddenly collapsed, just-as'the procession was vpassing. . The injured number 108, three being in a • serious condition. The sound of rending timber warned the people packed on the sidewalk below,' but the crowd was so dense that many were unable to get clear. Amid a terrified ;rush and of the spectators, the procession was stopped, and seamen and marines from tbe warships rushed to help the injured, and assisted the police to keep the crowds back.

As. the verandah gave way, a number of those upon it were hurled upon those below amid a scene-'of the wildest excitement. Disorder 'followed, and . \ the rescuing of the victims from the debris occupied a considerable time. Many of those beneath the verandah, besides those who fell, sustained cuts . and injuHes. . A number were removed to hospital, where pathetic scenes were witnessed, people visiting in crowds in search of ; relatives. After the rescue work was completed - ; the procession re-formed the march. Hundreds were collected directly be- *; neath and around the verandah when j'it crashed. Some were pinned beneath I the debris, and others were thrown . forward among the dense crowd lining the street. In the wild scatter for | safety guarding the street I broke down, and people tumbled pellI mell intothe road. Police and men from the Fleet • gradually pushed back the crowds into r Swanston -and Collins streets, and - when some . order was restored ambui lances anjd -nurses were quickly on the i scene attending to the wounded. 1 Over 100 were more or less injured | and removed 1 to Melbourne Hospital | for treatment. For an hour after the accident ami bulances were removing people from the mix-up, and attending to minor I injuries due to crushing, mostly when *'the crowd was forced back'from the i «cene.

' Besides Hoyt's verandah, • tfiat of f Spencer's drapery premises, adjoining, -was involved' in the coTlapse. The -crash came at-the height of the excite•ment, when 'everybody was cheering -■■and applauding the passing procession. "It was simultaneous with the blowing "of a whistSe r for the Americans'' band 'to strike up. ' Instead came the screams of frightened women-and ex- • " cited men and "the cries of little 1 chH.'dren, followed -by the piteous groans - "of" the injured. "With military-precision the* Americans halted, -moved off the road, • Tfnfixed bayonets,--and, with the-assist-ance of the -police, quickly threw a 'barrier round the scene of the disaster.

"Others, holding rifles in front o*f'them, held back the-crowd and prevented' the "threatened stampede to the -spdt. "When the -verandah coHanserPthe -stage hands *nd -"office staff o'f- the "Tivoli Theatre, right opposite, rushed -to the scene and eafried th» 'injured ; into the theatre,-where first "aid-was -administered. There were terrible scenes of T'dis-'-ofder as the wounded from fche -e\J--1 lapsed verandah were carried to -arfteu"•lances, the crowds rUshing to t&e scene ;and : impeding the rescuers. - "The verandah collapsed as flfoougjh "OTade-ef paper, and 'the people standing- en'it were huflgd-on to the heai3a <jof the- crowds below.

"The--casualty rooms'in the hospitals -resembled war clearing stations, tlie* premises'. "In 'the bustle of giving first aid alt sorts of 'had* to be prea&ddl Mtto-sefyiee. In silt stock-? imgs f rem-vdraper's shops were used as 1 bondages. [ A -message received 'in'New Zealand! at 15.40 p.nu yesterday stated that lives had 'been lost. Another message l from "Melbourne received at 11.5 p.m.'; stated that'foud men and-&n elderly 1 woman had'"died from 'injuries, and a still later cablegram announced that an old man 'had died in the hospital. A Sy&aey -message reeeiye'd at 12.5 p.m. to-day -read: •" Advices received at a late hour from Melbourne state that there --were no deaths in the verandah crash, but three of the 100 injured are in -a serious condition." As the '"(Guardian has received no

message confirming either report, the : absence of details of the vwt&ims indicates that foriwnately no 'fatalities tPccurred.