FOURTEEN DEAD.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 164, 13 July 1929, Page 9

FOURTEEN DEAD.

HOLOCAUST AT FAIR. Cadets Burned While Crowd Laughed. TRAGEDY NOT REALISED. (Australian Press Assn. —United Service.) (Received 2 p.m.) LONDON, July 12. Thirteen cadets were burned to death through the collapse of a dummy house at a fire brigade's display at Gillingham Park, Kent. A fireman named Facktarbelt was fatally burned when attempting to rescue the cadets. A fete was being held in aid of local hospitals and the dummy house was built for the purpose of illustrating lifesaving methods. The boys were inside, representing the occupants of a house. The house was set on fire prematurely, and the boys perished before they could be reached. The building was a wooden structure of three storeys, and contained piles of loose wood saturated with oil, in order to make the blaze spectacular.

The cadets were caught in a sheet of flames, which shot through the roof, and spread with terrific rapidity,, involving the whole building.

A Scoutmaster, Mr. Newton, said there were 15 persons inside the house, including the cadets and Boy Scouts. Several of them were dressed as clowns, and one as an old woman, the idea being to give a touch of comic relief.

The firemen dashed among the debris, pulling out the dead and injured. A searchlight was turned on, and an ambulance was rushed up. The Mayor of Gillingham, Mr. A. S. J. Treacher, witnessed the tragedy, and he was heartbroken.

People watching the antics of the clowns and the other occupants of the house thought their gestures and cries were part of the fun. Even when the flames were at their height, some persons did not know that lives were being lost.

It is considered likely that a dropped cigarette or a match caused the fire.

AWFUL SCENES.

Doomed Cadets At Windows

Crying For Help.

ONE BOY BLINDED. (United Service.) (Received 1 p.m.) LONDON, July 12. Tho mother and father of Leonard Winn, a thirteen-year-old Sea Scout, sat at the bedside throughout the night waiting for the end. The boy constantly strove to obtain a last look at his parents. He seemed not to realise his blindness. His father told him he was dying but he did not seem to mind. He asked after the other boys. How the tragedy happened nobody seems to know, because those who might explain perished. It was an annual comedy in which the firemen were supposed to rescue the Scouts who were to hang out of the windows and scream for help. A maroon light should have been fired to indicate that all was clear, but! on this occasion the combustibles were lit first. The crowd of 5000 laughed at the antics of the actors on the roof. Then tho fire broke out and the actors rushed hither and thither seeking escape. The boys came to the windows crying for help," but the crowd only laughed louder and even tsie firemen In the waiting queue laughed. They were then seized with horror. They had only a makeshift tank, which Was useless. The firemen did their best. Many people, not waiting for the end, went home not even knowing that a tragedy had been enacted. Apart from those who leaped to the ground, nearly all the victims were found huddled on the roof. They were mostly unrecognisable, and four remain unidentified. Another cadet died to-night, making the thirteenth. One fireman is in a critical condition. It has been a tragic week for Britain, with the submarine, and two colliery disasters and a cinema fire, in whicn there were two deaths, making altogether a total of 49 dead.