TRAGEDY IN CINEMA.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19816, 2 January 1930, Page 11

TRAGEDY IN CINEMA.

EIGHTY CHILDREN DEAD. STAMPEDE IN CROWDED BUILDING. ALARM CAUSED BY SMOKE. (CMltiß PRESS ASSOCIATION—BY ELECIIUC TILIOBAPH—COPYRIGHT.) (Received January Ist, 7 p.m.) LONDON, December 31. There -was a shocking cinema fire at Paisley. Eighty have already been certified as dead, includj ing many children, and the casualty 1 list Is still growing. Two hundred have been sent to hospital. The cinema was crowded with children, when smoke was seen pouring out of the windows. The j Fire Brigade ran up ladders, and there was a wild scramble for the doors. Firemen pulled out children I from the doors and windows, but the children became overcome and suffocated by the fumes, and many were trampled down. The building was surrounded by frantic parents, and there was a huge crowd, as the theatre is in the centre of the city. All the traffic was stopped. Heartrending seenes were witnessed at the infirmary from distracted mothers. The work of identification is slowly proceeding. It was a special children's Hogmanay performance at the Glen Cinema, in the heart of Paisley. It was crowded out by fifteen hundred, whose ages raged "from infancy to fourteen years. The children, seeing the hall fill with smoke, and not knowing the cause of it, but fearing the worst, tried to escape, trying to reach the exit facing them at the rear of the building. Beyond the exit was a flight of eight steps, and it only needed one or two to lose their footing and the result was the worst tragedy of its kind the country has ever known. There wag a secondary tragedy awaiting the children who were filling the balcony. Again somebody lost his foothold, and those behind came tumbling down until they were piled six to eight deep. Thereafter it was a sombre story of slow asphyxiation, for nobody lost his life through burning. The building itself was not ignited, but the children were not to know that. Film Found Burning. The operator had shown one film, which was rewound and placed in the container. He heard a hissing sound, and saw smoke. He picked up the container, hoping to get it outside the building, but he only reached the vestibule, and shouted for the manager. The latter took the box and cast it through a side door to a vacant allotment. In that short space of time the children saw the smoke. When the manager returned to the auditorium all was pandemonium. Already children were heaped breast high beyond the door leading to the exit He opened another on the other side of the building, but the smoke terrified the children, and they refused for a long time to be led thither. Firemen who arrived inside of two minutes were welcomed as old friends. They did much to restore confidence, but the first ef feet was a further stampede for the other door. Rescuers' Experiences. A policeman was among the first to see the smoke coming through an upstairs window, and got there m time a tumbling cascade o£ehddr«L A civilian who was V^ ToJetLr they t £d ST/as StVwS anapasseu policeman gave his cony, and droppea u children in floor, where they louna l " c stairs. Others were lymg st'll under the were rudely token <» «« «£ £\ t the rietim. b.!»'» »"£; of ZSwWiSSS, ££*...»«- the living. First-Aid Station. a anrtor living close to the cinema A doctor u y. f . n a fae . organised tory yard, to whic*so doctor first rescued were »»»• and hur . called for ™?« n .£"£*£" rtificial „. riedly instructed them in arunc 9P1 Tne iol oWal death-roll this> evening »»« 72 all due to asphyxiation. W Thirty-Jeven cases remain in hospital, mostly suffering from shock. DEATHS DUE TO GAS POISONING. MANY STORIES OF HEROISM. (Received January let, 9 p.m.) LONDON, January 1. The revised list of casualties is:— Dead—69 children; injured, 37. A grim coincidence was that the film which was being shown when the disaster occurred was entitled Ine Crowd." Seven doctors confirm the growing inSrllsion that most of the death were due to gas poisoning. The.chief officer of the fire brigade reports that manv «as brackets were broken aprfarentlv by children trying to climb Ker ea y ch other, which others clung crowd of children was due to the fact that the performSiwu a special New Year treat, two children being admitted for lfd. Distressing details «»w? n '**fj every hour. One baby aged eighteen months was found lying on a Ke women, and mothers were so k£tarioal that they *«tified brfiej which had previously been identified by other parents. Another fireman says that the children who were alive seemed to be mad with terror. One bov was jammed m a corner and hemmed in by bodies. Be wa» not looking at fche dead chil-

dren, but upwards, all the time whimpering and wringing his hands, as though trying to ward off some horror. Fortunately, apart from stark tragedy, there were many stories of heroism. One young man alone rescued eighteen.