PANIC-STRICKEN.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 444, 1 March 1909, Page 10

PANIC-STRICKEN.

« AUDIENCE'S WILD RUSH FOR SAFETY. STEPS PILED WITH WOMEN AND CHILDREN. A crowd of liappy children who had paid their pennies to witness a display of animated pictures at Stratford, London, on Boxing Night, was suddenly turned into a panicstricken mob by an alarm of fire; The sprinkling of men and women present joined in tho straggle to reach tho doors, and there was a thrilling scene at tho foot of tho stairs dow i which many had to descend. Tho fire liad harmlessly burnt itself out in fhe minutes, but before that time had elapsed eighteen persons had 'been injured in the crush to escape. The presence of mind of officials of the hall had a good deal to do in averting what might easily have been a tragic disaster. The sc«ie of the occurrence was a hall in the High Street, Stratford, where exhibitions of animated pictures are given at frequent intervals during -the evening. The ground floor and the first floor of the building are utilised, a separate display .. boing given in each. Entering tho vestibulo from the pavement, tho visitor passes by one sido of tho pay-box on the other side, go along a few steps of passage, and turn sharp to the right, where, a space about live feet square gives access to a flight of twenty-two stairs.' Two turns are thus necessary for persons descending, one to the right on getting to tho bottom of the stairs, and another to the left on entering tho passage. Tho stairs, had a rail on each side, but instead of balusters a partition of .boarding skirted tho edgo of tho steps, i. ' Shortly before eight,o'clock in the evening there were about one hundred and fifty people in the upper room, and about fifty m tho lower. In the latter the display was just about to commence, the lights were lowered, and the lantern-operator' was in his little iron-sided compartment above the paybox. Excited and expectant facts were turned towards tho white sheet at tho other end of tho hall, where at any moment there niif.ht Hash the first of the pictures. Suddenly there came a loud hissing noise and the flicker of a bright light at the back of the room. All eyes were turned round immediately. From the side door, of tho operator's compartment there was a dazzling ray, and then someone in its immediate' ueighbourliod raised the cry. of "Fire, fire!" Instantly there was wild excitement. Children, women, and men left their seats and rushed for the doors, some shouting, others crying. The attendants at the hall strove to .reassure, the audience, and it was largely ,by their efforts that the whole of the lower assembly was outside uninjured in two minutes. , Meanwhile the excitement had reached the poopk' in the upper room. One or two saw ._,a little smoke;.then the cry of "Fire" cameup.,- Fear seized the gathering. There was a dash for the stairs. Big girls hold their little brothers by the hand, little girls clung to women's skirts, and with here and there a man among the crowd the audience were crashing down the stairs in an, almost solid mass. Then :camo misfortune. A woman fell fainting at the foot of the stairs and blocked the panicstricken procession. People fell over her. Reaching up the stairs from ail entangled human pile was a press of anxieus'people. Firemen, and attendants,, rushed forward -and tried to'release, the people mixed to-1 gethc at the foot of' the stairs.' Then an ex-soldier among tho attendants rose to the occasion and tore down part of the wooden partition forming the balusters. Some on the stairs were thus enabled to jump sideways to the floor beneath. A number of the audience had escaped by forcing open a pair of French windows looking out upon the passage at the sido of the building, into "which they descended by means" of ladders , put up by some of the crowd below. Out in the street there was much excitement. The firemen bad dashed across from the station almost opposite, policemen had come running up, a crowd of anxious people, including some of the relatives of the children, had gathered round. The anxiety was ' soon relieved. It was found that most of ; those injured were suffering from bruises, ; strains, and shock, and that no oho was dan--1 gerously hurt. j. Mr. Gale, the proprietor, speaking of the . causo of the incident, said: " I understand ' that the operator, accidentally putting his [ hand on the live wires,-received a shock, , and immediately afterwards the heat from • tho light playing a few seconds too long on' a film exposed ready for use caused it to • flash." j