AMERICA'S HOLIDAY DEATH TOLL

Evening Star, Issue 19942, 11 August 1928, Page 12

AMERICA'S HOLIDAY DEATH TOLL

THE “ GLORIOUS FOURTH —— [From Dub ConßEsroxmacT.] SAN FRANCISCO, July 11. Tlio lives of 1105 moil, women, and children were tlio American nation's sacrilico to tlio celebration oTits IVJikj ;birthday anniversary on. the eo-callod ‘•‘ Glorious Fourth ” of. July: Fireworks ;claimed their share of victims, as thev always have since the United States first'began observing Independence Day tvith skyrocket, pin-wheel, and cannon cracker. There wore eleven such deaths in the entire country, according to a tabulation’ prepared. La Ires and rivers, however, exacted the heaviest tribute of human life, 10(1 drownings being reported. Motor car deaths ranked next m number with fifty-four. Heat claimed twelve Jives, and lightning three, while four were killed in aeroplane crashes. In addition there wero fifteen deaths attributed to other causes directly connected with America’s observance of tho Fourth. Two densely-populated areas—the middle Atlantic States and tho midwest—had more than half the country’s total deaths ior tlio day. In tho former there were sixty-eight fatalities, winch _ was five more than .icenrred in tho mid-west. Tho mountain Stales and tho northwest had tho nest sectional records, with live deaths m each dovisiou. Everywhere through tho mid-west the temperature was high, contributing both to deaths by heat and by drowning i'ho mid-west led tho country in tho number ot drownings, with thirtyeight, although the middle Atlantic area had only two Jess.

The aeroplane accidents were at Joliet, Illinois, where a pilot and two ■ passengers plunged to death when the wings of their ’piano snapped, and at Beaumont, in Texas, where one was killed. Three of tho motor car deaths camo in races, drivers being killed in Oregon, I’cnusylvanui, and Wisconsin. Tho number of persons injured, many fatally, ran into thousands. Premature explosion of a truckload of fireworks at Lamar, Missouri, injured twenty-live persons as S ; O(JU gathered in tho public square to witness tho display. In tho larger cities the hospital list of persons hurt during observance of tho clay ran into tlio hundreds. Chicago, with au ordinance prohibiting tho safe of lircwerks, echoed all day with lire cracker explosions, and reports from police and hospitals stated that tho number of injured was greater than in recent years SERIOUS PRACTICAL JOKE.

At Camden, New Jersey, William Ingram, forty, was in a hospital witii his .teeth blown away, the victim of a Fourth of July prank. While ho sat asleep on tlio porch of Jus home, presumably with his mouth agape, a practical joker thrust a largo firecracker between his teeth, lighted the fuse, and fled. Tho firecracker exploded. Ingram leaped to Ids feet, and thou dropped to tlio floor writhing in agony. His shrieks brought neighbours, and ho was taken to a hospital. Physicians injected 1.500 units of anti-tetanus serum, and pronounced his condition serious. All Ids teeth were gone, and lie was unable to talk coherently. Police had no duo as to tho identity ot tho practical joker. Holiday tragedies cost seven lives on tho Pacific Coast. In Massachusetts, Frank C. Cui'ric, of Boston, his wife, and niucleeu-yenr-old daughter, were drowned when a (iOft yacht in which thev were cruising off Marble Head rocks overturned during a sudden squall,. Two other passengers, Albert and Margaret Morris*, saved themselves by holding to lifo preservers until they wero picked up by another boat.