ADDITIONAL DETAILS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13648, 16 January 1908, Page 5

ADDITIONAL DETAILS.

FRANTIC EFFORTS TO ESCAPE. RESCUERS WHO DID NOT RETURN. (Received January 16, 12.9 a.m.) New York, January 15. The majority of the victims in the theatre disaster belonged to the most prominent families in Boyertown, and their children were participating in a play entitled " The Scottish Reformation." Oil lamps were used as footlights, and a child on the stage overturned one of the lamps. The audience, in a state of frenzy, made a wild rush for the doors, as the flames spread, men beating down women and children in their efforts to escape. Many parents sacrificed their lives in endeavouring to save their children. Several rescuers dashing into the building did not return. INCREASED DEATH ROLL. (Received January 16, 1.10 a.m.) New York, January 15. So far 167 bodies have been recovered from the ruins of the theatre. This is believed to be the total of those who perished. WHAT CAUSED THE PANIC? (Received January 16, 1.20 a.m.) New York, January 15. Inquiry shows that the connection between the calcium light and the hydrogen tank behind the audience slipped off, and made a hissing sound, causing the panic. The tank did not explode until the flames reached it.

At the end of 1903 the fine new Iroquois Theatre in Chicago caught fire during a performance, and 600 people were burnt or crushed to death. The fire began among the flimsy stage fittings, and a panic immediately took place, the exits and passages being speediry blocked. The occupants of the first gallery were caught in a' trap, and some were suffocated, while others were burnt to death. Many fainted in the passages, and were trampled to death. Terrible fights took place in the passages, and on the stairs, and many jumped from the balconies into the stalls, only to perish in the flames. Dozens of people leapt from high windows to the pavements, and the firemen, in order to reach the doors, were compelled to crawl over a mass of dead and dying. Only a few days ago a stampede occurred at a cinematograph performance at Barnsley, Yorkshire, in whioh 16 children were trampled to death, and 40 others injured.