TRAGEDY AT A THEATRE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19550, 1 February 1927, Page 14

TRAGEDY AT A THEATRE

LIVES LOST IN A FIRE. SEVENTY-SIX CHILDREN. CAUGHT ON A STAIRWAY. TERRIBLE MONTREAL DISASTER. [from our own correspondent.] VANCOUVER, Jan. 12. Montreal has had tho. misfor tune of being the scene of two great calamities in which the lives of children have been lost. When the creche of the convent of the Grey Nuns was burned in 1918, 60 children lost their lives. The latest disaster, at the East End Theatre, on Sunday last, resulted in the death of 76 children. The tragedy has features about it that made it unique, in that there were practically no adults in,the vicinity on the eastern stairway, which was the only exit from the cheaper-priced • balcony, where all the children wllo were • killed were congregated. It was all Over' in a few minutes, and the only evidence of adult succour to- the little ones at the time of the stampede seoms to bo that the operator of the cinema machine and an usher were alile to reach the'spot in time to save life. * T,he .operator, Emil Massieotte, took in the" situation quickly, and decided that, as there was no hope of reaching the children, who were piling up on the stairway like a big log jam, the best means was to throw them out of the window, to a heavy carpet of snow on the sidewalk. This he did with commendable promptitude, and it is believed he saved 20 lives manner/' An usher, who gave the alarm, gave his attention to the western exit, and, when he had extricated a woman who was blockiug the exit, and got the crowd moving in an orderly manner, he, too, went to the east stairway, broke a window and threw nine children out, all of whom appear to have been saved by his act.. There'is evidence, too, that some of the older boys oh the balcony used their weight to make - a way through for the younger ones. . One girl, aged 12, gave her life in 'forcing a passage for her little sister, who was able to scramble to safety.

At Pictures Without Permission. In an endavour to get at the facts, as regards the presence ol so many children without adult escort, the' coroner, Mr. McMahon, .who has been 111 that post, for 40 years, asked the parents at the inquest whether they had given their children permission to go unattended to the pictures. In three out of four cases the parents were unaware that the children were at the theatre.. It. was a fine,, sunny day, although snow lay deep on the ground, and it was the custom for children to be out of doors, without any anxiety as to their whereabouts. It ascertained from a number of parents that they had forbidden their children to go to the theatre. One father said he had visited this particular theatre'and was of opinion that it was unsafe, as he considered there, were not enough exits. He had forbidden his dead child to go near the place. The law of the province of Quebec requires that children under the age of 16 must not be permitted entry to a theatre unless accompanied by an adult. This restriction is withheld in the case of children's matinees. A searching investigation is being made, as to the reason for the sale of so many tickets to children without escorts. Acts of Personal Bravery. The position of some of the bodies indicated that there were acts of personal bravery among the older children that are in keeping with the highest traditions of self-sacrifice. In the case of the three children of Constable Boisseau—his whole family—who perished, the elder girl's body was found covering the youngest, as if her last effort had been to shield her from tho feet that trampled them down. Constable Boisseau was early on the scene and telephoned to his wife, asking of the whereabouts of their children. His wife said she did not think they were at the theatre. "Thank God," he said, and was offering his aid and sympathy to the bereaved parents crowding round him, when he identified the body of his eight-year-old child. He was overcome at the sight. Other police took him to the mortuary, where he saw the bodies of the other two. , Another, little family of three was wiped out. v In this case, the youngest girl, Sylvia Quintal, had often begged to be allowed to go to the pictures with her brothers. Adrien and Hildegarde. She Was permitted to go, and went off happily, holding her brothers' hands. Both brothers were found 111 a position that indicated they had made an effort to save her. Tho elder had his back to the wall, and the other's body covered his little sister. ' Priests Aid Rescue Work. Almost all the children were Catholics, and- of the parish of the Church of the Nativity, in the East End. The parish priest, Monsignor Lepailleur, had _ given many of them holy communion in the morning, and arrived on the scene in time to give them the last sacrament. With other priests he aided in the rescue work, and throughout the night helped to arrange the bodies in the sanctuary of the church, after they had been identified at the mortuary. Madame Francoeur, who was widowed recently, heard of the death of her elder daughter, who' was . visiting the cinema for the first time. The younger girl was saved. , Bv a curious trick of fate, one little lad, separated from his father and mother, was saved. They both perished. The scene at the mortuary is indelibly impressed on tlto minds of those who witnessed it. As the bodies began to arrive, crowds gathered, eager to find news of their loved ones. They were marshalled into something like order, after the manner, of a recruit battalion, in front of the entrance, while police escorted them one by one to the chamber of death, then to an official, who issued the ill-fated official blue certificate if the worst fears were realised. Weeping Men Women.. There was a deathly stillness outside, broken by silent weeping, of men as well as women. A woman broke the stillness. "She was such a sweet, lovable little girl, my Ivonne And you! Two ? Oh, my God." Then silence fell again. Firemen, accustomed to deaths "at big conflagrations, wept freely as they tended their tasks of carrying out the dead and wounded, .by a human chain formed from the theatre* entrance to the stairway. Only six steps from the pile of bodies was the door, and "safety. A fireman, whose station was No. 13, was on duty when the call came. He had permitted his only child, a boy id six and a-hal£ years, to go to the theatre. The children" had been heartily enjoying a cornic film, when the cry of "Fire" was raised. There was little blaze, but great volumes of smoke, which impeded their progress, and hampered those who tried to get to them. One little girl ox five, named Jeanne d'Are Yien, after the heroine of France, was. lifted from underneath the mass of 'bodies,,, the laughing face that had been watching her first picture, twisted in the agonies of death.