SIGHTSEERS CRASH TO DEATH

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12199, 25 July 1925, Page 5

SIGHTSEERS CRASH TO DEATH

SHOCKING ACCIDENT ON AMERICAN SEAMENS MARCH CROWDED VERANDAH COLLAPSES JFIVE MEN AND A WOMAN DEAD: SCORES OF OTHERS INJURED ’ ' \ 4 f By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright. (Received July 24, 7.15 p.m.) ‘ _ MELBOURNE, July 24. The march of the American sailors through the city to-day was interrupted by a sensational accident. Enormous crowds gathered along the route of the procession, and watched it from windows, verandahs, roofs, and other points of vantage. ' Some fifty persons were striding on the cantilever verandah of Hoyt’s Picture Theatre, in Bourke street, when it suddenly collapsed, just as the procession was passing. ■ The sound of rending timber warned the people packed on the sidewalk below, but the crowd was so dense that many were unable to get dear. Amid the terrified rush and the screams of the spectators the procession was stopped,, and the seamen and marines from the warships rushed to help the injured, and assisted the police to keep tjhe crowds back. As the verandah gave way a number of those upon it were” hurled upon those below. A scene of the" wildest excitement and disorder followed, and the rescuing of the victims from the debris occupied a considerable time. Many of those beneath the verandah, besides those who fell, sustained cuts and injuries. A number were removed: to hospital, where pathetic scenes were witnessed, as people arrived in crowds in search of relatives. After the rescue work was completed the procession was reformed, and, the march was continued. NAVY MEN PREVENT STAMPEDE OF TERRIFIED CROWD

Later. Hundreds had collected direotly beneath and around the verandah when it crashed. .Some were pinned beneath the debris, and others were thrown forward among the dense crowd lining the •treet. In the wild scatter for safety the barriers guarding the street were borne down, and the people tumbled pellmell into the road. The police and the men from the fleet gradually pushed back the crowds into Swans ton and Collins streets, and when some order had been restored ambulances and nurses were quickly on the scene, attending to the injured. Mora than 100 people, more or less injured, were removed to Melbourne Hospital for treatment. Luckily no one was killed, and though a few of the injuries were serious they were mostly slight. . . , For an honr after' the accident ambulances were removing people from rile melee, and. attending to minor injuries, many of which were received in the crush- as the crowd was forced back from the soene. Besides Hoyt’s verandah, the adjoining verandah of Spencer’s drapery piemises was involved in the collapse. The crash came at the height of tbe excitement, when everybody was cheering the passing procession, and was simultaneous with the blowing of • a whistle for the. Americans’ band to strike up. Instead, there came the screams of frightened women and excited men, and the cries of little children, followed by the piteous groans of the injured.. With military precision the Americans halted, moved off the road, unfixed their bayonets, and with the assistance of the police quickly threw a

barrier around the soene of tbe disaster. Others,, holding their rifles in front of them, held back the crowd and prevented a stampede to the place of tbe accident. There were terrible scenes of disorder as the wounded from the collapsed 'verandah were carried to the ambulances. Crowds rushed to 1 the soene and hindered the rescuers. The big verandah collapsed as though made of paper, and people standing on it were hurled on the heads of the crowds below. The casualty room in the hospital resembled the war-time clearing stations, the Injured, on stretchers, crowding the premises. A later report states that four men and one elderly woman have died from injuries. - When the verandah collapsed the stage-bands and the office staff of the Tivoli Theatre, right opposite, rushed to the scene and carried the injured people to the theatre, where first-aid was given. One old man died in the theatre. The paucity of details may be explained by the fact that many of the injured were taken to the surrounding buildings, where they received attention ' without being reported at the hospitals. So far the names of the dead are unknown. A CONTRADICTION (Received July 26. 1.30 a.m.) SYDNEY. July 24. Advices received at a late honr from Melbourne state that there were no deaths in the verandah crash. Three of the 100 injured were injured seriously.