CLEVELAND GAS HORROR

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 667, 20 May 1929, Page 9

CLEVELAND GAS HORROR

WORSE THAN WAR-TIME FUMES CITY’S DAY OF MOURNIPS (Australian and N.Z. Press Association.) NEW YORK, Saturday. The victims of the disaster at th-es Cleveland Clinic Hospital were buried today. A day of mourning was observed by the citizens. One more person has succumbed and two others are ill as a result of inhaling the poison gas in the building. A member of the Commission qf Inquiry, Mr. Guion, is among those stricken. He penetrated into the film storage room to examine the vestiges of the burned film. Now he is suffering from the effects of traces of gas. Several journalists who entered the building to obtain details of the disaster have also been affected, although their visits were made some hours after the explosions and fire. Dr. Rockwood, Health Commissioner, stated today that enough gas was generated by the 75,000 burning films to kill 4,000,000 people. Major-General Gilchrist, Chief of the Chemical Warfare Service, United States, said it was not known what was the combination of gases, but it was more deadly than anything used in the Great War. He really believed the people who had died as a result of the disaster must be regarded as sacrifices to experience rather than as victims of negligence.