GILLINGTOH FIRE TRAGEDY

Taranaki Daily News, 15 July 1929, Page 9

GILLINGTOH FIRE TRAGEDY

FOURTEENTH VICTIM DIES

CROWD LAUGH IN IGNORANCE ORIGIN STILL A MYSTERY By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. United Service. London, July 12, The mother and father of Leonard Winn, aged 13, a sea scout, who was a victim of the Gillington tragedy, in which 12 lads were burned to death in a fire demonstration accident, sat at his bedside throughout the night waiting for the end. The boy constantly strove to obtain a last look at his parents. He seemed not to realise his blindness. His father told him he was dying, but ho did not seem to mind. He asked after the other boys.

How the tragedy . happened nobody seems to know, because those who might explain perished. It was an annual comedy in which the firemen were supposed to rescue scouts who hang out of the windows and scream for help. A maroon light should have been fired to indicate that all was clear, but on this occasion the combustibles were lit first.

A crowd of 5000 laughed at the antics of the actors on the roof. Then the fire broke out and the actors rushed hither and thither seeking to escape. The boys came to the windows crying for help, but the crowd only laughed louder. Even the firemen in a waiting queue laughed. Then they were seized with horror. They had only a makeshift tank, which was useless. The firemen did their best.

Many people, not waiting for the end, went home not even knowing that a tragedy had been enacted. Apart from those who leaped to the ground nearly all the victims were found huddled on the roof. They were mostly unrecognisable and four remain unidentified.

It has been a tragic week for Britain with a submarine lost, two colliery disasters and a cinema fire in which there were two deaths. Altogether 49 are dead. The death of a fireman brings the fire death-roll to 14.