48 LIVES MIGHT HAVE BEEN SAVED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17995, 4 November 1926, Page 3

48 LIVES MIGHT HAVE BEEN SAVED.

AMAZING EVIDENCE AT INQUEST INTO VILLAGE DISASTER. (Special to the “Star.”) LONDON, September 3. Amazing: evidence was given yesterday at the resumed inquest on the forty-eight victims of the Irish kinema fire disaster at DrumcoUogher. It was stated that all lives might have been saved if a partition had been knocked down and the crowd had jumped twelve feet down to the lower floor. At the conclusion of the inquiry two men were arrested on the coroner’s warrant. They are: Patrick C. Downing, the film operator. and William Forde, the lessee of the hall. Downing was said to have been negligent in exposing the,films, and Forde was alleged to have been guilty of carelessness in leaving burning candles on the table. Later in the day they were charged with the manslaughter of William Savage, one of the victims, and were remanded on bail of one £IOO surety each. Sergeant C. Long, of the Civic Guard, said he was at the hall on the night of the disaster. There were five or six films on a table near where Forde was standing.. The kinema machine was three feet from the exit. Two lighted candles were stuck on the table for distinguishing coin taken at the door. The candles were burning three feet from where the films were and when one burned low, the sergeant extinguished it, as Forde was not there. The films were absolutely unprotected. SUDDEN BLAZE. It was ten o’clock when Sergeant Long saw a roll of film blaze up and he took his cap to try and smother the flames. Before he could reach the film somebody struck it with a cap, causing the flames to spread. A stampede immediately •followed, and the sergeant, carrying the blazing film, said he was forced backwards through the door carrying the film along with his feet. He then kicked the film to the bottom of the staircase. Downing, he said, tried to get back into the hall, but the sergeant stopped him and himself carried on helping in rescue work. He pulled fourteen of them out from the stairs to safety. His opinion was that the film machine was perfectly safe, but that someone threw away a lighted cigarette and and at fell on the film. An astonishing statement was then made by the sergeant in answer to a question. COULD HAVE BEEN vSAVED. He agreed there was a small partition in the hall which, if it had been •knocked down, would have given access to the lower floor, with a drop of 12ft. He believed, if the partition had been burst open when the fire occurred, all inside would have escaped, though perhaps they might have been injured in falling. A juror said there was a rumour that Downing was not perfectly sober at the time. “ I cannot swear. ” said the sergeant. “ I saw him having a bottle of soda. ” There was a mpmenf in the performance* he added, when he saw a boy, who was burned in the fire, taking the machine-handle from Downing. John O’Brien, who attended the performance, said he saw a candle falling on the’table and igniting the film immediately. The most dramatic incident was when the coroner, deciding to 'call no more evidence, declared they were all heart-broken by the catastrophe, and it was difficult to blame anyone. TEARS AND KISSES. He raised his arms, rocked with emotion in his chair, checked rising tears, and, placing his head between his hands, bent down and almost groaned out: “We?* have heard enough. We know how it occurred. Gentlemen, how can you blame anyone? Ido not think it is part of your duty to find anybody guilt}”. ” The foreman returned with a written verdict, which he read through tears and sobs: Downing and his wife embraced each other, both crying bitterly. Forde was a lonely figure. The verdict ran: * That all those who lost their lives at the performance did so through asphyxiation and burning, which was. caused by a lighted candle falling on exposed films. We find that the operator, Downing, was guilty of negligence in leaving the films exposed on the table, and that there was carelessness on the part of the promoter, Forde, in leaving a lighted candle on the table. ” /