SEVENTY-TWO CHILDREN DIE IN DISASTER IN CINEMA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18958, 2 January 1930, Page 1

SEVENTY-TWO CHILDREN DIE IN DISASTER IN CINEMA.

Alarm Of Fire Causes Panic And Youngsters Rush To Exits

Seventy-two children lost their lives in an appalling tragedy at the cinema at Paisley. Following an alarm of fire, smoke alarmed the children who rushed to the exits \vhere many fell down the steps and were crushed or asphyxiated. Not one life was lost as a result of fire, all the deaths being due to asphyxiation or trampling. Cas brackets, broken in the mad scramble, allowed a great volume of gas to escape, filling the theatre with fumes and causing the majority of the deaths. Rescuers were choked by fumes.

HEART-RENDING SCENES ENACTED AT HOSPITAL.

GAS POISONING CAUSES MANY CASUALTIES. (United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) (Received January 2, 10 am.) LONDON, January 1. The cinema at Paisley was crowded with children when smoke was seen pouring out of the windows. The -fire brigade ran up ladders. There was a wild scramble for the doors, and the firemen pulled out children from the doors and windows. Some children were overcome and suffocated by the fumes, and many were trampled down. The nation is shocked by the disaster, which was apparently caused when someone shouted “Fire!” Gas brackets were broken in the childrens wild scramble, and many of the rescuers declare emphatically that the hall was thick with coal gas fumes and smoke. Many of the dead were black in the face. It is revealed also that few died of injuries. Extensive scratching of knees and faces during the panic showed acute hysteria. Three children of one family perished. Trampled to Death. Had the children remained calm and made orderly use of the various exits, the tragedy would have been averted, for the building was absolutely undamaged by fire. Quite a number of children were trampled to death. Firemastcr Wilson, in a statement, says:— The children were everywhere. Some were behind the screen and some in the orchestra pit. The stairways were a ghastly sight. About 10ft wide, they were crowded with children huddled in every conceivable position, and packed as tightly as a wall of cement. The bodies of some were twisted, and others were just moaning. A relief fund has been opened, the subscriptions already totalling £IOOO. Paisley Mourns. Paisley to-day is in mourning. Social events and the New Year’s celebrations have been cancelled. Men and women are going about their duties with grave faces, and children are 1 talking in hushed voices. Tragic Scenes. There were tragic scenes outside the mortuary, where hundreds of men and women, parents of the dead children, waited for hours in the pouring rain. Some were so poorly clad that they used newspapers to keep off the rain. At the infirmary, doctors and nursing staff worked throughout the night tending the little ones, many of whom are suffering from shock. Their efforts are likely to be successful, for, of the thirtyseven patients, it is hoped that twelve will be able to go home to-night. The Prime Minister sent a message to the Provost of Paisley expressing the country’s sorrow at the tragedy. The building was surrounded by frantic parents, and there was a huge crowd of spectators, as the theatre is in the centre of the city. All traffic was stopped. Special Performance. It was a special children's Hogmanay performance at the Glen Cinema, in the heart of Paisley. The theatre was crowded out by fifteen hundred children, whose ages ranged from infancy to fourteen years. The children, seeing the hall filled with smoke and not knowing the cause, but fearing the worst, tried to escape. They attempted to reach the exit facing them at the rear of the building. Beyond the exit was a flight of eight steps. One or two lost their footing and the result was the worst tragedy of its kind the country has ever known. Slow Asphyxiation. There was a second tragedy awaiting the children filling the balcony. Again some lost their foothold, and those behind came tumbling down, until the children were piled six to eight deep. There followed the sombre story of slow asphyxiation, for no lives were lost through burning. The building itself had not ignited, but the children were not to know that. The operator had shown one film, which was rewound and placed in the container. lie heard a hissing sound and saw smoke. He picked up the container, hoping to get it outside the building, but he only reached the vestibule, and shouted for the manager. The latter took the box and cast it through a side door to a vacant allotment. In that short space of time the children saw the smoke, and when the manager returned to the auditorium, all was pandemonium. Heaps of Victims. Already children were heaped breast high beyond the door leading to the exit. He opened another on the other side of the building, but the smoke terrified the children and they refused for a long time to be led thither. The firemen, who arrived inside two minutes, were welcomed as old friends. They did much to restore confidence, but. the first effect was a further stampede for the other door.

1 Attempts to Rescue. A policeman was among the first to see the smoke coming through an upstairs window, and he got there in time to meet a tumbling cascade of children. A civilian, also passing, heard the policeman’s shout: “For God’s sake come and help! ” Together they tried to disentangle the heaped-up mites, and passed them out singly as they were extricated. The policeman gave his baton to the civilian, telling him to break the windows and let in rescuers. Ladders were brought and other rescuers climbed to the upper story windows and thus reached the balcony and dropped, down to the ground floor, where they found children in heaps at the bottom of the stairs. Others were lying still under the seats. Fumes Choke Rescuers. Many must have been dead even then, because the fumes choked the rescuers. A general summons was circulated for medical and nursing services. The police stopped cars, lorries and tram-cars and turned out the passengers, placing in the vehicles children alive and dead, and took them to hospital, where the nurses were entertaining the patients at a special Hogmanay tea. These festivities were. rudely broken off as the stream of victims began to arrive. Some of the nurses, appalled at the magnitude of the disaster, were overcome and fainted. The children already dead were taken below to the basement to make room for the living. A doctor living close to the cinema organised a first aid station in a factory yard. Thither, some scores of children were first taken. The doctor called for women volunteers, and hurriedly instructed them in artificial respiration. Death Roll Mounting. The official death roll this evening is seventy-two, all due to asphyxiation. Thirty-seven cases remain in hospital, mostly suffering from shock. . a grim coincidence the film showing when the .disaster occurred was entitled “ The Crowd.” Seven doctors confirm the growing impression that most of the deaths were due to gas poisoning. The chief officer of the fire brigade reported that many of the gas brackets were broken, apparently by children who were trying.to climb over each other and clung -to the brackets. The exceptional crowd of children was due to the fact that the performance was a special New Year treat, two children being admitted for three half-pence. Distressing Details. Distressing details accumulated every hour. One baby eighteen months old was found. Some of the women and mothers were so hysterical that they identified bodies which had previously been identified by other parents. Another fireman says that the children who were alive seemed mad with terror. One boy was jammed in a corner and hemmed in by bodies. He was not looking at the dead children, but gazed upwards all the time, whimpering and wringing his hands as though trying to ward off some horror. Apart from the stark tragedy there were many stories of heroism. One young man alone rescued eighteen of the victims.