STAMPEDE!

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18896, 11 January 1927, Page 9

STAMPEDE!

THEATRE BLAZE,

SCORES TRAMPLED TO

DEATH

HORROR AT MONTREAL

(BT CABLE-T-PEES3 (AUSTRALIAN A-VO K-Z- CABLE ASSOCIATION.)

(Received January 10th, 5.5 p.m.) OTTAWA, January 9,

The Laurier Moving Picture Theatre at Montreal caught fire this (Sunday) afternoon, many lives being lost in the resulting stampede among the audi' ence.

The death roll is 60, and perhaps more. The fatalities were principally the result of a frenzied rush by the audience when the fire was discovered. Most of the dead children were found to have been crushed or suffocated *n the stampede. The theatre was fille! with UOO persons, mostly juveniles. Little damage was done by the flames, which were quickly extinguished, by the firemen.

DEATH-ROLL MOUNTS.

GHASTLY SCENES WITNESSED.

(ADSTB.U4AS AND H.Z. CABUS ASSOCUTIOH.)

(Received January 10th, 8.20 p.m.) MONTREAL, January 9. . The number dead in the cinema) fire has increased to 77.

The stairway from the balcony was a death trap, and it was here that the children were jammed and crushed at the turning. The firemen cut a hole in the street wall to get at the bodies. All were victims of the stampede, and ten minutes encompassed the whole tragedy. Boys and girls in thy vaji of the stampeding mob from the cony were pressed ou suddenly from the rear. This caused them to stumble and fall. In an instant panic seized those in the rear and there was a shoving and scrambling. Then tire boys and girls were piled in a heap and a minute or two proved sufficient for tlie stairway to become a solid, shrieking mass. Firemen and police were instautly on the spot and many children were rescued trom the jamb. Holes were cut through the wooden stairs directly under the jamb of bodies and another hole in the wall nearby. All of those pulled out from the stairway were dead.

PROPRIETOR HELD FOR

INQUEST

(AUSTBALIAN AJTO N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION.) (Received January 10th, 10.30 p.m.) MONTREAL, January 10.

The cinema proprietor, Ameen Lawrand, and three employees of the theatre are being held for the inquest to-day. Some families lost three children. The provincial laws prohibit children under 16 from gaining admittance to cinemas unless special permission is given for children's shows.