NINETY SIX DEAD.

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

NINETY SIX DEAD.

WORST FIRE TRAGEDY ON RECORD.

A LAI'ER ACCOUNT,

(ATSSTHALIAH AND S.Z. CABtB ASSOCIATION.) (Received January 10th, 9.5 p.m.)

MONTREAL, January 10,

A slight fire, due probably to crossed wires, in Laurier cinema theatre, caused a 'stampede, in which 96 lives were lost, mostly French-Canadian children under sixteen. The actual fire was negligible, the deaths being due mainly to trampling coupled with asphyxiation by smoke. The victims struggled to escape through a narrow stairway, and scenes of terror were witnessed as parents battled with police and firemen in attempting to enter the theatre. Severitythree of the dead have been identified.

The women and children were lodged so tightly at the foot of the stairway that the firemen were forced to break a hole in the wall to relieve the pressure, and then form a human chain to pass out the victims. One of the children was so firmly.wedged that 20 men were unable to extricate him from the mass of bodies. Priests hurried to the scene and administered the last rites. All the available doctors assisted in treating the victims, many of whom were mangled beyond recognition. Harrowing scenes were enacted at the morgue, where grief-crazed parents were seeking their offspring, not knowing whether they were dead or alive. A ten-year-old survivor said: "I was standing in the gallery while a funny picture was being shown. Everyone was laughing. Suddenly I heard someone yell. All started rushing downstairs, and everyone was piled on top of each other. I climbed over and a boy grasped my foot and tried to pull himself from the others. I struggled and my shoe came off." The number of deaths in this fire makes it the greatest tragedy of its kind in Canada's history.