STORM AND PANIC

Hokitika Guardian, 3 August 1926, Page 4

STORM AND PANIC

HUNDREDS INJURED. EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS. SAN FRANCISCO, June 36. ' Surging crowds overwhelmed police ' and railway officials at the electric railway terminal in Mundelein, Chicago, when a terrific rain and hailstorm swept down on the vast assemblage at the Eucharistic Congress, drenching participants in tfie ceremonies, and the * onlookers and ruining priestly vestments valued at 200,000 dollars. Jn the mad rush for the trains, hun- ' dreds of women were crushed. More than 100 were so seriously injured that ' they were conveyed to .Chicago on a : special hospital train, and sent to hospitals for treatment. One thousand five hundred persons were treated! at the emergency first aid stations on the grounds- where the ceremonies were held, but most- of the cases were duo to fainting or exhaustion. With the coming of the rain, which fell in sheets, there was a concerted rush of 100,000 persons for the railway terminal. After a half-mile journey the milling throng found that the officials had closed the barricaded gates, fearing a huge casualty total if those in front were thrust out upon the deadly third electric rail. B.ut the outer edges were pressed forward, and the relentless pressure from the rear hurled titan against the pickets. ft! was there that the crush became so groat that heroic measures were necessary on the part of the police and railway employees. The entire terminal force was called out. Men with megaphones climbed to the roof of flip 1 big commissary building and exhorted the crowds to maintain order. Carpenters swarmed to the outer gates of ’ the stockade and smashed in 'the gates. ’ As it became apparent that many in

the multitude needed medical attention and creature comforts, cases of soft drinks were speedily broken out of refrigerator, railway cars and distributed. Bucket brigades ran out and succoured the crowds, passing cups through the strands of barbed wire guarding the station. Meanwhile the heavy rain and hail had damaged the overhead trolley that jed up to the station. Workmen struggled to right the wipes, and at the end of half an hour the trains were ready to maintain the schedule.

PRIESTS PLEAT) WITH THE THRONG. Observers on the roof, looking over the crowd, directed the work of tile sire idler hearers who ran from point to point, picking up women, children and men who had fallen in the melee. Several priests climbed to the Same vantage point and cprged, as a matter of common sense and Christian forbearance, that there bo a let-up in the

jostling. Then the sun came out again, and the multitude, satisfied that only so many could get on the trains, and realising that the ceremonies were still in progress, spread out. Many returned to view the remainder of the programme.

It had required nine hours to transport by the electric line an estimated 225,0f1f) persons ■to the Seminary Grounds at Mimedclem, and it required approximately as long to- take them hack to Chicago, hut it was not until near mid-night, that the last pilgrims had left the temporary terminal for Chicago.

The second great jam came some three hours after the rain. At 6.30 p.m. all the visitors had left the grounds of the Seminary and more thousands congregated about the terminal. Tie . earlier scenes were repeated with the police and railway workers battling valiantly to preserve order, and the movement of trains out at the rate of forty an hour. Lund’; stands became ticket windows. Special police men became announcers of departing trains. The tightly-pack-ed carriages, with the passengers rainsoaked and tired, moved out, and the throngs lessened perceptibly. besides those who were treated in the emergency hospitals, it was said that 1000 more who fainted, were revived by friends oil the grounds. Numerous reports of sprained ankles, due to treacherous footing, wore received.

TRAMPLED IN RUSH. Of the hundred persons sent to Chicago on the hospital train. Mrs Sarah Murphy, sixty years old. of Chicago, sulfered a fractured skull and a dislocated hip, and her injuries were considered most serious. She was thrown to the ground and trampled upon in the rush for the trains. Ambulances summoned by police met the train at the Howard street station and took tlio injured to nearby hospitals. Nearly all the worst injured were women. The return of the rain-soaked pilgrims was not without its comic touch. A large barrel, standing near the centre of the Seminary, became tlio tomb of hundreds of summer hats ruined by the deluge. Wrimon and girls tossed in their headgear, and a wag created a laugh by holding a mock auction of the soaked finery.

There were some cases of deception on the part of the supposedly injured. Several girls, supposedly the victims of fainting spells, were discovered peep_ ing through half-shut eyes, as they were lugged out to the hospitals on stretchers.

Observers said that the crowd, after becoming convinced of -the futility of rushing, after the two worst attempts, was well behaved. The exhortations of the railway officials and tlio priests had their effect. Later a hand was placed at the terminal to soothe the surging thousands.