NINE CADETS BURNED TO DEATH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 13 July 1929, Page 7

NINE CADETS BURNED TO DEATH

AT HOSPITAL FETE

TRAPPED IN DUMMY HOUSE

(United Proas Association—By Elootria Telegraph—Copy right) (Australian Press Association—United Service) LONDON. 12th July. Nine cadets -were burned to death through the collapse, of ,a dummy house at a fire brigade display at Gillingham Park, Kent. A fete was being held in aid of the local hospital and. the dummy house), was built for the purpose of illustrating life-saving methods. The boys were inside representing the occupants. The house was set on fire prematurely and the boys perished before they could be reached. TWELVE DEATHS . LONDON, 12th July. Two more boys died in hospital making the Gillingham Park death roll 12. The building was a wooden structure of three storeys and contained piles of loose wood saturated with oil in order to make the blaze spectacular. The 1 cadets were caught'in sheets of flames which shot through the roof and spread with terrible rapidity, involving the whole building. , „ Scoutmaster Newton /said there were fifteen persons inside the house, including cadets and Boy Scouts. Several were dressed as clowns, and one as an old woman, the idea being to give a touch of,comic relief.

Firemen dashed among the debris pulling out the dead land injured. 1 A searchlight was turned on and ambulances rushed up. The .Mayor, of Gillingham' witnessed the tragedy and was heartbroken. People watching the antics of the clowns and other occupants thought the gestures and cries Hv’ere.^aft'of the fun. Even when the flames were at their height some did not know that lives were being lost. It is considered likely that a. dropped cigarette or match caused the fire. CAUSE UNKNOWN (Received 13th July, 11.60 a in.) . LONDON, 12th July. The mother and father of Leonard Winn, 13 years old, a Sea Scout and a victim in, the Gillingham disaster, sat at the bedside throughout the night waiting for the end. ■ A The boy constantly strove to obtain a last look at his parents, lie seemed not to realise his blindness. His father told him he was dying, but he did not seem to mind. He asked after the other boys. How . the tragedy happened nobody seems to .know because'those who might have, explained perished. tit was an annual comedy in which firemen are supposed to rescue scouts who hang out of windows, and scream for help. Maroon light should have been fired to indicate “all clear,” but on this occasion the combustibles were hi: first. A crowd of 5000 laughed at the antics' of the actors on the roof. Then the firu broke out, and the ai tors .rushed hither and thither seeking escape. Boys came to the windows crying for help. The crowd only laughed louder. "• Even the firemen in a waiting queue laughed. Then, seized with horror, they had only a makeshift tank-which was useless. The firemen did their best. Many people not waiting for the end went home, not, knowing that a tragedy had been enacted. Apart from those who leaped to the ground, nearly all the victims were found huddled on the roof, mostly unrecognisable. Four remain unidentified. There was another death to-night, making 13. Tvyq firemen are in a critical condition. It has been a tragic week;, for Britain, with the submarine and two colliery disasters. and a cinema fire in. which there were two deaths. Altogether 49 are dead, ; ... '