July 4 Death-Toll

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 708, 6 July 1929, Page 11

July 4 Death-Toll

REDUCED, BUT STILL HIGH

150 Lose Lives in America

FOR the first time in years, tlie Independence Day death-toll in the United States has fallen considerably below 200. This year, approximately 150 people lost their lives in the Fourth of July celebrations. (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) (United Service)

Reed. 9 a.m. NEW YORK, Friday. A nation-wide survey at present shows that approximately 150 people lost their lives in celebrating the Fourth' of July, but, contrary to other years, fireworks were responsible for an almost negligible number of deaths, the majority being due to motoring and bathing. It is estimated that at least 400 persons were injured. The death toll, however, represents a substantial decrease over 1928, when about 200 lives were lost. A Chicago message estimates the death-toll at 159, a decrease of 46 from 1928. , There was a reduction in drowning, heat prostration deaths and automobile accidents. A dispatch from Grand Haven, Michigan, says 10 bathers were drowned on Thursday in Lake Michigan. They were swept from the shore by a heavy undertow, hefore the eyes

of hundreds of people, who were not able to render assistance. This is the first time in several years that the Independence Day deaths have been fewer than 200. Last year the fatalities totalled 205. There were 106 drowings, 54 deaths from motor accidents, 12 from the heat and 11 persons were killed by exploding fireworks. In 1927 210 persons lost their lives and many hundreds were injured. The majority of the fatalities and casualties arose from traffic accidents, due to the crowding of the roads by people on holiday outings to the beaches, where thousands sought relief from the heat and from the sound of fireworks exploding. The greatest toll of lives was taken in the metropolitan area of New York, where 38 died, and another 700 were treated for burns.' In 1926 also about 200 persons lost their lives.