BOSTON TRAGEDY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 November 1942, Page 4

BOSTON TRAGEDY

AT LEAST 408 PERSONS KILLED IN NIGHT CLUB FIRE SCREAMING CROWDS JAM EXITS. BODIES PILED IN DOORWAYS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.25 p.m.) BOSTON, November 29. At least 408 persons were killed and 214 severely injured in a fire in a Boston night club. The main loss of life was caused when screaming crowds became wedged in the exits, fighting madly to get out. About one thousand were in the ciub, including many Service men. Some of the victims were students celebrating after a college football game. The origin of the fire is unknown, but the entire establishment was ablaze within a few minutes, and the inside of the building was gutted in less than an hour. Service men and firemen risked their lives many times trying to reach the bodies heaped high at the entrance. About 150 bodies fell into the basement when the dance floor collapsed. Several hundred persons were taken to hospital, suffering from burns. Only a few people escaped unscathed. A girl attendant, with her hair ablaze, gave the first alarm, and there was an immediate stampede for the exits. Women, with their hair and clothes on fire, were trampled to death by screaming crowds, and in a few minutes dozens of bodies were piled up near a doorway.

Pathetic scenes were witnessed at the morgues and hospitals, as relatives attempted to identfy charred bodies. Many bodies were burned beyond recognition. Seventeen hours after the fire only 63 bodies had been identified. Among those taken to hospital were Buck Jones, the cowboy film star, and Scott Dunlap, the film producer.

It was the worst fire in the nation’s history since the Chicago theatre fire of 1903, when 575 persons were killed. Appeals were made for a hundred blood donors. All available blood plasma in the Boston area is being used. According to the United Press of America, the building had only two exits, with revolving doors, in a small vestibule. Official investigators believe that faulty exits were largely responsible for the enormous death roll. The fire is believed to have been caused by a cigarette butt setting fire to supposedly fireproof decorations.