The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1902-04-11
IAEkIY-ONE PEOPLE KILLID
HUNDREDS WERE INJURED
During "a Football Game mt Glasgow
Part of the Grandstand Collapsed
People Fell 60 Feet-Piied Six
Feet Deep-75, 900 People Saw the
Game.

Glasgow. April 6-The struggle of
the crowds at hex park Saturday to
witness the last international associa-
ton football contest between teams
from England and Scotland, caused the
collapse of a portion of one of the
spectators terraces, resulting in the
death of five persons and the injury
of 1875 others, 20 of whom will prob
ably die
When the game began $4,000 specta
tors were on the ground, and the i'm
mense crowd had gathered outside.
Being unable to obtain admittance,
this crowd broke down some of the
barriers and swarmed upon the field
whereupOn the police charged and
drove the intruders back upon the ter
races and seats, with the result that
the ratings dividing the crowds were
broken and people were thrown over
each other.
In the frantic struggle toward the
exits. the pressure toward the upper
portion of the westerly terrace was so
great that a hundred feet of the high
est of the structures collapsed under
the weight of the crowd driven upon
it. precipitating the mass of people to
the ground. 60 feet below. The in
jured were piled in heaps, wedged in
with broken wood
The onlookers hesitated to approach
the dangling structure at first. but
finally began to utilize portions of the
broken barriers as stretchers. A hun
dred OF the more seriously injured
were carried to the pavilion and to
spaces clear OF the stands.
A majority of the victims are suffer
ing from broken ribs and fractured
limbs. while some sustained internal
injuries. Those most severely hurt
were later removed in ambulances to
infrmaries. and the lesser sufferers
were sent in cabs to surgeries.
A few persons were trampled upon
in trying to escape from the crush
when the police charged. But most
of the victims sustained their injuries
in the fall of the stand.
Up to midnight five deaths had been
reported as a result of the accident.
while in the case of 20 of the other
victims all hope of recovery has been
abandoned.
An Investigation into the causes Of
the disaster shows that the breakdown
of the structure had begun before it
was subjected to its severest strain
and it is now believed that the final
collapse was caused more directly by
the efforts of those nearest the first
break to escape than by the additional
weight of those who rushed upon the
stand from below The terrace. al
though supported by iron Orders.
swayed and cracked ominOusly under
the movements of it's frantic occu-
pants
The fallen portion is 100 feet long.
80 feet wide and contained II tiers of
seats. The injured in many cases.
were lying five or six deep. and it is
considered marvellous that there were
not more fatalities. One man hung by
his boot. which had caught in a splint-
cred beam, head downward about so
feet from the ground. Finally his boot
gave way and the man dropped into a
sheet held below.
The strangest feature of the affair
is that the crowd in the other part Of
the grounds failed entirely to realize
the extent of the disaster. and the
game was played to finish. resulting
in a draw. Even the management ap-
peared to be unaware OF the serious
ness Of the accident until it was an
nounced after the conclusion of the
game.
Later.
The disaster has resulted in the
death of q persons and the injury Of
/ $50. Nearly 200 of the latter are so
/ seriously hurt that they were taken
/ to infTmaiies for operation and treat
ment. One hundred and fifty of them
still remain in the infrmares. A
large proportion of the injured had
limbs broken. bodies crushed and
mangled and heads will undoubtedly
result from the critical cases of frac-
tured skulls
Today the infrmaries were besieged
/ by friends and relatives of the victims
of the disaster. and heartrending
scenes were witnessed when the
names of those who died today were
posted outside the buildings. The
actions of the authorities at Ibrox
park in averting a panic by permitting
the game to proceed while they en-
couraged the impression of the crowd
within the enclosure that the accident
was not so direful is now generally
commended.