The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-06
MANY FRACTURED LIMBS
HUNDREDS OF FOOTBALL GAME
SPECTATORS BADLY INJURED.
Police Charged n Crowd Of People, n
Terrace Gave Way and Scores
Fell Sixty Feet to the Ground.

GLASGOW, April 5.-The struggle of the
crowds which gathered at Ibrox Park to-
day to witness the last international asso-
citation football contest between teams from
England and Scotland caused the collapse
of a portion of one of the spectators ter
races, resulting in the death of three per-
sons and the injury of 125 others. When
the game began 10000 spectators were on
the ground and an immense 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 terraces and seats,
with the result that the ratings dividing
the crowds were broken and the people
were thrown over each other. In the fran
tic struggle towards the exits the pressure
toward the upper portion OF the westerly
terrace was so great that a hundred feet
of the highest part Of the structure col
lapsed under the weight OF the crowd driven
upon il, precipitating the mass of people
to the ground sixty feet below. The in
jured were piled In heaps, wedged in with
broken wood
The onIookers hesitated to approach the
dangling structure at first, but finally be-
gan to utilize portions of the broken bar
riers as stretchers. A hundred of the most
seriously injured were carried to the pa
vilion and to spaces in the rear of the
stands. A majority of the victims are
suffering from broken ribs and fractured
limbs, while some sustained internal in
juries Those most severely hurt were later
removed in ambulances to infirmaries and
the lesser sufferers were sent in cabs to
surgeries.
A few persons were thrown down and
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 terrace.
Up to midnight five deaths had been re-
ported as the result Of the accident, while
In the cases of twenty of the other victims
all hope of recovery has been abandoned.
An investigation into the causes of the
disaster show that the breakdown of the
terrace had begun before the structure 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 than by the addi-
tional weight OF those who rushed upon
the stand from below. The terrace, al
though supported by iron girders, swayed
and cracked ominOusly under the move
ments of its frantic occupants.
The fallen portion is one hundred feet
long, thirty feet wide, and contained twelve
tiers of seats. The injured in many cases,
were lying five or six deep. and it is con-
Sdered marvellous that there were not
more fatalities. One man hung by his boot.
which caught in splfntered beam, head
downward fifty feet above the ground. FL
nally his boot was cut and the man dropped
into a sheet held below.
The strangest feature Of the affair is the
fact that the crowd in the other parts of
the grounds failed entirely to realize the
extent of the disaster. and the game was
plaved to a finish. resulting in a draw.
Even the management appeared to be un-
aware of the seriousness of the accident
until it was announced after the conclusion
of the game.
are men Among the last TO be taken out
from the wreckage were two women, both
of whom were practically unhurt.