Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-03
FIGHT PAVILION
DOORS BARRED
SAFETY PROVISIONS IGNORED
DURING CONTESTS
FIRE COMMISSION ISSUES sTRlN-
GENT REGULATIONS
Non-compIianc Herewith Will Re-
suit in Condemnation of Struc-
ture as Dangerous and
Firetrap

If there are any more prize fights
conducted at Maud Junction pavilion it
will be because the managers of that
arena decide to comply with the laws
governing public safety. The old barn
has long been known to be a hretrap
of the most dangerous kind. Every
time there is a boxing contest there
the fire department holds itself in read
iness for a conhagration.
All over the building when fights are
in progress men are smoking and
throwing lighted matches down to sift
through the cracks in the floor beneath
the bleacher seats. Several times the
place has been on fire.
At Tuesday nights exhibition at Nc
Careys pavilion at least one of the
doors was barred in such a manner
that the slightest alarm of fire and
consequent stampede would have re-
suited In appalling loss of life. The
door is at the end of a chute that
slopes downward twenty-five feet.
Within the confines of this death trap
hundred men might have lost their
lives had a fire started. The door was
locked by a bar two inches thick and
ten inches broad. This was placed in
such a manner that a crowd of men
running down the chute at an alarm
of fire would have piled in against the
door making it impossible for any one
inside or out of the tinder trap to open
the door. Just before the last contest
ended a man approached an usher and
asked him if the door mentioned was
unbarred. The attendant told the in
quirer that he didn't know and didn't
care. "Ill let/down this chain and you
can get out where you please"
Attendant Did Not Care
"But II is a violation of the law to
have the exits barred in that manner"
protested the citizen.
"I don't care if it is. won't unbar
It for you or anybody else"
At the ringing of the gong an instant
later a dozen men sprang into the
chute beneath the Illuminated sign
Exit" They ran down and threw
themselves against the door, but the
bar held them. With much difficulty
they got the heavy bar up and left the
building through the swinging doors.
Several men present were loud in
their denunciation of the management
for allowing a death trap like that TO
exist there. Three of the men took
the matter up with the fire commits
sion and 1t was announced that no
more exhibitions would be permitted
unless McCarey complied with the law
in every respect. The men who com
planned to the fire commission said that
in Justice to Tom McCarey it should
be understood that the promoter was
not present at Tuesday nights exhibit
tion and that the affair was misman-
aged by his assistants.
instructions Issued
Instructions were issued to Chief
Lips yesterday to see that all the
exits are open at the next fight, and
if they are not it probably will be the
last fight to be held in that building.
When McCarey's pavilion was first
erected during Mayor McAleers term
vigorous protest was made against it
because it is only an unfinished barn
like structure and a fire that gained
any headway in II would soon consume
the building and kill hundreds of peo-
ple If it was crowded with the usual
fight fans at the time.
When the protest was presented the
fire commission, of which Martin Bet
kouski, then, as he is now, was mem
ber. made an investigation and ordered
that certain exits be put in the build
ing and kept open during the progress
Of exhibitions so that~ff a fire started
the crowd would have an opportunity
to get out easily.
The exits are ample, but lately the
management has been violating the
agreement with the fire commission in
order, 1t is said, to save the expense
of hiring men to guard the exits and
see they were not used as entrances
instead.
When Commissioner BetkOuski
learned yesterday that the agreement
made with the former commissioner
was not being adhered to he declared
that if it was not in the future he
would be the one to take the initiative
and have the building condemned.