Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-05-25
strand and for some time rendered
futile every attempt at rescue.
Tide Fortunately Out at Time.

| The police could not get through the
i crowd, even when Chief of Police
Austin. gathered his entire force on the
scene An appeal was sent to Los
Angeles. twenty-four miles away, for
reinforcements. These came in auto
mobiles. and after helping to drive
back the thousands of intensely Curl
| Gus and overweight people, they as
sisted in succoring the injured and re-
moving the bodies of the dead.
The tide was out when the crash oc-
| Cured else the collapse would have
| thrown hundreds of persons into the
sea and many drownings would have
| been added to the list Of fatalities.
MostlysWomen and Children.
| The crowd nmassed about the auditor
UNI doors wastcomposed mostly of women
| and children who had gathered there
before the Empire day parade ended.
When the section about fine doors sank
| they went in with it and a half dozen
policemen who. had been vainly striving
! to hold the throng in check went in with
them. Only comparatively small num-
| Der of men were caught in the trap. as
| most of the male celehra tors were taking
mart in the parade. Many who We're left
standing on the section which collapsed
| were drawn or pushed into the vortex,
and those who escaped crowded panic
\
starting wild scramble for safety
Those who fell into the hole last were
able to scramble over the entangled
bodies to the broken ends of the floor so
| deep was it massed with struggling per-
sons Fallen timbers and flooring were
damned among the limbs of those caught
| in the trap. and ropes We're required to
| pull back the jagged edges of the sunken
| flooring and broken joists before the dead
and injured could be taken out. 1t was
| fully an hour before the yawning hole
| in the floor of the pier could be emptied
Of its mass of humanity the dead sepa
rated from the injured and the dying
Fabricated from broken timbers.
Wandered Dazedly About City.
Dead and seriously injured alike were
| laid in rows on the beach. while scores
who had sustained less serious injuries
| wandered dazedly about. seeking missing
! relatives or friends. A number of those
taken to hospitals were found unscathed
! but suffering from nervous shock. Many
| of the women and men collapsed on the
pier when the search for missing ones
ended at the long row of dead and in
jured.
| The work OF removing the bodies to
Long Beach morgues did not begin until
we'll into the afternoon Long rows of
saddened spectators. most of them still
| wearing the tiny Union JACK emblem
attic of the day. watched in silence as
I the dead were taken from the temporary
morgue in the armory to the waiting un-
| dertakers' wagons.
| From California Towns.
Although most of the victims We're
] from Los Angeles and Long Beach, near
| w every town in southern California
was represented among the dead and in
| jpred.
| The Long Beach council held an execu-
| tive session late today and it was an
| nounced by Mayor Hatch at it's con-
| clusion that the municipal government
was assuming all expenses. paying the
| funeral costs for the dead and supplying
| funds for the relief of the injured.
which il was built ten years ago, is
| owned by the city.