Arizona republican., 1913-05-25
ASSOCIATED PRESS D1sPArcHl

ASSOCIATED PRESS DIsPATcH1
 LONG BEACH, May 24-Too weak to uphold it's burden of nearly 10,- 900 human beings assembled for the festivities of the British Empire Day celebration the land end of the big double decked municipal pier in front of the city auditorium collapsed to- day. Hundreds of people on the top deck dropped down on the heads of other hundreds crowded on the deck below The lower deck then gave way and all dropped down a chute of shattered wood work to the tide washed sands p feet below. Thirty three persons-mostly Women-Were killed by the shiVered timbers or crushed to death by the falling bo- dies Of their companions and friends. Fifty more were seriously injured. while hysteria and paralysing fright disabled scores of others.
 A section of the auditorium also went down with a crash and the de- bris from it added to the wreckage that fell on top of the injured and dead.
 The victims were subjects or form CT subjects of Great Britain, resi- dent in Southern California. The names of the dead and injured so far . gathered by the police officials ap proximate more than one hundred. The following is the list of the dead:
 Fance McGee. Long Beach.
 Mrs. D. s. Holmes.
 Martha J. Bennett.
 D. McShears, Long Beach.
 Mrs. Frank Matthews, Los Ange David Black, aged seven. Long Beach.
 Mrs. Dan Thomas.
 Mrs L. D. McPharron, Long Beach. Mrs. August Bartz, Long Baech. Mrs. Richard George Dove.
 Mrs. Cheshire, Los Angeles. . Mrs Arthur c. Helps. Long Beach. Mrs. D. E. Wallace, Long Beach. Mrs. c. H. Lawrence, Los Angeles Mrs. Jane Wyvel aged seventy, Casa Verdugo.
 Mrs Warren C. Let's and daugh- ter Dorothy aged twelve. Long Beach, Mrs E. c. Valentine, aged seventy. Long Beach.
 Mrs. Frank Shaw aged sixty, Los Angeles.
 Mrs. Emma Prigmore. Long Beach. Mrs. Elizabeth Hanna Richardson, Orange.
 Mrs. Pauline McGehee. Long Beach. Thomas Beck Long Beach.
 Mrs. Lily M. Holmes. Denver. Colo. Mrs. Ada Ingraham. Pasadena.
 Young son of H. L. Baylis, Los Angeles
 Mrs. Anna Longfellow, Pasadena./ Mrs. Williamson, Los Angeles.
 Miss Anna Stone.
 Mrs James NichoI
 Harold Let's aged eight.
 Unidentified Man
 The dead tonight laid in the na- tional guard armory while the in jured were hurried to various hospi- tals in the city and in Los Angeles. All the doctors in the city are working tonight and their efforts were reinforced by surgeons and nurses when appeals for aid were sent to that city shortly after noon The accident occurred shortly be- fore noon The Empire day parade, the principal feature of the celebra- tion in honor of the late Queen Vic toria's birth anniversary had just end ed and the participants, with thOus- ands Of others, were crowding up the steps of the pier and surging toward the auditorium when the pier floor sagged. An instant later the supports gave way, the crack and groan of breaking timbers mingling with the shrieks and cries of the victims, as all went down into the mass of brok- en wood and writhing human forms on the sand.
 Practically the entire landing of the pier was wrecked and a portion of the auditorium front fell down
 The cause of the accident was the over burdening of the pier. This over crowding, according to the of ficial statement tonight, was due to a delay in unlocking the doors Il the doors had been unlocked at the proper time, it is asserted, the crowds would have gotN into the auditorium instead of massing at the doors where the weight overwhelmed the pier supports.
 The Scottish bag pipers had jus entered the portal of the auditorium and were still marking time when the timbers surrendered
 Mayor Hatch of Long Beach, whC was scheduled to be one of the prin cipa1 speakers at the celebration, wa! in the midst of the throng thu pier and was at first reported to b. among the dead or injured He escap ed unhurt, however, and aided b. Mayor George Alexander of Los An geles, who came down at the hea' of that city's public hospital corps