Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1913-05-25
THIRTY THREE DIE As MUNICIPAL
P|ER COLLAPSES With THOUSANDS


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the portal Of the auditorium and sull
were marking time when the timbers
were sundored
When the auditorium front fell,
those near The doors tried to get out
Of the pier and went down ON top of
the scores who already lay hurt or
dying on the sand
Mayor Led Rescuers.
Mayor Hatch Of Ions Beach. who
was 10 have been one of the principal
speakers al the celebration, was IN
the midst Of the throng on the pier
and WAS at iirst reported TO be among
the dead or injured. he escaped un-
hurt however, and helped direct the
work Of rescue.
In addition to tho thousands gath
cred in the pier and IT. approaches
the strand was thronged by crowd
of probably $4,000 persons There
was only little warning. resound-
ing crash alarmed them and panic
spread from end TO end of the beach,
while women began to shrek Then
occurred "A desperate rush for the
stairways, as the flooring gave way
and the victims sid into the saping
hole, as into a huge funnel
soon the huge pile of wrcokage
marking the spot whore the dead and
wounded was surrounded by a dense
throng, which overwhelmed the COM
paratiVely few policemen on the
strand and for some time rendered
futile every effort at rescue.
Too Few Police.
The police could not get through
the crowd. An appeal was sent to
Los Angeles, "a miles away for more
police. These came in automobiles
thousands of intensely curious and
overwrought people, they assisted in
succoring the injured and removing
the bodies.
The tide was out when the cros sh
occurred, else the collapse would
have thrown hundreds of persons in
to the sea. and many drownings
doubtless would have been added to
the list OF fatalities.
The crowd massed about the audi
torum doors was composed mostly
Of women and children who had
gathered there before the Empire
day parade ended. When the section
about the doors sank, they went In
with 1t and a half dozen policemen
who had been vainly striving to hold
the throng in check, went with them.
Many who were not standing on the
section which collapsed were pushed
into the vortex and those who escap-
ed crowded panic stricken towards
the outer rail Of the pier, starting a
wild scramble for safety.
Those who fell into the hole last
were able to scramble over the en-
tangled bodies to the broken ends OF
the floor, so deep was it massed with
bodies. Fallen tlmbers and
flooring were jammed among the
limbs OF those caught In the trap
and ropes were required to pul back
the Jagged edges of the sunken
and broken ioists before the
dea dand Injured could be taken out
It was an hour before the yawnine
nUle COulu Ut clilptlcu VI us i''oo W
the dead separated from
the injured and the dying extracted
from broken timbers.
Dead and seriously injured alike
were laid In rows on the beach, while
scores who had sustained less serious
injuries wandered about seeking
missing relatives or friends. num-
ber 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 injured
The Long Beach council held an
executive session late today and it
was announced by Mayor Hatch that
its municipal government was assum-
ing all expenses. paying the funeral
costs for the dead and supplying
funds.
The auditorium, like the pier upon
which it was built ten years ago, Is
owned by the city.