Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-11
MOVIE FIRE CAUSE
PROBE Expressed
Coroner Sees Law Violated in
/ Admitting Most of Child
F Victims to Theater.
By the Associated Press.


MONTREAL, January 11.-Stunned
in which "a children were crushed to
death or asphyxiated while trying to
escape from the burning Laurier
Palace Movie Theater, Montreal is
seeking to learn how such a tragedy
could have occurred.
Not more than four or five Of the
victims should have been admitted to
the film show, in the opinion of
Coroner Mcmahon. Provincial law
forbids the attendance of child under
16 at a theater unless accompanied
by an adult. The coroner yesterday
adjourned his inquest until Thursday
after hearing two witnesses, to await
the findings of the fire commissioners
inquiry which opens today.
Pending the resumption of the in
quest, Ameen Lawand, owner of the
Laurier Palace, and three of his
subordinates are at liberty under bail
One Boy Still Missing.
All the dead have been identified
and the majority of the 80 injured
have recovered sufficiently to be re-
moved to their homes. One boy, Louis
PHILIPPE Tremblay, 13, who Is said to
have been seen entering the theater,
is still missing
Mgr. lie Pailleur, rector of the
Church of the Nativity, who knew
most of the little victims, decided to
preside at a general mass for them
today. Many of the bodies were taken
to the church yesterday. The children
were of the poorer classes, and cele-
bration of a general mass was ar
ranged to save their parents the ex-
pense of separate services.
AS lie Gros Bourbon" of Notre
Dame Church tolled in the business
district of Montreal, funeral services
were held in the church for SO of the
victims. The burial mass was
started at 9 o'clock.
The church was crowded to the
doors and thousands gathered outside.
Citizens from all walks and stations
of life were present to pay respect
to the little victims Of the tragedy,
some of them barely 4 and years
old.
Governor General Represented.
Lord Wilmington, governor general,
was represented by Brig. Gen. E. de
b. Panel.
The 36 bodies, inclosed in white
collins, rested on two rows of cata-
falques. on either side of the main
aisle of the church. After the serv-
ices, the funeral corteges slowly
wended their way through the city
streets to the cemetery in Cotes des
Nieges, the route of the procession
being lined and 10 deep with men.
women and children.
On the arrival at the vaults of the
cemetery, where the bodies will re-
pose until Spring, heartrending
scenes occurred as relatives, in bitter
grief, babe good-by to their loved
ones.
Speculation as to the cause of the
fire which started the panic is rife.
The origin is generally believed to
have been Surreptitious cigarette
smoking or a dropped match in the
balcony. There are electric wires
near where the fire is thought to
have begun, but these are inclosed in
a conduit, and electrical inspectors
cannot trace the flames to that source.
Fire Began Under Seat.
The fire started, detectives say,
under seat in the center of the
balcony. The floor was a thin one,
they declare, and a cigarette or match
would soon start blaze if 1t fell into
crack.
Odd shoes and torn bits of clothing
were among the reminders of the
fatal stampede found on the stairway
leading from the baloncy of which
the children sought to escape.
An overcoat lay in the aisle, torn
and trampled, either dropped by
child making his frantic way to the
street, or torn from his body in the
fighting mass