The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1927-01-10
PORKER PRICES START WEEK WITH SLUMP
76 DIE IN PANIC
At FILM THEATER
Continued From Page u

was a pitiful account of young lives
sacrificed needlessly/ through Nblind
panic.
The living and dead were wedged
so tightly - the turn of the stairway
that policeman and firemen were
compelled to chop lsoles into the
walls and stairs before they could
extricate the human mass.
AS the mangled bodies were passed
out. they were laid on the sidewalk
and later carried into nearby stores
and houses. Those pronounced dead
were placed in rooms to await
morgue wagons and covered with
sheets, while the more seriously in
jured were rushed to hospitals in
ambulances and borrowed cars.
Scenes Without Parallel
Priests moved through the throng
administering the last rites of the
Catholic Church to the dying. Never
in the history OF Montreal had such
scenes been witnessed.
Lieutenant Charbonneau, a men,
Der of the salvage squad. described
"The worst l have ever encoun-
tered"
when I got there" he said. "the
stairway was damned. We pulled
the bodies, living and dead. out the
best way we could. 1 have been
fighting fires long time. but have
never encountered anything so hor-
rible.
Little children stretched their
hands out of the struggling mass.
crying, save us. save us"
Augustin JOHN, motorcycle
officer, who was one of the first men
to enter the theater after all those
who were able TO escape had reached
the street, said, Il have seen CHASTITY
things in my life. but never any
thing more pathetic"
Finds Own Children
Two families each lost three men,
bers. Three children belonging to
Octave Quintal persisted. Sylvia, s,
and her two brothers. Adrien. 10.
and IIildegarde, 8. while Constable
Albert Boisseau found all of his
children among the dead. He dis
covered the body OF his eldest
daughter, Germaine, Is, lying out
side the theater and shortly after
wards identified ROLAND, II, and
Yvette, s. at the morgue.
The scene in the little room of the
coroner's court was unparalleled. a
long line of weeping parents, broth.
ers and sisters. led 10 the bench
where Coroner Mcmahon asked par
ticulars concerning each of the dead.
He had opened the inquest in order
to allow relatives to claim the
bodies, although the regular inquiry
was not scheduled to open until to-
day.
To each person, the coroner put
two questions. The first was whether
or not the dead child had been &C
companied to the theater by an adult,
and in nearly every case the answer
was mo"
The second was whether or not
the child had had permission to go
to the show. Fully as per cent OF
the replies to this question were in
the negative.
Among those questioned by the
coroner was Benjamin Roy, who ex-
planned that his 14.year-old son Rene
had gone to the Laurier Palace, with
a friend. to celebrate his birthday.
The friend escaped. but Rene died.
Beg to See Bodies
On the ground floor of the morgue,
scenes perhaps even more narrowing
took place as terrified parents begged
to be taken to the mortuary cham
Der. But only at intervals, and then
in small numbers, were they con.
Quoted 10 where the dead were lying.
With each recognition came cries of
despair, and then the bereaved ones
took their places in the ever length.
ening line before the coroner.
The fire itself, which was believed
to have been caused by a short cir
cutting of a wire, was In itself Of
no consequence. There would have
been no deaths except for the STAN.
pede.
Those taken in custody besides the
owner of the theater, were Michael
Arie, assistant manager; Alexander