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Story
May 29, 1913
Mexico Missouri Message
Mexico, Audrain County, Missouri
What is this article about?
In Long Beach, California, the municipal pier collapsed during British Empire Day festivities, killing 33 mostly women and seriously injuring 50 as nearly 10,000 people crowded the double-decked structure, causing decks to fail sequentially onto the sands below.
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33 KILLED WHEN OCEAN PIER FALLS
VICTIMS MOSTLY WOMEN PARTICIPATING IN BRITISH EMPIRE DAY FESTIVITIES.
50 ARE SERIOUSLY INJURED
Top Deck of Landward End Gives Way First, People Fall on Those Below, Lower Deck Collapses—10,000 in Panic.
Long Beach, Cal.—Too weak to hold the burden of nearly 10,000 human beings assembled for the festivities of "British Empire Day," the land end of the big double-decked municipal pier in front of the city auditorium collapsed. Hundreds of persons on the top deck were plunged down on the heads of other hundreds crowded on the second deck. The lower deck then gave way and all were dropped down a chute of shattered woodwork to the tide-washed sands, 25 feet below.
33, Mostly Women, Killed.
Thirty-three persons—most of them women—were killed by the shivered timbers or crushed to death by the falling bodies of companions and friends. Fifty more were seriously injured, while hysteria and paralyzing fright disabled scores of others.
A section of the auditorium, which went down in the crash, with the debris from it, was added to the wreckage that fell on the injured and the dead.
The dead were laid in the National Guard Armory, while the injured were hurried to various hospitals in this city and Los Angeles.
All the doctors in the city were reinforced by surgeons and nurses who came from Los Angeles, when appeals for aid were sent to that city.
Celebration Just Ended.
The Empire Day parade, the principal feature of the celebration in honor of the late Queen Victoria's birthday anniversary, had just ended. The participants, with thousands of other visitors, 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 mingled with the shrieks and cries of the victims as all went down into a mass of broken wood and writhing human forms on the sand.
Virtually the entire landing of the pier was wrecked and a portion of the auditorium front also fell.
The cause of the accident was the overburdening of the pier.
VICTIMS MOSTLY WOMEN PARTICIPATING IN BRITISH EMPIRE DAY FESTIVITIES.
50 ARE SERIOUSLY INJURED
Top Deck of Landward End Gives Way First, People Fall on Those Below, Lower Deck Collapses—10,000 in Panic.
Long Beach, Cal.—Too weak to hold the burden of nearly 10,000 human beings assembled for the festivities of "British Empire Day," the land end of the big double-decked municipal pier in front of the city auditorium collapsed. Hundreds of persons on the top deck were plunged down on the heads of other hundreds crowded on the second deck. The lower deck then gave way and all were dropped down a chute of shattered woodwork to the tide-washed sands, 25 feet below.
33, Mostly Women, Killed.
Thirty-three persons—most of them women—were killed by the shivered timbers or crushed to death by the falling bodies of companions and friends. Fifty more were seriously injured, while hysteria and paralyzing fright disabled scores of others.
A section of the auditorium, which went down in the crash, with the debris from it, was added to the wreckage that fell on the injured and the dead.
The dead were laid in the National Guard Armory, while the injured were hurried to various hospitals in this city and Los Angeles.
All the doctors in the city were reinforced by surgeons and nurses who came from Los Angeles, when appeals for aid were sent to that city.
Celebration Just Ended.
The Empire Day parade, the principal feature of the celebration in honor of the late Queen Victoria's birthday anniversary, had just ended. The participants, with thousands of other visitors, 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 mingled with the shrieks and cries of the victims as all went down into a mass of broken wood and writhing human forms on the sand.
Virtually the entire landing of the pier was wrecked and a portion of the auditorium front also fell.
The cause of the accident was the overburdening of the pier.
What sub-type of article is it?
Disaster
Tragedy
Historical Event
What themes does it cover?
Catastrophe
Misfortune
Tragedy
What keywords are associated?
Pier Collapse
British Empire Day
Long Beach Disaster
Fatal Crowd Accident
Structural Failure
Where did it happen?
Long Beach, Cal.
Story Details
Location
Long Beach, Cal.
Story Details
The land end of the double-decked municipal pier collapsed under the weight of nearly 10,000 people during British Empire Day festivities, causing the top deck to plunge onto the lower deck, then both to fall 25 feet to the sands, killing 33 mostly women and seriously injuring 50.