Heavy Death Toll in Chinese City Tragedy Tientsin, Fob, 14, An appalling tragedy visited the Chinese city of Tientsin early this morning, In the shape of a fire which razed to the ground hutments for the poor and claimed the lives of 150 persons of all ages. The bodies of the victims, some charred beyond recognition, are now Inid out near the scene of the conflagration, await-
Ing identifention, They present a 'The fire, fanned by the wind, con. sumed the matsheds with incredible speed, trapping scores of men, women, and children among those' asleep there at the time and making their escape impossible, It Is believed that about 1,300 persons normally occupied the shelters, Firemen who hastened to the scene were helpless, fon account of the fury of the flames And Inck of water to Aiht them, The shelters "involved in the disaster were bull. by Chinese charitable societies for the poor nnd destitute, "The matsheds destroyed by the fre sccupled an aren a quarter of a mile square in the slum suburb of Nanshih. The shelters were constructed with matting and poles, and the paupers occupying them slept upon hay strewn on. the ground. Heating was supplied by large stoves, with couldrons in the centre of ench shed, Many of the paupers were crippled or otherwise disabled.
The dead consisted of 141 men six women, and three children, whose bodies were encoffined this afternoon after an Inquest held by the Chinese authorities, Only one woman and a child were, identified by relatives, The women's section inside the sec-fond shed had a separate entrance fand, as a consequence, the majority of the fifty women sleeping there managed to make their escape.
'The shocking death-roll is altributed to a mistake in the direction of the fire by people in the most Gistant shed, who rushed into the second shed,' which immediately was involved in the conflagration—Reuter,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.