The record-union., 1896-02-18

SAND dollars.
TROY On. Y.), Feb. ia holocaust,
the equal of which never was expert
enced in this town of collars and cuffs,
this evening blotted out the lives of
probably twenty or thirty women and
girls.
The fire started at $50 o'clock in ].
Stetheimer & Co.'S shirt-waist factory
and Van Zandt & Jacobs Collar Fac
tory, situated in the same building.
There were 800 girls at work in the es-
Establishments.
The flames spread so rapidly that the
narrow stairway, which was the only
exit outside of the fire escapes in the
rear. was almost cut off, and during the
panic that followed five employees
jumped from the windows, three of
them to their death and many others
were injured.
The known dead: Mrs. Horbort, Mrs.
Kane. Mrs. Foley.
The missing: Miss Mamie Danks,
Miss Kittie O'Connor, Miss Kane, Miss
Foley
The injured: Miss Mamie Day, in
5ured internally and bruised; Miss Lille
Miss Mamie Rourke, driven insane by
shock; Miss Mamie Downs, almost suf-
located; Miss Annette Harrington, face
and hands burned; Miss Lille Outhout,
badly burned; Miss CIementine Lloyd,
Miss Gertrude Lloyd. Miss Johnson.
badly injured and burned; James
Roosso, crushed by falling walls, leg
broken and seriously injured; officer
e7ls5 officer Guy, badly bruiseds officer
Watson, scalp wound and bruised; AL
fred Casey, fireman Osgood Company.
spine injured: John Ormsby fireman
Osgood Company, knee hurt; John Bo
land, fireman Eddy Company, scalp
wound and leg broken.
1t is believed by everybody, even the
proprietors and employees in the shops,
that about twenty girls were overcome
before they reached the streets and
burned up in the building. People who
were familiar with the interior of the
building and knew how limited were the
means of escape, place the total loss of
life at at least thirty.
The scene of the catastrophe was at
the corner of Broadway and River
streets, a portion of the city character
>.
structure, known as the Burdette build
ing, was six stories in hight, and was
occupied by J. Stetheimer & Co, whose
factory was situated on the fifth floor;
Van Zandt & Jacobs, manufacturers of
collars and cuffs, who occupied the
three floors below. and restaurant and
saloon on the ground floor. There were
also several other minor enterprises
carried on in the building.
The fire started in the fifth story in
tie part occupied by Stetheimer & Co.
About 5:25 O'Clock this afternoon a little
boy attempted to light the gas in what
is known as the cutting department..
This is the shirt waist cutting depart
ment He climbed on the cutting table
and lighted the gas. Then he threw the
match. which was still burning. to the
floor, and it ignited a pile of scrap
cambria In an instant there was a
cracking of fierce and uncomfortable
flames and the room was filed with
smoke.
Miss Lille Kreger. realizing the in
ninence of the peril, and at the risk
of her own life rushed through the diff
ferent departments of the building and
warned the employees of the danger.
fireman saved her from death.
When the employees of the fifth story
realized that the fire was beyond con-
troll, and was likely to prove disastrous,
a great panic ensued. The girls rushed
about the room, some of them found
their way down the stairway, others
succumbed to the dense smoke and
sank to the floor, and some jumped
from the dizzy hight of the River
street windows to the pavement below.
About half of the girls who were en-
ployed on the top floor thought of the
fire escape and found their way to the
ground in safety
For twenty minutes after the fire
started the scene was the most exciting
ever witnessed in Troy During this
time there was a continuous panic,
end in the rush for a place of safety
many were injured.
The crush on the stairway was some
thing frightful About 200 men and
girls attempted to make their escape
bv this exit at the same time. Many
were trampled under.foot. the ones who
we're in front were knocked from their
feet and thrown to the landings below.
and some are said TO have been left un-
conscious on the stairway.
The majority of the employees finally
reached the street. but they were so
overcome with excitement that it was
impossible to learn from them how
many had been left in the building
Quite a number found their way out by
means of the fire escapes. The girls
fairly threw themselves down the lad
.ders to reach the ground quickly. and
the hremen had their hands full in
carrying the young women down the
ladders from the terminus of the escape.
Probably the most heartrending
scenes were those witnessed on the