Pleasantville weekly press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1890-1911, 1896-02-19
TERRIBLE LOSS OF
LIFE At TROY, n. Y.
Results Of a uorking Boys
Care1essness.
IoRE THAN TWENTY LIVES SACRIFICED.

hiSh oaa SiAlo CIdLcQ Will
for their lives as the flames chaser
with hungry tongues, was the beginninU
OF fire last night that consumed thou
sands OF dollars worth Of property and
caused the destruction Of many lives.
From the outside of the high building tho
first notice Of impending disaster was the
sight Of q body of girls as they rushed out
upon the fire escapes from the windows,
those who were moro fortunate crowding
out the entrance.
Following them came mass Of smoke,
with flashes of hot flame in lurid streaks
Then the mass of frenzied humanity, find
ing the egress too small for instant escape,
began climbing over the sides Of the es-
capes, and bundles OF clothing filed with
writhing humanity dropped at the feet Of
Mortified passers by. Within twenty min
utes after the fire started there were three
dead women laid upon the floor OF an ad-
joining store and at least q dozen burned
and MANNED girls and women taken to
the hospital or to their homes.
OF the $50 girls and women in the
building 1t Is presumed that at least
twenty or more are in the ruins, for it Is
impossible to locate all Police Super
intendent Willard believes that between
twenty and thirty bodies are buried in the
ruins.
1t was just thirty minutes before clos
ing hour in Stettheimers g. Co.'s shirt
waist factory, on River street, and the $50
girls and women were working rapidly to
finish up. In the cutting room on the
fifth floor the $50 girls were closing up
their days assignments and preparing to
leave when the whistle blew.
Lilly Kreiger, who was working near =
machine, called to a small boy to light
the gas over her work. The boy struck a
match and threw the burning stub to the
floor. 1t struck pile Of oily rags, and In
an instant the girl was enveloped in
flames. With her clothes and hair burn
ing she rushed to the window, and In an
instant the room became O struggling,
shrieking mass of humanity, filling the
windows, the fire escapes and the only
stairway.
With rare presence of mind Policeman
Farrell, who was on the street, seeing that
In the panic q number were liable to jump,
let down the awning over the entrance.
Barely was it down when two or three
forms came flying down from the fifth
and sixth stories, and bouncing from the
awning fell to the sidewalk Lille Kreiger,
over whose machine the fire started, was
one of these. She struck the awning, fell
on her back and bounced to her hands and
knees on the walk. She got up and stag
gered about until people helped her to her
feet again.
By this time nearly every window had .
female form dangling from it, and when
the flremen arrived there was hustle to
rot bo 1a1darS nm the ceutap Ufa.
dow on the sixth foor a woman hanging
by her hands was forced out by the flames
licking her face. With last shrek she
let go and came tumbling over and over
until she struck the pavement. When
picked up it was found that she was Mrs.
Margaret Carroll. Her spinal column was
forced through into her brain.
Just below her, in another window,
hung a woman turning appealing glances
to the crowd. The black smoke was pour
ing from the window, but as yet no flames
were visible, and the crowd yelled encour-
agingly to her to hold on, but higher red
fame reached out just then and licked her
face, and in an instant her body was re-
bounding from the pavement She was
Mrs. Foley, widow, and when picked up
was dead. On the same floor. hanging
from another window, was q woman, and
salvation in the shape of a ladder was al
most within her grasp when her strength
failed, and she went twirling down to
death. She was Mrs. Kane.
The flames ate down through three
floors so quickly that the Western Union
Telegraph company, Jessup Il Gooppner's
Crockery company and Vanzands &
Jacobs Collar mandatory had no time
to save anything. One house. after the
fire started, caught from the falling of .
portion of the roof and from it small
buildings on the south caught.
About o'clock the firemen heard shrieks
coming from the two story building ON
the south, and they discovered an italian
peddler named Joseph Rossi, who kept .
stand in front Of the building, pinioned
by the legs under heavy beam. Three
policemen started to assist him, and with
fireman worked for three quarters OF an
hour They had just about gotten him
loose when with roar the great south
walls came crashing down, and the horri-
fed spectators saw the brave little group
buried from view. When the smoke and
dust had cleared there was rush Of will
ing workers, and in little while the mon
were taken out. All were removed to the
hospital The italian will probably die,
but tho brave policemen, while badly
hurt, will recover.
Superintendent Willard, of the polics
force, says that he saw number Of girls
at windows who never came out, but fell
back into the flames. One fireman who
was working from tho rear saw three girls
with their arms woand tightly about each
other turn in their frenzy and jump back
into the flames. Some of the women who
escaped tell of stumbling over prostrate
bodies, and are positive that score Of
girls perished. The girls who did escape
live In various suburban places and hur.
ried away, 30 that the exact number Of
missing Is not yet known.
The total loss by the fire is S250, 900 to
$500, 900, with about s100. 900 insurance. At
least 500 people are thrown out Of employ
ment. The firemen worked with the ther.
mometer down below zero, and suffered
very much.
Following is tho list Of known dead,
missing and probably fatally injured:
Dead: Mrs. Margaret Carroll, Mrs. Foley,
Mrs Robert Kane. Missing and probably
dead: Mamie Danks, Katie o. Connor. Miss
O'Neill and Miss Herberscher. Fatally
injured: James Quinn, Mrs. Johnston and
Joseph Rossi. Ten others wers seriously
injured.