Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1896-02-18
A TERRIBLE DISASTER.

A TERRIBLE DISASTER.
The result of small boy carelessly
throwing match into of pile oily
waste in Stettheimer's shirt waste fac
tory in Troy, n. Y, last night, was
blazing mass of flames, three hundred
girls and women, frenzied with fright,
fighting for life as the hot flames chased
them with hungry tongues, and the be
ginning OF fire that consumed thous-
ands of dollars worth of property and
caused the loss of many lives. From
the outside of the high building
the first notice of impending disas-
ter was the sight of body of girls
rs they rushed out upon the fire es
cspes from the windows, those who
were more fortunate crowding out the
entrance Following them was q mass
Of smoke with flashes of hot flame in
lurid streaEs. Then the mass of freu-
zied humanity, finding the egresses too
small for instant escape, began climb
ing over the sides of the escapes, and
bundles Of clothing, filed with with
ing humanity, dropped at the feet of
Mortified passersby, Within twenty
minutes after the fire started there
were three dead women laid upon the
floor of an adjoining store, and at least
dozen burned and MANNED girls and
women taken to the hospital or 10 their
homes. Of the three hundred and fifty
girls and women ia the building it is
presumed that at least half dozen are
in the ruins. for it is impossible to 10
cate all, and the number fixed at late
writing as twenty may be exaggerated.
The factory, which was destroyed,
caused loss of about $3.50 600.
The particulars as to the cause of the
disaster are as follows: Thirty minutes
before the evening closing hour, when
the $50 girls and women employed in
the factory were working rapidly to
finish up, Lille Kreiger, who was
working near machine in the cutting
room on the fifth floor, called to small
boy to light the gas over her work. The
boy struck a match and threw the
burning stub to the floor. 1t struck q
pile Of oily rags and in an instant the
girl was enveloped in flames. With her
clothes and hair burning she rushed to
the window and in an instant the room
became struggling, shrieking mass Of
humanity, filling the windows, the fire
escapes and the only stairway. Jam
ming and pushing, tearing each Others
clothes from their backs, turning in
narrow corridors TO find a sister or
friend, the number in the exits aug
m ,nted every minute by those from the
other floors, the girls and women
fought for their lives to get away from
the flames that spread through the
building. With rare presence of mind
policeman Farrell, who was on the
street, seeing that in the panic num-
Der were liable to jump, let down the
awning over the entrance. Barely
was it down when two or three forms
came down from the fifth and sixth
stories, and bouncing from the awning
fell 10 the sidewalk.
Lille Kreiger, over whose machine
the fire started, was one of these. She
struck the awning, fell on her back
aud bounced to her hands and knees on
the walk. She got up and staggered
about until people helped her to her
feet again. By this time every window
had female form dangling from it,
and when the fremen arrived there
was hustle to get the ladders up. At
the center window on the sixth floor o
woman, hanging by her hands. was
forced out by the flames against her
face. With a last shrek, she let go and
came tumbliug over and over until she
struck the pavement. When picked
up it was found that she was Mrs. Mar
earet Carroll. Her spinal column was
forced through into her brain. Just
below her in another window hung
woman, turning with appealing glancts
to the crowd. The black smoke was
pouring from the window, but as yet
no flames were visible, and the crowd
yelled encouragingly to her to hold on,
but red fame reached out just then
and touched her face and in an instant
her body was rebounding from the
pavement. She was Mrs. Policy, wild
ow, and when picked up was dead.
On the same floor, hanging from anoth-
er window, was woman, and salvation
in the shape of q ladder was most IN
her grasp when her strength failed her
and She went whirliug down to death.
She was Mrs. Kane. Superintendent
Willard, of the police force, says ne saw
number of girls at windows who new
er came out, but fell back into the
flames. One fireman who was working
from the rear saw three girls with their
arms wound tightly about each other
turn in their frenzy and jump back into
the flames. Some of the women who
escaped tell of stumbling over pros
trate bodies, and are positive that
score of girls persisted. At least 500
people are thrown out of employment.
The fremen worked with the thermom
eter down below zero and suffered very
much. Some of them were seriously
injured by falling walls,