The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-05-01
PANIC KILLS MANY
GIRLS CRUSHED TO DEATH IN
PHILADELPHIA.
EIGHT DEAD AND MANY HURT.
1900 WOMEN CROWDED NARROW
STAIRWAYS.

Deaf and Dumb Janitor Caught in
Elevator and Badly Hurt-The Gull
for Help Created Excitement and
Frightened the WOmen-SOme one
Cried Fire" and Mad Rush for
the Exits BeGan-Stairways Were
damned and Some Jumped From
Windows - Heartrending Scenes
Followed.
Philadelphia, April 30.-An unfortu-
nate accident to a deaf and dumb boy,
Isador Baccus, was to-day directly re-
sponsible for the death of eight girls
and young women. the fatal injury of
three others and the serious injury of
more than two-score of girls employed
in the cigar factory of Hamburger, Ho-
man & Co.. branch of the American
Tobacco Company, located at Tenth
street and Washington avenue.
The dead are: Mary Geneva, aged
49, Helen Tolini, aged II; Elizabeth
Tartine, aged II; Annie Rosschneider,
aged IS; Louisa de Sept. aged 16; Ida
Green, aged IS; Annie Ford, aged 10;
unidentified woman, about 25 years of
age, whose body is at the morgue.
Fatally injured: Mary Mesino, in
jured internally, skull fractured: Jose
phine O'Ronco, injured internally; I'M
! identified woman, fractured skull, I'M
| conscious.
The injuries of the others consist
mainly of bruises about the body and
fractured limbs.
The building in which the disaster
occurred is a five-story brick structure
ana reaches an entire block. Twelve
hundred persons were at work at the
time, 80 per cent. of whom were girls
whose ages range from II years up
| ward.
How the Panic Begun.
The trouble began on the fourth floor
| of the structure Baccus, who was IAN
itor of the building, started for the
fifth floor for ball of Irvine The ele-
! Yator was at the top of the shaft and
| Baccus pulled the rope to bring it
| down. He opened the door leading to
the shaft and leaned forward to see
where the carriage was. AS he did so
the elevator which was descending
slowly, struck him across the back of
the neck, pinioning his head between
| the elevator and the floor. A stock
boy released Baccus and cried for help.
The foreman rushed from the building
TO call an ambulance and Immediately
there was panic among the employees.
Some of the younger girls tainted.
while others, not being able to
| control their feelings, cried Fire"
instantly there was mad rush for
| the stairway leading into Tenth street
| The girls rushed down the narrow
staircase until they reached a bend in
| the exit, between the second and third
| floors. In their eagerness to escape
the frightened leaders fell. Others i'm
mediately following tripped over the
| struggling mass of humanity, and in
less than minute there were hun
| dreds of children and young women
struggling in the passage way. The
shrieks and screams of the terror
stricken girls could be heard for a
| block or more. During the excitement
| an alarm of fire was turned in, but be-
fore the engines could reach the scene
| several of the occupants of the build
ing had rushed to the windows and
| jumped to the street, a distance of
over fifty feet. Helen Tolni, one Of
! those to jump, was almost instantly
killed.
Firemen Excited Them More.
When the firemen and policemen ar
rived every effort was made to quiet
the terrorized girls. The firemen rush
ed up the stairway and begged the
girls to be calm, telling them that there
was absolutely no danger, but the sight
of the firemen seemed only to add fuel
to the flames. While the policemen
and firemen were endeavoring to quiet
the girls on the stairway, ladders were
being run up on the outside of the
building and the employees who had
climbed out onto the fire escapes and
window lodges were quickly taken to
the street
After a few minutes the men were
enabled to check the awful crush on
the stairway and then began the work
of rescuing those who had been tram
pied and crushed between the second
and third floors. A call for ambulances
had been turned in and as quickly as
the dead and injured were carried
from the building they were hurried to
hospitals. The number of ambulances
was entirely inadequate and patrol
wagons were brought into use to carry
the victims away for treatment.
Parents Were Crazed, Too.
While this was going on the scene
about the structure was heartrending.
The building is located in a section
largely inhabited by Hebrews, many of
whom were caught in the terrible
crush. Parents and relatives of the
| unfortunate girls were screaming and
ruSnlng ABOUT the streets ike mad, and
| it was almost impossible for the po-
| lice officials to restrain the mothers
and relatives of supposed victims from
| entering the building.
The work of rescuing the girls from
the windows was necessarily tedious
| They were so excited that they did not
seem to understand the pleadings of
| the fremen. At nearly every window
| of the huge structure were girls
screaming and crying for help.
Many were so excited that it was
with the greatest difficulty that they
were prevented from jumping from the
building, Notwithstanding that there
was not sign of fire and their rescue
seemed only the work Of few mo-
ments.
The panic was over in less than half
an hour, but in this brief space thou
sands of persons had been attracted to
the scene by the wild screams of the
relatives of the victims. and the shrieks
of the girls at the windows.
Because of the great excitement it
was almost impossible to get an intel
ligent idea of the disaster and it was
three hours after the accident occur
red before a single victim was identi-