The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1903-11-23
FIRE TRAP
KILLS MANY
Tweny-seyen Italian Workmen Meet
Death BY Burning.
GAVE LIVES FOR SAVINGS.
Money Hoarded to Return 80 italy
Causes Cremation OF Many-Hor-
rible scenes Enacted In At
tempts so Escape.

Johnstown, Pa, Nov. 23.-Twenty
eight bodies. charred and blaekened be
You'd all possibility Of Identification
were found in the ruins Of what was
once an Italian lodging shanty located
ON the line Of the Pennsylvania rail
road twenty miles east Of this city and
three-fourths Of 4 mile west Of Lilly
In addition to the list Of the dead there
are thirty-two men who have been re,
moved to hospitals or to the homes OF
friends. Twelve of this number are in
the hospital in this city, and several
cannot recover.
The fire started early in the morning
while the men were stiI IN bed. How
it originated is a mystery According
to the story Of one man who escaped
from the shanty, The men lost their
lives through a Ere which started from
an oyerheated stove. tbs said that be-
fore retiring for the night the man
who had charge of the stoves filed
both OF those in the shanty high with
fuel The stove became red hot, it is
said and the interior Of the shanty,
which was lined with inaammabe tar
paper, caught fire The shanty war
ninety-three feet long and about TWEEN
ty-four feet wide. 1t was occupied by
sixty-fiye men, mostly italians, EN-
ployed on the Pennsylvania railroad
Improvement between Lilly and Port
age.
On each side Of an aisle which ran
down the center Of the structure was
row Of hunks three high. In these
hunks were piles of straw. One Of the
water boys employed on the work said
that he was awakened by hearing
man cry out "Firew At this time the
fire was in the upper end Of the shanty
only, where a struggling mass OF men
were fighting to escape FROM the build
ing. Awakened suddenly and confused
by the sudden alarm, the occupants Of
the shanty were unable to control them |
selves. Some of the men escaped, but |
a few remained asleep in the hunks |
All at once the foreigners on the out |
side remembered that they had left |
their trunks III the blazing building |
Then followed a rush of men into the |
building through the lower door The /
majority Of those who entered never |
again saw the outside world Those I
who stroye for the door were in the /
widest sort Of panic
When one man got ahead of another (
the other pulled him back. They fought. !
bit and kicked, and among those who |
escaped there are many who bear
marks Of the fierce struggle which took !
place in this battle for life. One of the
witnesses says he does not believe a
single man Of those who went back for |
his trunk succeeded III getting ont
again. In the ruins some Of the corpses
were close beside the hoop iron bands
of the trunks and the melted gold and I
silver which had been kept in these re-
ceptaeles indicated that the owners
had fallen and died with their treasure
in their arms The bodies were all prac.
tically burned 10 pieces. Peter Consalvi,
the superintendent Of the eommIssary,
said.
1T viii be impossible for anybody to
tell for some days the names Of ALL
those who were burned. The bosses
know them only BY numbers. l had
their names and numbers III my book
in the commlssary, but they were all
destroyed ! had some 5000 worth Of
supplies, and they were burned | had
also $500 in my trousers pocket, and
that was burned, of course. / acted as
banker for the mon ard the wonder
was that did not have more money
than this. There is not the least doubt
that several thousand dollars were
burned up in the trunks Of the men.
They kept their savings there, and I
would say there was some $1,000 or
$1,000 anyhow Many Of them had
enough to so back 10 their homes aud
families IN Italy and soon would have
sailed