Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-27
FIRE TOLL IS HEAVY
Twenty-Four Working Girls
Perish in Newark, n. J.
SIXTEEN ARE IDENTIFIED
Flames Spread Rapidly and Rescue
Work Difficult.
MANY PETRIFIED BY PANIC
Delay in Sounding Alarm One Cause
Of Loss Of Lives-An Investi-
cation Ordered.

cation Ordered.
NEWARK, n. j., November 26.-In ten
minutes twenty-four girls were burned
alive this morning or crushed to death
on the pavement in leaping from the
windows and fire escapes Of the four
story brick factory at the corner Of
Orange and High street. The latest re-
port tonight was that sixteen of the
twenty-four bodies recovered have been
identified and that six girls are still MISS
ing. They may be among the unidenti-
fled dead or they may be in the ruins
The collapse of wall tonight Interrupted
further search.
Fifty were taken to hospitals. of whom
two may die. Among the injured is Jo-
seph E. Sloane, deputy fire chief. who
was overtaken by falling wall and
buried in bricks and rubbish He is
badly hurt, but may recover.
Flames Spread Swiftly.
The rush of the flames was so incred-
IDLY swift and threw such unreasoning
terror into the huddled working girls on
the top story that the body Of one was
found still seated on a charred stool be-
side the machine at which she had been
busy when the first cry of fire petrified
her with fright
Horrible as must have been what went
on in the smoke of that crowded upper
room. what befell outside in the bright
sunlight was more horrible yet. The
building was furiously inflammable and
the first gush of flames had cut off all
possibility of escape by the stairways.
The elevators made one trip, but took
down no passengers and never came
back. The only exit was by two narrow
fire escapes, the lower platforms of which
were twenty-five feet from the street.
Women Blinded by Panic.
Onto these overcrowded and steep
lanes, scorched hot by the jets from
lower windows. pressed forward a mob
Of women. blind with panic, driven by the
fire and the others behind them.
A net had been spread beneath the WIN
dows, and the girls began to jump. Like
rats out OF burning bin," was the way
q fireman described that pellmeil descent
They boiled out Of the windows like a
thick treacle, rolled up on the heads of
those below them, and cascaded off the
fire escape to the pavement, sixty feet be-
low. Some of them stood in the windows
outlined against the flames and jumped
others from the steps where they stood
The air was full of them, and they fell
everywhere-into the net, on the necks OF
tiremen, and fifteen of them on the hard
stone slabs. When the awful rain ceased
there were eight dead in the street and
the cutters ran red. Seven more were so
badly crushed that they died in hospitals
Fifty are still under surgeons care.
Shower Of Burning Embers.
Clouds Of smoke and showers of burn
ing embers spread over the city and
rained down on neighboring roofs. AS the
news spread-and it lost nothing in the
telling-there was panic in other fac
tories, where many of the girls in peril
had friends and relatives, and several
firms had to shut down for the day.
Thousands f1ocked to the scene and made
the work Of the firemen and police more
difficult Italian silk workers fell in the
street and prayed and lamented pitiably.
Priests and the clergymen of other d.
nominations worked their way through
the press to give the last consolation to
those of the different faiths.
Ambulances and automobiles pressed
into emergency service were hurrying to
the hospitals and back again.
Before any semblance of order could
be restored every police reserve in the
city had been called out, and 1t was not
Uutl ldtc lldI Tic cStIuldtc VI piOpcIly
less could even be ventured for. The fire
department places 1t at $165.OOO. but no
statement from the owners and tenants
Is yet available.
Occupants of the Building.
The building was a four-story brick
structure occupied on the two lower floors
by the Newark Paper Box Company and
the A. A. Drake Paper Box Company; on
the third floor. where the fire started, by
the Anchor Lamp Company and the
Aetna Electric Company, and on the top
floor, where the death list ran heaviest,
by the Wolf Manufacturing Company,
makers Of underwear.
The wooden floors were soaked with oil
drippings from the machinery and the
flames ate through them like pasteboard.
When they warped and weakened, the
weight Of the machinery tore them from
the walls and they fell into the basement
In a horrible tangle of hot iron and
mangled humanity.
Stories Of the Disaster.
1.-The floor is always trembling from the
jar of the machines" said an employe
who escaped. Il got up from my machine
to get drink of water, when 1 saw
smoke curling from between the planks
Of the floor. girl in the back of the
room Snr1ekeQ 'nre. Inc elevator man
came up. stuck his head through the door
and called. Don't be afraid, girls. There's
no danger. Then he shut the door and
that was the last we saw of him.
mot all the windows had fire ESCAPES.
and some Of the girls were dazed and
did not go to the right windows. They
couldn't be dragged away 1 got out on a
fire escape and remembered not to jump
from the top landing. l think that some
of the girls must have been crowded off
the ladder by the crush behind Them
Fireman Brown. who turned in the
alarm. was at work directly opposite the
building, cleaning the windows OF the
engine house where he is stationed He
saw a girl rush out of the factory into
the street, screaming and wringing her
hands. There's a fire In there" she
cried, pointing back to the hallway she
had left.
Brown did not wait to ask any ques-
ton. He turned in an alarm and dashed
up the fire escape. He found forty girls
at the fourth-story window. some of them
so daze dwith terror that they hadn't
the wit to pull down the sashes and
climb out. Brown smashed in the win
dow and began pulling girls through onto
the fire escape. He counted forty that
filed past him.
TT was the most horrible thing I've
ever SEEM" he said afterward. II never
saw a fire spread so fast when 1t got
started. Before we could get the girls
through the windows, out onto the fire
escapes, the flames were licking the