The Durham recorder. [volume] (Durham, N.C.) 1879-19??, 1910-12-01
Known Dead in Dreadful '
atsf
Fire Number Thirty
Factory Girls Tell Graphic Stories Of Scenes Enacted Inside he
Building While They We're Endeavorng 10 Escape
From Horrible Fate

men. ! was In room on the fourth
floor with Miss Anna Haag, the fore
woman, and Anna Smith and August;
Eyert. Miss Haag discovered tn,
smoke and ran to a window, panic
stricken. She got up on the sill, ant
| then jumped out with several Others
and landed In the fire net.
| But Miss Haag had no soone,
struck the fresh air at the window
than the flames shot out of the third
story anil almost ignited her dress. j
was about to leap when fireman gol
ladder at the window where I was
and ran up and brought me down.
don't know who he was, all know
was that he was a member of Truck
company No. 2.
Il looked for Miss Haag, but was
unable TO find her, and examined the
corpses that was lying about. The
features OF the victims were so married
by the fire and the wounds they so.
In falling that most OF them / could
not identify at all. Miss Haag, | ar
terward learned, was taken home
Mis- Geary. the inspector OF work
In the Anchor Lamp company was
found In the doorway Of building not
far away from the fire with Miss
Fraschin. Both were standing in the
bitter cold, without wraps, waiting to
know OF the outcome Of the Are and
the fate Of their friends. These were
the two girls who had tried TO put out
the fire when 1t started.
@Oh. Il was horrible" said Miss
Geary. Miss Frsachin and / couldn't
do much with the sand when the Are
broke out, so we screamed for helm.
Then MIR. Me0ut. the foreman, told
Us to go outside. and we ran, We
could hear the girls on the fourth
hoor. running and screaming, but
they did not come to the stairway. i
guess they saw the smoke and thought
they could not get down.
Scream Of Girls Dreadful.
"0h. how they screamed. IT was
dreadful. And, what made II worse.
we couldn't do thing for them. They
say Il was only moment or so, but
it seemed ages to US before the firemen
came. We stood out on the sidewalk
and watched those poor girls al the
windows on the fourth floor. and when
! saw what Wis happening to them
lust couldn't cry; was beyond that.
! felt as II was going to choke 10
death. and didn't care Ii the world
came TO an end.
THE fire kept getting worse and
the girls kept screaming louder and
louder. We also saw Miss Hang lean
Ing out the window and the people
PEELED to her % walt minute and the
tiremen would come. The flames
caught her dress and her hair and she
jumped just as the firemen spread the
net. ! don't know what happened be-
cause ! put my hands over my eyes
and turned my back, and then some
body said she was dead. but | learned
afterward that she was not.
i saw Hattie Delaney jump out OF
the window. Her head was smashed.
When some Of the girls hit the pave
ment they bounced back against the
brick wall. could hear their heads
cracking when they struck the wall
and could see the blood. II was the
most horrible sight any girl ever wit
messed. One girl fell and her leg was
driven up through her side.
Louise Fraschin corroborated Miss
Geary's story and they both protest.
Cd that the fire-escapes and the s.air-
way were Of little use TO the girls.
To think. said Miss Fraschin, 90
all that stun in the building Just
ready 10 burn and nobody thought Of
fixing things 80 the girls could get
out quickly II fire started. When /
20 70 work again and | must work In
q factory. ! am going 70 see that there
are plenty Of fire-eseapes and exits"
One OF the most graphic descriptions
Of what went on on the fourth floor
vas given OF Bessie Sackmeister.
The smoke began TO pour up the
narrow stairway In the middle OF the
room. she said, and Miss IIaag went
10 see what Il was. By the time she
got back 10 us the smoke had began
10 overcome us and Miss Haag mo-
TONED TO Us all TO run 10 the Gre es-
cape. She herself managed 10 get to
a window for air. She was hanging
out the window to avoid the smoke
when suddenly the flames shot up to
her aud she lei go.
All the girls began TO run toward
the IRE escapes. The windows were
ather high from the floor aud some
steps had been built from the floor 10
The windows where the Are escape Mas
located. The rush 10 this window was
50 great that the steps were broken
down.
-Four Of US girls made our way
down the FIRE escape Tho other three
were Sophie tutay, Bessie Carmady,
and Efiie Schweitzer. When We got
down 70 the third story II was all We
could do TO make our way past the
Are. but We managed TO get by there
and Il was easy 10 get TO the ground"
Another one to escape was Regime
IIardock. 10 years old. She escaped
by jumping from the third-siory win