The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-03-28
Many Charred and Black ened Victims Are Still
 Unidentified
CLAIM FIRE DRILL
 WAS NEVER USED
Evidence of Doors Opening Inward, Blocked Fire Escape and Empty Water Tank Tells Story of
 Trapped Victims


 day drew to focus today the energies of the district attorneys stan' the nre marshal the coroner, the state labor department and Borough President Me Aney of Manhattan. Dozens Of lnVesti- gators collected every scrap or aVaii- able information. Grand jurymen turned personal probers and an addltloha grand jury in formal resolution pre- scented to the court of general sessions offered their aid to the district attor- rev and declared that some one shouio te prosecuted for the disaster.
 What the probers found, evidence that doors at exits swung inward' the crumpled fire escape in the air shai the one fire escape blocked by Iron shutters when opened; an empty Wa Ter tank on the roof. and the praclies prevalent among cutters of lghtihs cigarets a few minutes before quitting time-all this. and what Is yet 10 De ferreted out, will be placed speedlly before the grand jury for action, DIS trict Attorney Whitman announced.
 The tenement house department sum- ro,ed owners of a half dozen sup posedly faulty structures to police 
 reaching investigation of tenements One man was held for violating the Ia" and other cases it is announced. will be pressed tomorrow.
 Fire Marshal Beers summoned the proprietors of the Trinagle Waist com pany and several employees to testlfy at a public investigation largely to inquire Into the truth of reports that doors leading to the. fire exits were blocked
 Never Used Fire Drill
 "So far as I can discover" he said "there has never been fire drlll Tn this factory. In my opinion 1t would take TOO girls three hours to reach the street by the one fire escape in that building. Nine-tenths of the employees cannot speak English yet l could not find sign in Yiddish or Italian point ing out the fire exits"
 The fire marshal said he was con vinced that cigaret lit. by cutter and thrown in a heap of clippings had started the fire.
 relief fund for the sufferers Is headed by s5000 donati from An drew Carnegie The United Hebrew so- cieties, the Austrian Hebrew Free Burial association and organizations came to the fore with aid.
 Thirty-three bodies. most of them shorn of all semblance to human form, lie unidentified tonight at the Charities Iier morgue. Twelve persons, most of them girls in their teens, are fighting for life in hospitals Half hundred funeral trains trailed through the East side and the Italian district near the mo at-s. scheduled for tomorrow. The unidenti- fled will be buried in a single grave, but will be neld as long as possible to give relatives and friends an opportu- nity to claim them.
 Final figures place the death list at Al, as announced last night. Of these, 133 bodies were taken from the scene of the disaster and eight died in hospitals The list will be swelled, surgeons say, by others who are still living but have no chance to recover.
 Need Death Proof Buildings
 "Ciive us not merely fireproof but deathproof buildings" bids fair to be- come municipal slogan as result of the Washington place fire disaster of Sat urday afternoon. in which nearly 150 per- sons lost their lives.
 The slogan was coined by Fire Chief Croker as summing up his recommenda- tions for the future. The entire naton, he declared, will learn lesson from Sat Urday's fire. such as 1t has learned only twice of late years-once when the Col linwood (Ohio) disaster taught the neces- eity of adequate fire protection in school buildings and again when the Iroquois theatre fire in Chicago taught the same lesson for theatres. Chief Croker's rec o-nmendation is
 "The city beautiful is less vital than the city safe.' .I..-
 Tot, Gxct of oil hat nttr live and work under adequate protection for their lives and persons.
 T would have fire escape landings ex- tending all along the outside of every office loft or factory building. l would have the balcony landings built wide enough for two. persons to pass in safe ly without crowding. Practice Fire Drills
 Next, let us have all inside stairways 1nclosed in ,fireproof partitions. Never allow an exit door, to be blocked, and make the fire escape windows open to the floor level like door. Protect each floor with all available automatic safety devices and sprinklers. Last. but not least, make fire drills frequent, at inter- vals compulsory. in all factories lodging houses and institutions"
 The Woman's Trade union announced the beginning of an investigation which is expected to embrace every factory in New York city where union labor Is em- ployed All union workers will be asked 10 write confidential answers to the ques- tions concerning conditions where they work,
 The limiting of the height of all build fngs and even tearing down of existing skyscrapers is recommended by Theodore H. Price, prominent fire insurance man. The height of every building should be governed. he said by the character of its occupanc cy. Four or five stories should be the legal maximum where manufac- turing or industrial pursuits are fol lowed.
 "A fire in the fnancai district could in small radius wipe out the avail able fire insurance capital in the United States" said MT. Price. Sixteen of the bodies were men. There are 12 injured in the hospitals.
 Crowds assembled today at the morguc {. to view the bodies. At least half of the corpses were unrecognizable and only a small trinket, n shred of clothing will 'lcl' to show who the unfortunate was. Some of these bodies probably will never be claimed. The victims living alone in fur nished rooms or little flats, may have