Omaha daily bee., 1911-03-28
FIRE PROBE TO GET RESULTS
Evidence of Negligence Will Result
in Prosecutions.
CIGARET BELIEVED THE CAUSE
fire Marshal sRys Fire Drill 81
Unknown in Factory and Three
Hours Are Required to
Empty BuiIdInE.

NEW YORK. March H.-Fixing the
blame for the loss OF 1B bodies in the
Washington Square fire Of Saturday drew
to a focus today the energies Of the dis
trict attorneys staff, the fire marshal, the
coroner, the state labor department and
Borough President McAneny of Manhat-
tan. Dozens Of investigators collected
available information. Grand jurymen
turned personal probers and an additional
grand jury in a formal resolution, pre-
sented to the court Of general sessions,
offered their aid to the district attorney
and declared that some one should be pros
ecuted for the disaster.
What the probers found-evidence that
doors at exits swung inward. the crumped
fire escape in the airshaft, the one fire es-
/ cape blocked by iron shutters when opened
an empty water tank on the roof and the
practice prevalent among cutters of lGht-
ing cigarettes a few minutes before quit
! ting tme-all this and what is yet to be
ferreted out, will be placed speedily before
the grand jury for action, District At
ltorney Whitman announced.
Tenement Owners Up,
The tenement house department sum
Inoned owners of half dozen faulty struc-
lures to police court as a preliminary step
to a far reaching investigation of tene-
.ments one man was held for violating the
law and other cases, II was announced. win
be pressed tomorrow.
] Fire Marshal Beers summoned the pro-
lprietors Of the Triangle Waist company
and several employees to testify At a pub
lie investigation, largely to inquire into the
truth Of reports that doors leading to fire
exits were blocked.
so far as ! can discover" he said. there
never has been a fire drill in this fac
tory. In my opinion il would take 100 girls
three hours to reach the street by the one
fire escape Nine-tenths OF the employees
cannot speak English, yet l could not find
sign in Yiddish or Italian pointing out
the fire exits
Cigarette Asserted Cause.
The fire marshal said he was convinced
THAT a cigarette lit by a cutter and thrown
in heap Of clippings had started the fire
A relief fund for the sufferers is headed
| by a $500 donation from Andrew Carnegie.
The United Hebrew Charities, the Austrian
Hebrew Free Burial association and other
organizations came to the fore with aid.
Thirty-three bodies, most Of them shorn
Of all semb!auce Of human forms lie un-
identified tonight at the Charities Pier
morgue. Twelve persons, most OF them
girls in their teens, are fighting for life in
hospitals. Half a hundred funeral trains
trailed through the East Side and the
Italian district near the factory today and
as many more are scheduled for tomorrow
The unidentified will be buried in a sin
gle grave, but will be held as long as pos
sible TO give relatives and friends an op-
portunity to claim them.
Final figures place the death list at l4l
as announced last night OF these l23 bodies
were taken from the scene Of the disaster
and eight dfed In hospitals. The list vii
be sweued. surgeons say. by others, who
still liying have no chance 20 recover.