Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-03-29
MANY WITNESSES
TELL STORY OF
FATAL F|RE-TRAP
District Attorney Whitman Pre-
pairing Evidence for Grand
Jury Session.

NEW YORK, March 29.-There was
no let up today in the official probing
OF last Saturdays factory fire dis
aster in which 14S persons lost their
lives.
The death of one victim during the
night brought the total up to the figure
given. Twenty charred bodies still are
or such OF them as relatives and
friends have by that time been unable
to identity, will be buried in Mount
Zion Cemetery.
Attention was largely centred today
in that phase of the investigation taken
in charge by observation-disclosures Whit
mar in an effort to fix responsibility
for the catastrophe. Mr.. Whitman
summoned many witnesses to his sffice
to get their testimony in shape for
presentation to the grand jury. Fire
Marshal Beers continued the examina-
ton of witnesses in his investiga ton.
Doors Locked and B~arricaded.
Locked and barricaded doors leading
from the hallway and stairs to the
eighth floor of the Asch building were
in some Measure responsible for the
great loss of life at last Saturdays fire.
according to statements of two of the
girls who escaped. These girls have
made affidavit that the doors were
locked and barricaded, and the afl-
davits submitted TO District-Attorney
Whitman.
Whether these doors were locked has
peer a disputed point in most of the
a--.a~s1- -N1 NAa a~D kA-~4. fa-YftY,Ya1
thus far, but the statements of two of
the girls who escaped from that floor
that the doors were locked, coupled
with Fire Chic Croker's stor.- of the
difficulty his men had in chopplng
through the fastened doors, would seem
to settle the dispute.
If the doors W re locked it was a clear
violation of the law.
The sworn statement of the two girl
survivors was made at an inquiry lnsti-
tuted by the Bureau of Buildings. Fire
Marshal Beers pursued the probe he be-
gar on Monday an was told that the
fre-hghting apparatus of the city was
of no great value in fighting a blaze SO
high in the air, and also that if the
apparatus in the building had been
used more intelligently some at least
of the great loss might have been pre-
- - !
vented.
Search of the sub-cellar of the Ascll
building revealed that the report of
two bodies in the flooded basement
was incorrect. The entire sub-struc-
ture of the building has been searched.
and a long cloak was the only thing
discovered. The building is being put
into shape for repairs rapidly.
The relief fund for the assistance If
the fire victims grew by leaps ard
bounds, reaching a total of $2S,372.S1.
OF this sum Mrs. Russell Sage, with 4
gift of / ,500, was the largest contrib
utor of the day. Thomas f. Ryan gave
81, 900. All the money. with the ex-
ception of Z, 175.60 received by Mayor
Gaynor, is in the hands of Jacob II.
Schiff, treasurer of the Rec Cross,
and the additional funds received by
the mayor will be turned over to him
today.
Besides these subscriptions the Tri-
fire relief fund committee of the
Waist and DressmakeTs
Local No. %, has collected "a
most 1000 in small sums.
Union labor will make a silent dem
at the funeral Of the unideii-
tiled dead, which will probably he
held on Monday. a great procession
of from 200. OOO to 100000 persons. mem-
bers of the various labor organizations
in the city, will follow the caskets of
unknown dead from the morgue 10
Zion Cemetery in Brooklyn, where the
burial will be made.
CHICAGO, March 29.-The ~Iroquois
Memorial Association, of Chicago.
soon after the ~Iroquois The
fire here in 1903. in which 600 lives
we're lost, has forwarded a check for
800 to Mayor Gayner, of New York.
the money to be applied to the relief
fund there for the benefit of the SIR
vivors of the victims Of the recent fire
In which 142 lives were lost.
no nr TInr THIN