Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1911-03-31
I4l Perish IN FIRE.
SCORES OF EMPLOYEES DIE ~
JUMPING FROM BURNING
sHIRTWAIsT FACTORY.
OTHERS KILLED in PANIC
Fire Marshal's Inquiry Reveals Fact
Workroom Was Death Trap-That
plsastsr Result Of Cigarette smok-
lno-s6 Victims Are Identified.

" )
New York.-Of the III employees.
mostly girls and women killed in .
Ire In Triangle -shirtwaist factory at
he corner Of Greene street and WASH,
nEton place Saturday. So have been
Identified.
Seventy Of the bodies were those
Of girls and young women, the remain
ING sixteen thoseN Of men, There are
IL injured In the hospitals. Scores
of others more or less seriously hurt
were taken to their homes.
The building was occupied by q
number Of factories, and at least
1.500 persons were at work when the
! fire started.
The victims were either burned to
death or were crushed into lifeless
forms on the pavements when they
leaped to escape the swift rush Of fire
| which quickly enveloped the building.
Not since the burning of the excur
| sion steamer General Slocum. oil
North Brothers island in 1904. when
| 1920 persons persisted, has the city
| been SO excited by fire horror.
At least fifty OF the victims were
| killed by leaping from the windows Of
the seventh floor, and floors above.
Many persisted in the flames on up.
! per floors. remaining. afraid to lear
until the fire surrounded them.
Joseph Devontry. Brooklyn auto.
| mobile dealer, who was passing the
| building when the fire started, says
that 1t was IL minutes after the alarm
was turned in before there was a
stream Of water on the blaze.
| By that time there were 80 dead on
the sidewalks. The scene was sick.
ening. With wild shrieks the girls
ieaped from the windows, and, above
the din and roar Of the flames. their
bodies struck the street and sounded
like claps of thunder.
The extension ladders Of the IRE
men reached only to the seventh floor.
The firemen were unable to get abe We
that with scaling ladders because Of
the Intense heat and the dense smoke
pouring from the upper windows.
Unable to reach the upper floors.
the firemen resorted to the use OF life
nets. In most instances the nets
proved to be worthless. Some OF
them broke under the pressure Of a
single body. Others were torn by
two or more persons alighting in
them at the same time. One net was
lying in the street after the fire with
six bodies tangled In 1t.
Grocery wagons and even pushcarts
were pressed into service to get the
wounded people. most of whom were
young girls. to drug stores and hos.
4 pitfalls. Stores In the neighborhood
! were turned into temporary morgues
/ "A great crowd gathered around the
sceneN Of the IRE. Factories In the
neighborhood were soon emptied OF
their employees. Vt
/ Some Of the revelations brought out
1 by Fire Marshal Beers in his public
inquiry into the causes OF the fire
show that the poor girls in that panic
| rush to escape from the flames found
| traps at every turn.
! It seemed that the very arrange.
4 ment of the workroom was trap
with 700 women. damned back to
back at their machines. When the
panic started, the narrow aisles be.
came blocked with chairs and the
girls were In confusion before they
even st-rted for the doors. Then
there was scarcely of exits, the
inward opening doors and the death
trap Are escapes"
THE fire. without any question,
started from cigarette or match
thrown into pile Of lawn clippings
light cotton stuff" said Marshal Beers.
There was no gasoline about the
place, SO far as could learn and the
machinery power was furnished by
electric motors. But can prove tina,
cigarette smoking was no uncommon
practice among the men employed In
the factory. l.. ..1.." gG a.. L.