The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-03-26
BY Associated Press.

| BY Associated Press.
NEW YORK, March 35.-one hundred
and fifty persons-about 125 OF them
girls from the east side-were crushed
TO death on the pavements, smothercd
by smoke or burned TO a crisp this af-
temoon in the worst fire New York has
| known since the steamship General Slo-
cum was burned TO the waters edge off
! North Brother island in 1904.
Nearly aIl, II not all, OF the victims
| were employed by the Triangle Shirt
waist company on tho eighth, ninth and
| tenth floors OF a ten-story lott build
Ing at No: % Washington place on the
western fringe OF the downtown whole
| sale clothing, fur and millinery dis
Harris and Max Blanek. escaped un
J joining roof Blancli's two young daugh
ters and sovcruess.
! There was not an outside fire escape
How the fire started perhaps never will
be known. y corner on the eighth
upper lloors only were swept ON the
ninth floor fifty bodies were found six
ty-three or more persons were crushed 20
death by jumping more than thirty
/ cloEsed the elevator shafts. Loss TO
property will not exceed 800 900.
Pedestrians going home through
at ten minutes to : O'Clock were scattered
by the whlzz OF something rushing
through the air before them. there was
a horrible thud on the pavement and a
body nattened on the flagstones. Way
| farcrs on The opposite side of the street
shaded their eyes against me setting
sun and saw the windows OF three upper
stories of the building black with girls
crowding 10 the slls
Only Chance Was to Jump.
Don't jump: don't Jump" yelled the
| crowd. but the girls had no alternative.
| The pressure Of the madd"red hundreds
behind them ana the urging OF their
own fears were too strong They began
TO fall to the sidewalk.
Four alarms We're rung within fifteen
minutes. Before the engines could re-
spond before the nets could be stretched
or the ladders raised FIVE girls had fallen
from the eighth and ninth floors so hcav-
streets to the vaults below. In an hour
the fire was out: in half an hour il had
done It's worst; probably the death list
was complete In twenty minutes.
The building stands on corner with
exposure on two sides. but the only fre
escape was in the. interior, opening on
a light and air shaft In all there were
seven exits-the single fire escape, two
freight elevators at the rear, two pas
seDger elevators in front and TWO stair
wavs.
All OF them proved almost useless and
practically ali who escaped either climbed
to the roof and scrambled thence to the
roof OF the building occupied by the
American Book company adjoining or fled
in the first rush for safety before the
/
The building stands tonight with shell
intact and barely scarred-rather only
smudgsd: the partitions of architectnral
tiling between floor and floor are sound.
and II Is impossible for one who sees
IL to imagine how the flames in so short
a space of time could have wrought such
havoc
Seven Hundred Employees.
Seven hundred hands. 500 of them
women. We're employed by the shirtwaist
company. They sat In rows at their
them piled with nmsy cloth. the floor
Uttered with lint. the air itself full OF
dying, lnlanmable dust.
The frst rush Of flame was almost an
explosion. Operators oied In their chairs
their lungs scared by inhalinE flames
shafts after the cars had made their last
trip. Still others were pushed OF the
Inadequate interior fire escape.
In such hoTTSle rrn, ,b stream ImdoW de bas
The fire nets stretched by tne nrst com,
pany to arrive were soon Gorged beyond
capacity. Twelve bodies wetghted one
net TO the bursting point. but The bodies
: kept on tumbing 10 the pavement
| through meshes that could no longer sup
! port them.
over the edge OF n pile OF shirting on the
eighth floor. five minutes before quitting
time hundreds We're in line before the
cashiers window.
Bodies Came Down Like Rockets.
In the office buildings across Wash
, yond Office hours worked at their desks,
One of them saw a girl rush To a win
dow and throw up the sash Behind her
danced a seething curtain OF yellow
. flames She climbed to the SILL stood
in black outline against the light hesi-
tating then with last touch of futile
thrift. slipped her chatelaine bag over her
wrist and Jumped, Her body went whirl-