Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1911-04-05
.I4l Perish IN fire
SCORES OF EMPLOYEES DIE az
JUMPING FROM BURNING
sHIRTWAlsT FACTORY.
OTHERS KILLED in PANIC
Fire Marshal's Inquiry Reveals Fact
Workroom Was Death Trap-That
Disaster Result Of Cigarette smok.
lns-s6 Victims Are Identified.

New York.-Of the 141 employees,
mostly girls and women killed In a
fire in Triangle Shirtwaist factory at
the corner of Greene street and Wash.
ingron place Saturday, Sc have been
Identified.
Seventy OF the bodies were those
OF girls and young women. the remain
ing sixteen those 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
number Of factories, and at least
$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, OF
North Brothers island in 1904, when
1,O20 persons persisted, has the city
been 80 excited by a 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 leap
until the fire surrounded them.
Although the IRE started on the
eighth floor, it spread eventually to
the basement and Quilted the whole
building. The blaze started In the
cutting room Of the Triangle Waist
company, on the eighth floor. This
concern occupied the upper three
floors of the building.
Joseph Devontry. a 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 30 dead on
the sidewalks. The scene was sick
.ening. With wild shrieks the girls
leaped 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 fire
men reached only to the seventh floor.
The fremen were unable to get above
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 flremen 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 It,
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
pitfalls. Stores IN the neighborhood
were turned into temporary morgues.
"A great crowd gathered around the
scene Of the fire. !, Factories In the
neighborhood were soon emptied Of
their employees.
Some Of the revelations brought out
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
ment Of the workroom was trap,
with 700 women. jammed back to
back at their machines. When the
panic started, tho narrow aisles be-
came blocked with chairs and the
girls were in confusion before they
even started for the doors. Then
there was scarcity of exits, the
inward opening doors and the death
trap fire escapes"
1.-THE fire, without any question,
started from a 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 l could learn and the
machinery power was furnished by
electric motors. But can prove that
cigarette smoking was no uncommon
practice among the men employed in
the factory.
The fire started at 4:40 O'Clock.
Samuel Bernstein, the superintendent
for the Triangle company, and boy
tried to put 1t out with buckets Of,
water, but fought 1t for only a minute
and half. The alarm was not
turned in for five minutes.
while Bernstein was fighting the.
fire, Edward Brown. the machinist.
was trying to get the girls in line to
march to the fire escape and to the
elevator doors. But the poor things,
in most cases, understood only Yid-
dish and did not know what he waa
saying to them"
Woman Hale at 1904 Years.
Muskegon. Mich Possessor Of
pnpd health opd rotoipipp ayrono& 49,