The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-04-13
THE BLAMEWoRTHY INDICTED.

THE BLAMEWoRTHY INDICTED.
1t is good to see that the owners of
the fire trap run under the name of the
Triangle Waist Company, where so
many girls were employed, and up
wards of l40 of them perished in the
factory fire of March 25th in New
York, have been indicted and must an
swer for their criminal negligence. 1t
appears from the accounts, and also
from the testimony that is disclosed
as having been presented to the grand
jury, that the building was fre-trap.
1t had no proper means Of egress, it
was unprovided with fire escapes, and
even the door on the ninth floor,
through which the victims might have
made their escape to the stairway and
part Of them at least escaped. was fast
ened by bolt so that it could not be
opened The indicted men, Isaac Har
ris and Max Blanck, pleaded not guilty,
and were held in 1000 bail each, a
heavy bail, but mono too much in such
an aggravated case.
1t seems incredible that any men
with even business sagacity, to say
nothing of human feelings. would have
such a swarm Of employees penned up
in such a way that, in case of FIRE.
there was no possible way for them TO
escape. Buildings of that kind are re-
quired to be furnished with fire es-
capes, and means of egrcss are eX-
pected always to be available at need.
But in this case everything appears
to have been neglected, and even such
poor possibility for the saving of life
as an open door would have afforded
was shut off by the boltang of that
door. 1t was an awful, grievous calam
ity, and exemplary punishment is due
to those owners, through whose fault
that calamity came to pass.
But what of the hundreds of other
buildings. used also for manufacturing
purposes, and employing hundreds of
workers each, as this shirt waist com
pany did, that are openly announced
as being in the same condition as tins
factory was at the time Of the fire?
What has been done towards amending
those perilous conditions that are pub
hcly charged as existing in hundreds
of other factories, precisely as they
existed in this one7 What has been
done by the inspectors in the way OF
closing those factories or requiring i'm
w oJiofo oopnr1;opoo With .bo co fof1- roo
uIations that ordinary prudence would
suggest, and that the law requires? II
has been said that it is useless to lock
the stable door after the horses have
been stolen, and this saying has been
applied in many Of the Eastern papers
TO the case of this fire. 1t is true that
repairing conditions elsewhere will not
help that awful calamity, but it would
prevent others of possibly even a worse
character than that. 1t is not ques
tion of locking the door after the
horses have been stolen, but it is a
question of providing against further
calamities that experience has shown
are imminent. and that the New York
dlC uiibC HDoS'blc IN
hundreds of cases like that of the shirt
waist factory, where this calamitous fire
occurred.
Not only should the owners Of that
factory have the full extent Of the
laws penalty imposed upon them RS
their Just deserts, but every other con-
Germ equally unprovided with the or
binary and necessary means Of escape in
case Of fire alarm should be punished
for negligence. in case they fail in
stantly to provide such fire escapes and
such open egress as will allow of the
escape of every employee in case a
fire alarm is sounded. Tt is well to
punish those guilty of the horror that
has passed, but provision against fu-
ture calamities of the kind should also
be vigorously enforced, and any pro
prietor of building refusing OF failing
to provide the safety appliances that
are necessary, should be sent to Jail
to accompany those responsible for the
horror of the shirt waist fire Of March
25th