Iron County register., 1911-03-30

the first to jump from the top floor.
Their bodies shot through the three
inch glass and iron sidewalk TO the
cellar.
More than 10000 persons visited
the temporary morgue in an effort to
identify the victims of the tragedy.
The bodies reclined in the rough
wooden coffins occupied by the vic
tins of the Slocum disaster of seven
years ago The greatest majority Of
those drawn to the morgue were Gu
riosity seekers, who used every re-
source TO ge by the police
District Attorney Whitman began
an investigation of the causes which
led to the tragedy He is being aided
by the conorer. He says that he viii
exhaust every resource to find out
who is responsible. The grand jury
is expected to begin an investigation
during the week and the fire depart
ment will also conduct an inquiry.
Law Not Violated.
Chief Croker reiterated his state
ment that the fire department had
notified the building department of
the lack of fire escapes on many fac
tory buildings.
Officials of the building department
say that an investigation OF the
burned building showed that whileyit
lacked enough fire escapes, it met all
the requirements of the law,
Mayor Gaynor has issued a call for
a relief fund to aid the grief-stricken
families of the victims Many of
those who perished were the sole sup.
port of wives and children.
Effort Begun to Fix Blame.
The conorer and the grand Jurymen
began their investigation before the
embers died in the burned building.
They touched shoulders with the
district attorneys men, building de-
partment agents, Fire Chief Croker,
Fire Commissioner Waldo and their
helpers.
There will be a thorough investiga-
ton and a fixing of the blame, II
blame there be, and it can be liked.
District Attorney Whitman said:
IF what Chief Croker tells me is
correct then someone is crirninally
liable, and whoever it is, whether 1t
be one or dozen, shall be prosecut-
ed. | never saw anything more hor-
rible in my life"
There are many buildings in this
city in which even worse conditions
prevail" declared Commissioner Wal
do. "On this building there was only
one outside iron balcony fire escape,
with treads Is inches wide, and so
constructed that persons entering on
the fire escape by windows would
have to close the iron shutters before
they could escape. There were two
inclosed fireproof stairways, only suf-
ficient for one person to descent at
a time, and with winding steps at the
turns. The entrances to the stairs
we're blocked by partitions. From
indications gates and doors appear to
have been locked at the time OF the
fire."
Building Complied With Law.
The building itself, said Commits
sioner Waldo, seemed to comply with
the law governing the erection of
fireproof structures. The new owner
of the building, j. J. Asch, of South
Norwalk Conn, apparently had OBJ
served the regulations Of the build
ing department, he said.
In statement issued to the press,
Borough President McAneny said that
500 firemen, recently detailed by Fire
Commissioner Waldo for that purpose,
reported $500 buildings lacking ade-
quate fire escapes The building de-
partment has already investigated 700
of these $500 cases and reported that
only 10 per cent of them were in vio-
lation of the building code.
Mr.. McAneny urged thorough re-
vision of the code, leaving no progi-
sions relative to fire escapes to q
commission of building and fire es-
capes to commission of building
and fire experts to be appointed by
the city