New-York tribune., 1911-12-07
AGAIN MOB WAIST MEN
BlanCk and Harris, of the Tri-
angle Firetrap, Set Upon,
DETECTIVE RESCUES THEM
Jury Selected, Their Trial for
Manslaughter Begins-It
May Last a Month.


on the part of relatives Of some of the 146
young girls and men who perished I'm the
Triangle Waist Company's fire again re-
! suited in an attack on Isaac Harris and
Max Blanck as the two men were entering
restaurant near the Criminal Courts
Building yesterday neon
There were about a dozen i'm the mob.
mostly women. Two of the men seized
Blanck by the shoulder. while the women
urged them on. Detective Lanvoe. Of the
District Attorneys office. who was passing.
pushed his way through the crowd and res
cuei Blanck on their way back TO court
the crowd tried to reach the two men, but
were held back by Lanyoe.
hfter the jury left at the close Of tho
day Max Steucr counsel for the defend
ants. Informed Judge Grain Of the incident.
saving that but for the interference OF a
detective there might have been a calamity.
lie asked that the two defendants be pro-
vided with police protection TO and from
their homes.
1T is proper for mo to say" answered
Judge Grain. that neither Of these defend
ants is i'm the slightest danger Whatever
from any source. but at the suggestion Of
counsel they may he accompanied by two
court attendants to and from their homes
Judge Grain then called out: Are the
corridors clear. captain"
yes. your honor" replied the court at
tendant. Then Harris and Banck depart
ed accompanied by two attendants.
When the jury was obtained yesterday
forenoon Assistant District Attorney Bost-
wick outlined the prosecutions case. vvidly
describing the finding Of Margaret Schwartz
under pile Of twenty other charred bodies
behind the Washington Place door on the
ninth floor
It is for her death that the indictments
of manslaughter in the first and second de-
gree were found against the two men. The
burned frame of the Washington Place door.
with the bolt Of the lock sprung. will be
the principal exhibit introduced as evidence
offered by the prosecution.
Charles b. Miller. Of South Norwalk,
Conn, was the first witness He is the
agent of the building. From his cross
examination it was apparent that the de
fence would be that the owner, and not
the tenants-the defendants-was culp-
able. if any one.
Diagrams of the eighth. ninth and tenth
floors. occupied by the Triangle company
prepared by James Y. Whiskeman, civil
engineer employed by the state, were
admitted IN evidence. also photographs OF
the interiors after the fire. Whiskeman
told Of the narrow spaces between the
cutters table and the fire escape, and Of
the narrow stairways. lie said that the
Building Code in existence at the time
of the erection Of the building called for
three stairways for such an edfiCe. II
contained but two. There was but one
ire escape.
Or. Otto II. Schultz, a Coroners ply
sician, testified that the Schwartz girl died
of smoke asphyxiation.
Battalion Chief Edward j. Worth, who
arrived at the fire two minutes after the
alarm was turned in, was the last witness
of the day.
"The entire eighth floor was then one
mass of fiames." he said. THE narrow
overhang of cornice, some two and n
half feet wide. between the eighth and
ninth floors, was filed with men and girls.
was standing in the middle Of Wash
ington Place, in front OF the building,
when | saw a man jump. ! held up my
hands to him TO warn him not TO. l or
dered that cornice swept with a stream
of water, IL was so hot But when the
man jumped il seemed 10 make all the
others jump. Hook and Ladder Company
20 spread the life net and caught one
girl She got up and walked about six
feet and then dropped. If they had jumped
one at a time the life nets would have
held them, but II could not nold them
when they came down entwined in each
others arms 7 saw many jump from the
windows"
His recital was interrupted by Mr.
Steuer several times whose objections
we're I'm many cases sustained. All wit
nesses were excluded from the courtroom
save the one testifying. The girls all
stood in line in one of the corridors, while
the men congregated in another. over
half a dozen policemen were present to
prevent demonstrations. The trial will be
continued to-day II is expected to last