Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-07-23
Catastrophe Came Suddenly.

trOphe is It's SuQOenneSS. In THIS the
disaster bears strong resemblance to
| the Triangle Waist Company holocaust
| in New York city, where 147 lives were
! lost when the infammable material
upon which the employees were work
| ing and the waste which Uttered. the
| floors blaZed up with inconceivaDle
rapidity and sent the imprisoned work
ers jumping from the windows t" their
| death. The parallel here fails only in
! the lesser height and different con-
struction of the building and in the
length Of the list of dead and injured
Another resemblance to the New York
disaster is that yesterdays fire is be-
| lieved to have been started by the
careless throwing Of cigarette butt
or match.
The killing burst of flame followed
quickly upon the heels of the alarm
The building was equipped with fire
escapes and an automatic alarm sys
tenn.
The alarm tinkled at 2:3O o'clock. Mrs.
Reed B. Freeman. wife of the pro-
prietor. telephoned to the central fire
station. The usual apparatus for a
first still alarm responded Some ex-
cited person at Warren and Chenango
streets, four blocks away, saw a burst
of flame and pulled the box there. The
rest of the companies answered this
alarm.
Firemen Unable to Do Anything.
That meant ten minutes Of delay for
part of the firemen. But even those
who arrived first were unable to do
anything. The first puff of flames was
hardly discerned before the fire leaped
along the staircases and walls, up the
elevator shaft, along the floors and
ceiling. There was a roar. front and
rear and the flames belched forth clear
across Wall street, on which the build
ing fronted. whitening the shade trees
on the river bank and scorching the
building across an alley at the rear
After this fierce blast the fire seemed
to burst from every part of the build
ing at once. Upon the fire escapes
girls women and men were clustered
and inside others were waiting to get
on to the iron ladders But the flames
were too quick for them
When the firemen arrived in RESPONSE
to the telephone alarm they were una BILE
to get within 200 feet of the burning
building. and the ends of the streams
from their hose were turned into steam
nets and extension ladders IT the firemen
were. equally useless. There was no
chance for those caught on the upper
floors except the last resort to jump. and
this many took. while others fell, shriy-
eled and crumpled with the heat
Scene of Confusion.
Scarcely one Of the survivors was able
to give connected account of what took
place on the upper floors of the factory
when the employees there. mostly women
and girls, realized that the fire call was
no false alarm and that death was sweep
ing upon them. The coolest among them
recalled that women tainted by dozens,
and that the scene was one of indie
scribable confusion. Some. of the man
employees apparently kept their heads and
did their best to rescue the imperiled
women
The fire escapes were not large enough
to hold all who rushed madly to the exits
and there was dash for the windows,
the trapped victims screaming with pain
as the flames swept upon them from be-
hind and scared their bodies.
Then from windows and fire escapes
bodies began dropping. They fell thick
and fast. The building was but four
stories high, and many who jumped even
from the topmost floor escaped with their
lives. although most of them were badly
MANNED. 1t was on the fourth floor that
most OF the woman operators were work
ing, and it was among these that the loss
Of life and injury was greatest.
las soon as the first of the fire victims
were brought to the hospital GONZALES
cents among the regular patients were
set to work tearing up bandages; physi-
clans. sawed up every available board for
splints to bind up the broken limbs and
Fathers Ellis, Walsh and McLoughlin to-
gether with Rev. Francis, came to offer
spiritual consolation to the desperately in
jured.
Never before in. the history OF Bing-
hampton has such q scene been enacted
in the local hospital. and despite the fact
that the injured and dying lay all about,
the doctors and nurses worked with
amazing rapidity and GOODNESS
Scarcely an hour after the fire every
one of the patients there had been at
tended to and made as comfortable as
possible.
Most of them were badly burned and
were swathed In bandages from head
to foot.
Suffers Broken Spine.
One Of the most pathetic cases at the
hospital was that Of Miss Ruth
Crotty, who had a broken spine. She
had been in Binghamton but one week,
having come here from Port Jervis to
work with her two sisters. neither of
whom escaped the fire.