The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1913-07-23
Workers in Binghamton Fac.
tory Shut In by Wall
of Flame
IGNORED THE ALARM
Women Thought Gong's Peal
Was Summons to
Fire Drill.
DOZEN TAKE DEATH LEAP
Jump to Street When All
Efforts to Escape
Are Futile. q;

BiNoHAMToN. N. T.. July PA few
minutes before 8 o'clock this afternoon
tho clane Of the automatic firs alarm
gong stopped the busy fingers Of iss
young girls at work over tho machines
Of the Binshamton Clothing Company.
They were not startled or alarmed.
A girl on the crowded fourth floor, tho
top. called laughingly to q friend across
the room:
TITS only another one Of those Cd
fire drills. I'm not going down into tho
street dressed as am and make show
Of myself"
Most Of the girls settled back to work.
Two minutes later they were dying
miserably in flames and smoke, crushing
each other in hopeless attempts to e..
cape by dashinG down a single stairway
and the two narrow FIRE ladders or leap
ing blindly from the windows In eigh-
teen minutes the four story factory Of
"siow burning mill construction" was a
mass Of ashes and embers--walls, roof
and supports fallen in.
Twenty.four Bodies Taken Out.
At least nifty of the girls are dead.
their bodies consumed or charred IN the
smoking debris Of the factory. At least
thirty more are injured. many fatally.
Twentyfour bodies have been taken
from the ruins OF the 1875 girls on
the payroll only twenty have been
accounted for as uninjured. Twenty
two are In the hospitals. Eight are
being cared for in private homes Pos
sibly twenty or twenty-five who sur
vived the dreadful rush Of flame and
smoke or who fought their way to the
streets over the bodies of their work
mates fed to their homes before firemcn
or police could learn their identity. So
far. though, It IL only guesswork to at
tempt to say how many actually got
out OF the fire alive and unhurt.
President Freeman Of the manufac.
tut ''iutNhuy anu to'NNVVFSi
sist that there was less than 12b girls In
the factory, since some OF the employees
were on vacations. Fire Chief Hoag
says though that there were $50 girls
close packed on the four floors. So that
the estimate III nifty dead Is as low as
can reasonably be made. When the
story is told and the lists are checked
up no one will be surprised II the death
roll runs to sixty-five or seventy.
Three hospitals, the city. the Terrace
and the Moorc-overton, are caring to-
night for the njurcd, some Of whom are
NO dreadfuly burned that they cannot
possibly live. Others. whose lives it is
hoped will be saved. are in frightful
agony. Around the hospitals tonight
great crowds thousands have come here
from nearby citicsD are saddcned by
the means and pitiful cries of the in
jurcd girls. Firtmen. police and volun-
tccrs are digging in the smoking debris
bodies but pieces OF bodies. Of the girls
that escaped death or injury several
are near insanity.
FIoora Covered with Rags.
Words can do little more than give .
dim idea of the shocking fate Of those
that persisted The horror Of the Tri-
angle fire In New York city two years
ago last March was almost parallcled
by the disaster Of to-day in this city.
Here in great building of brick and
wood. where the floors were piled inches
deep with oil soaked rags and waste
where there were only two starways and
two hre escapes, 125 girls whose aver
age age was less than 20 had less than
eighteen minutes to save their lives
Their position was hopeless. There
seemed to have been no men quick
wittcd or courageous enough to give in
stant warning to the girls OF their
danger. 40 that three or four priceless
minutes were wasted In their hesitation
to appear on the street in soiled and
worn working clothes.
The FIRE Department was tardy In
responding. not through any fault Of
its own, but because the nearest COM
pany was at work half way across the
city on another alarm. Five minutes
were lost there, although 1t Is doubtful
If the men and the engines could have
done more than stand by. Then too
the water pressure was low and uncss.
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