Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-07-23
DEATH TOLL OF FIRE
MAY REACH SEVENTY
CONTINUED from First Page.)

blocks lining Water street between
Court and Henry streets.
In the building occupied by the Nc
Kallor Drug Company was a large
amount of highly explosive chemicals.
Steel doors and shutters prevented the
fire from reaching this building.
Flremen visiting City Lend Aid.
Volunteer firemen employed in the
shops along the line Of the Erie
Railroad. who were in the city for
their annual tournament aided the
local firemen. In holiday clothes they
assisted in running lines of hose to
the tops of buildings that were threat
ened. A band concert scheduled for
last night was abandoned.
Reed B. Freeman, president of the
Binghampton Clothing Company, es-
Inmates there were 100 employees in
the building when the fire started.
Eighty per cent of the girls employ
ed were Americans.
TITS not the money loss nor the
business that oVercomes me-" he
said today, "but it is the thought of
those girls, some of whom have been
with us for years.
"They persisted because they be-
| lieved the alarm was for a fire drill,
| several of which have been held re-
Gently. They disliked these drills,
which forced them to appear in the
streets in their rough working
clothes. Many of them were proud
spirited and didn't like this. The
drills were a bother.
Some Took Their Time.
$50. when the alarm sounded, most
of them took their time-some to
don their coats, others to get their
purses ana other peiongings
but for this fact, I believe, nearly
all would have been saved. In the
last fire drill we had, the entire
building was emptied in,twenty Sec
onds."
According to the officials of the
Binghamton Clothing Company all
the fire laws had been observed. Fire
drills had been held at regular in
tervals and the regulation that all
lint be swept from the floors at least
once a day had been needed.
1t is the theory of President Free
man that a lighted cigarette thrown
| INTO IL Htdp VI llJ ollSt
the lunch hour was the cause of the
| disaster.
Fire Chief Hogg, as he left the
| ruins early today to get few hours
sleep, declared that in his opinion
the fire-escape was adequate.
"They simply withered from the
heat when they got to it," he said.
There Were Two stairways.
The building was four-story
brick structure, forty-four feet wide
by 1870 feet long and was built eigh-
teen years ago as a cigar factory.
The fire-escape was at the rear. There
were two stairways from the top
floor, one to Centre street at the rear
and the other to Wall street at the
front. The interior of the building
was of wood.
The offices and stock room were To-
Gated on the first floor but most of
the operatives were working on the
third and fourth floors.
J The fire started in the centre of the
| first floor near the stairway. The
doors and windows were open at the
time and created a draft which con-
tributed to the rapid spread of the
| flames.
A fund for the survivors has been
started.
Around the scene of the catastrophe
thousands today are watching the
firemen and police as they are work.
ing their way through the hot ruins,
guided by three great search lights,
hunting the bodies of the dead. Many
in the great throng are relatives and
friends of the missing and only the
closely drawn police lines restrain
them from rushing into the ruins.
Dozen Streams of Water on Fire.
A dozen streams of water are being
poured into the fiery pit that few
hours ago was the cellar of the fac
tory. Firemen concentrate the streams
on one spot until it is cooled suffi-
GENTLY for men to rush forward and
prosecute the search for the dead.
They cannot work long in the steam
and intense heat, but occasionally a
body is found in the debris.
1t was $3.50 p. m. yesterday
| that Fred Bennett, an employee OF
the factory, saw a wisp of smoke as
cending the stairway from the first
floor. He promptly sounded the
alarm.
The private fire alarm system was
installed two months ago at the sug-
sestion of State Fire Marshal Ahearn
and, following his Instructions, there
| had been frequent fire drills--too fire.
quent the girl employees thought.
The girls, many of whom work by
the piece, when absence from duty
means the loss of none too large
| earnings, when the fire test was
sounded on past occasions and they
| found 1t was only a drill, expressed
disgust and declared they would not
come out next time Some believed
it a joke Of the management and
others declared that officials were
perniciously active.
When the fire alarm throughout the
factory sounded, the girls on the
third and fourth floors, 100 in number.
turned leisurely in their seats and at
the signal to rise stopped 20 adjust
their clothing and proceeded slowly
towards the stairs.
Gave His Life to Save Girls.
on a landing stood man clapping
his hands, saying. Move faster.
girls" This man IS believed to be
Sidney Dimmock, foreman in the
factory, who is missing and who sac
rificed his life in an attempt to save
the scores of employees.
The girls passed down to the third
floor TO find the stairway filled with
smoke and flame: they turned and