The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-07-23
CAUGHT LIKE RATS
N TRAP BY FLAMES,
THEY DIE M|SERABLI
,locaust in. Binghampton
Clothing Establishment Sur
Y passes Triangle Horror
THOUGHT ALARM WAS
CALL FOR IRE DRILL
Laughing Girls. Who Joked
About Signal. Were, a Mo.
mentL Later Plunged Into
Roaring Furnace

BTNGHAMTON. NJ. r., July ga
few minutes before 3 o'clock this at
ternoon the clang Of the automatic
hrs alarm gong stopped the busy
hngers OF i25 young girls at work
~ the machines OF the Bingham
not startled or alarmed.
A girl on the crowded fourth floor
the top-called l%aughingly to a
friend across the room:
TITS only another n of those old
fire drills. I'm not going down into
the street dressed as / am and make
q show OF myself"
The girls. most OF them, settled
back TO work. Two minutes later
they were dying miserabiy. In flames
and smoke. or crushing each other in
hopeless attempts to escape down a
single stairway and the two narrow
IRE ladders. Ineighteen minutes the
four-story factory OF approved fac
tory construction" was q mass OF
ashes and emhers--waiis. root and
supports fallen In.
At Least Fifty Dead.
At least fifty OF the girls are dead,
thelr bodies consumed or charred In
the smoking debris of the factory. Al
least fifty more are injured, many
fatally. OF the i25 girls on the pay
roll. only seventeenAh2ve been ac-
counted for ~ aninjured. Twenty
two are in the hospitals. Eight are
being cared for in private homes.
Possibly twenty or twenty-five who
survived the dreadful rush OF flames
and smoke or who fought their way
TO the streets over the bodies of their
workmates fed away to their homes
before fremen or police could learn
their identity. SO far. though. II Is
only guesxwork 10 attempt Il ray
how many actually got out OF the FIRE
Alive n unhurt.
President Freeman. Of the Overall
Manufacturing company, and his
hcokkeeper insist tina; there were less
than las girls In the factory. since
some were on vacation. Fire Chief
Hoag avs though. that there were
$50 girls close packed on the four
hoors. So that the estimate Of Atty
dead Ii a. low as can reasonably be
made. When the story In told. and
the lists are checked up. no one will
be surprised II the death roii runs 10
eixty-nve or seventy.
Many Fatally Burned.
Three hospitals. the City. the Ter
race and the Moore-O verton. are car.
- totss&ht lti tuG ShJdAShs tii vi
whom are so dnadfully burned thai
they cannot possibly live, Others
whose lives are hoped for. are In
frlghtful agony. Around the hos
pitfalls tonight great crowds Chou
sands have come here from nearby
cfties) are saddened by the means and
pitiful cries OF the injured girls
Firemen. police and volunteers are
digging N the smoking debris OF the
factory and are taking out not bodies
but pieces of bodies. or the girls
that escaped death or injury. several
are . q insanity.
Words al DO little more than give
. dim idea OF the shocking fate oi
those hat per.shed. Not even the
Triangle fire In New York city. two
years ago last March. equaled the dis.
aster Of today in this city. Here In a
great building of brick and wood
where the floors were piled inches
deep with oii-soaked rags and waste
where there was only one stairway
and two nre escapes. l25 girls. whose
average age was less than twenty, had
less than eighteen minutes to save
their lives. Circumstances and bad
fortune made their position hopeless
There seems to nave been no mer
quick witted or courageous enough &c
rive instant warning OF their awfu'
danger. 30 that three or -four price
less minutes were wasted in theiI
hesitation to appear on the street II
their soifed and worn working clothes
Fire Department Tardy.
The ire department was tardy II
Responding. not throuxh any. fault oj
tn own, hut because the eares com
pany WAS at work half way across
the city on another alarm. Five min
uteA were lost there. although II II
doubtful II the men and the engines
could nave done more than stand by
Then. too, the water pressure was low
and uncertain. where h very strong
EFT power was required.
But the worst OF II was that Thu
IRE started IN the basement. red or
rags and paper and pitchy timber
mushroomed and shot upward
through every vent-elevator shaft
stairway and air shafts, So that wher
the girls actually realised that thu
automatic alarm vas signalling rea
danger and not merely calling for thu
formal drill that was meant to show
the girls how to get out quickly ant
safely, they were girdled with hre
Rushing flames met them At the stair
way. Flames curled from every hool
over the rungs Of the two IRE escapes
II tower OF flame leaped from h ele'
EvAt0r shaft and blllowed over the In
6ammable stun by the machines.
Some Leapt To Death.
scores died before they could reacl
G<AarWay or window. Their dresses
sGnsht from the burning waste. The,
<Centipusd On second Pags.l
En