Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-07-24
Victims Of Binghamton, N.
Y, Holocaust, Slow in
Responding.
OVERALL FACTORY is
SMOULDERING RUIN
Workers Busy Today Re
covering Bodies; Owner
Expresses Grief.

break today, big forOe OF clsy eM
ployes began the search for the. dead
entombed beneath the smoulder1ns
ruins Of the overall factory OF the
Binghamton Clothing Co. Not until
the tangled mass of brick and stee
has been removed, will the full extent
Of yesterdays tragedy be known.
Conservative estimates place the
number Of dead at more than nifty
About one hundred and twenty-nve
employees, mostly women and girls
were trapped in the burning walls
OF these, only forty are known to have
escaped.
sixteen charred bodies. as vet unc
identified, were recovered last night.
The identified dead are:
NELLIE CONNOR.
SIDNEY DIMMICK.
MARY CREGAN.
MISS FULMER.
LOUISE HARTWELL.
MRS. ALVIN WHITE.
MARY PRYOR.
The list Of the 1874 employees OF the
company who were on the pay roll
| Saturday, some Of whom were on va
cation, is In tho safe under the ruins,
making the task of compiling the list
Of dead a dificult one. The loss by
I, IRE and water In the building and
stock Of five concerns, is estimated at
more than 100000, largely covered by
insurance.
The postofice, built about twenty
years aso, was badly damaged, but
F{Ao mails were, saved. A temporary
once has been established in 9 near
by garage. ~.
The loss OF the Binghamton Clothing
Co., OF which, Reed B. Freeman is
president, lis estimated at about S4O,-
900, all covered by insurance. Inis
does not include the building, which ts
rented.
Il. Suspected Fire Drill.
The heavy loss OF life is believed to
have been largely due to the fact that
the employees. believing that one OF
the frequent fre drills was being held,
wore slow in, leaving the building.
.Bven whom it became known that thu
building was on fire, many returned ia
the dressing rooms on the upper moor,
for clothing and valuables.
The flames spread with lightning
liko rapidity and the intensity Of the
heat prevented the firemen from get
ting within fighting range OF the
building until rescue was impossible.
Women and girls, too weak to go
further. dropped exhausted on the
single fre escape in the rear Of the
building and literally roasted to death,
portions Of the bodies dropping into
the street.
Others jumped and were killed.
~t~ r%y.fO1
girls rushed into the elevator. which
was standing on the fourth floor. A
minute later, all dropped to their death.
Only the efficacy Of the city fire de-
partment prevented the snread OF the
fames:to business blocks lining Water
street, between Court and Henry
streets.
Volunteer fremen employed in the
shops along the line Of the Erie rail-
road. who we're in the city for their
annual tournament. aided the local
fremen. In holiday clothes, they as
sisted in running lines Of hose to the /
tops Of the buildings that were threat
ened.
President Overcome.
Reed B. Freeman, president of the
Clothing Co.. estimates
there were about one hundred and
twenty Ave employees in the building /
when the fire started. Eighty per
cont Of the girl employees were Ameri-
cans.
"1ts not the money loss, nor the
business that overcomes me-" he said
today. "But 1t Is the thought OF those
girls, some of whom have been with
~ for years.
"They perished because they be-
lieved the alarm was for fire drill,
several Of which had been held recent
forced them to appear In the streets
IN their rough working clothes. MANY
of them were proud spirited and did T
rot like this. The drills were a
I'M her.
heESo when the alarms sounded, most
Ythem took their time-some to don
yseir coats, others to get their purses
and other belongings.
"But for this fact believe nearly
Iii would have been saved. In the last
are drill we had, the entire building
Dmptied In twenty seconds"
Observed the Law.
According to the officials Of the
Clothing Co., all the fire
laws have been observed. Fire drills
had been held At regular intervals and
he regulation that all lint be swept
rom the floors at least once q day,
las been needed. It - the theory Of
President Erssasan that lighted il