New-York tribune., 1913-07-26
FACTORY OWNER CALLS
FOREMAN RESPONSIBLE
Duty of DimmoCk to Look After
Safety of Employees, Says
Freeman.
PROTECTED, HE BELIEVED
State Inspector Asserts Peril
Gus Conditions Are Dupll-
Gated in Hundreds of
Buildings.

lFrom stan Correspondent OF The Tribune.l
Binghamton. y. Y. July 25.-Reed y.
Freeman, president general manager
and practically owner OF the Bingham
ton Clothing Company. was called to the
witness stand at the Coroner's inquest
/ here to-day to explain his responsible
ties relative to the fire on Tuesday, when
thirty-eight women and two men lost
| their lives.
Freeman waived his legal privileges
and said he wanted to testify. His ad-
missions and statements, summed up,
were i'm substance:
That the only lesson he gained from
reading Of the Triangle fire in New York
| City was 20 have doors opening outward.
/ That he had never considered the au-
| tomatic sprinkler.
! That he thought one stairway and one
| fire escape adequate for eighty girl en-
| ployes on the fourth floor
That he thought the waste which
state law requires shall he cleaned out
every day referred only to oily waste
used 10 wipe machinery.
! That he thought a matter of twenty
/ fire pals filled with water provided suffi-
/ cient protection.
That he had never thought Of having a
! fire hose.
/ That he had never even heard OF fire.
proof inclosed stairway
That he had never read the laws as 70
protection of employees i'm factories be
cause ne had put run responsibility for
| the safety OF hts employees upon Sidney
! Dimmock" his foreman.
And finally. that he thought the girls
! lost their lives because they were too
proud to start out for the street in their
working clothes.
Puts Burden on Dmmock.
Freeman emphasized again and again
/ the point that Dimmock was tho rcspon-
siDle man. because he put all those
/ things up 10 Dimmock.' until finally Dis
trirt Attorney Frederick j. Moagher
asked him whether he knew that Dim
mock lost his llfc In tho fire.
Il understand go" Freeman replied.
Freeman is q kindly appearing. elderly
man. with thick silvery hair he dis
PLAYED uo emotion as he was taken over
the narrowing details of Tuesdays dis
aster. except occasionally a slight ncry-
BUSINESS when Mcaghcr's questions be-
came openly sarcastic. with these cNcep-
tlous he answered everything with a
pleasant smile Hts attitude indicated
That he did not blame himself in any way
for tine forty deaths. and. In fact. ne ap-
/ parcntly pridcd himself on the point
a ,f.s.f
/ he believed his factory much safer than
/ most factories tn the state lie insisted
! he had done everything demanded by
/ Nash. the factory Inspector ~ the state
/ Department ~ Labor.
Nash Gilatod az great length 10 a re-
porter for The Tribune on his reasons
/ why he had rot considered II necessary
to order Freeman to put on an addi-
/ tioual Hro escape. but all his cXpana-
| tious simmcrcd 10 tho single point that
| nc had thought one was enough" He
-aid there were hundreds of factory
/ buildings with practically the same phys
i zeal conditions and numerically working
I force iu the state which had only one
/ fire escape.
/ May Have Snnouderod.
| According to Mrs. William whitney,
one OF the women who escaped from tho
/ fourth floor but who has not yet been
| called as a witness. the theory that the
/ fire started on the plush shelf OF the
/ FIRST floor may have TO be revised Ac-
/ cordng to Mrs whitney when she came
/ into the factory at / O'Clock on Tuesday
| she felt "A wave OF heat coming from the
7 80
! from the basement. She was called down
| TO the first floor half hour later. and
again noticed the heat She spoke Of II
TO some OF her fellow workers. but no
| one took il seriously.
Freeman testified that the cellar housed
the raw goods and empty packing cases
! and that IT was customary TO send all the
waste, in the form Of clippings down d
chute TO mat portion OF tho building,
where It was bundled I'm bags and held
| for the ragman. who came once a week.
! Parts OF four more bodies were found
| in the ruins to-day, making total OF
! thirty-three bodies recovered. The au-
thorities believe the other seven victims
were so thoroughly cremated that IL is
doubtful If any trace OF them will be
found.
Deputy State Fire Marshal George f..
| ROesch left here for Albany this morning
/ TO make "A report to his chief. The repre-
sentatives of the Wagner state Factory
| Commission remained and co-operated
with the District Attorney in his inquiry.
| II is planned 10 call meeting OF tho
Wagner commission, probably in Albany.
early next week, at which the repre-
sentatives now here will report and rec
ommend certain amendments TO the laws.
particularly with reference to automatic
= ...-..i., l.I.r. ar.nrnnf lnnLnanA IL