The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-03-10
DEATH LIST OF ST. LOUIS FIRE NOW TOTALS 3l Bremen Today Begin Search of Ruins for Charred
 Bodies FIFTY FIVE WHO FLED SUSTAINED INJURIES Only Five of Seven Bodies Recovered Have Been ],
 Identified


 St! Louis. March 2O-The real ex- fire which destroyed the Missouri Ath- letic Club building will unfold itself today when firemen enter the ruins in search of the score or more of bodies thought to be buried there Four searchlights which were played on the ruins early today revealed what appeared to be human body wedged between the fire escape and the last remaining wall just below a seven story window Seven dead were taken from the building yesterday and "A others who were known to have been in the building at the time of the fire have been given up as dead by their friends. It. is possible that be- yond this number there were several persons in the clubhouse who had not, registered.
 The total number of persons in the clubhouse when the fire alarm was given and who escaped with more or less serious injuries reached 55. Many of those who escaped, becoming dag ed or hysterica1 wandered about the city all day before reporting to the board of identification This partly was responsible for the excess num- ber of dead given in the early esti- mates of the loss of life.
 Five of the seven bodies recovered have been identified. Two others are
 
 of the fire and the reason for its late discovery are still mysteries. The fire chief declared it would in all prob ability be several days before the ruins could be thoroughly searched and all bodies recovered Until then the ex- act number of dead will not be known.
 Chief Swingley said today that he warned the Missouri Athletic club six or seven months ago that the club building was not safe for sleeping purposes
 T found conditions particulAr15 bad on the three upper floors; ;r said the chief '4The building was not con structed for hotel purposes. but for a business house. It had been convert ed into a hotel by dividing the upper floors into rooms for sleeping pur- poses-''
 James A. Smith, former building commissioner said he refused to ap- prove the southwest fire escape be- cause 1t ran directly across the win dows.
 -T held he said, "tIat in case Of fire flames bursting from the windows what happened.' 2
 Former Building Connnissionef Smith said that, after personally i'm specting the clubhouse, he had or dered the board of governors to put in two fire stairways.
 
 Smith, saying that to do so would ruin their lobby. So I cited them in to court. The club had good friends at court and the judge was inclined to compromise. After intermi inable wrangling succeeded in getting the club to put in a proper fire stair en- closure. I found the egresses into one of the fire escapes opened into bedrooms. ordered the doors of these rooms taken off that the escape such as it was might easily be reach ed in case of fire. "I fought this case for three years was harrassed at every step with changes of venues, continuances, com promises.'' Ed Burnnue1ler, secretary of the club, said the members often had dis lcussed the danger of fire. tsStill, we could not jump into the street, he said. ssWe had to stay somewhere and we anticipated no such tragedy. The building was pro- vided with enough fire escapes, we thought. as we'll as hose reels, fire buckets and extinguishers on every f1oor.''
 The explosions which fremen re- ported, were. attributed to escaping gas by H. C. Henleys chief of the fire prevention bureau. Henley said he found the gas meters fed by two six inch pipes, which had been melted .by | the intense heat c5-fzsN