The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-10-26
10 GIRLS TRAPPED IN
PIY7SBURG FIRE DIE
One Man Loses Lifc-Three
Other Factory Workers Miss
ing: Nineteen Injured.
MANY SAVED BY JUMPING

PlrrsprpG. oct. 26-rourteen per-
sons thirteen OF them girls. with practi-
catly every avenue Of escape cut on
wers suffocated or burned to death In
a IRE in a North Side factory this
afternoon. Three girls are u~naccounted
for. six are in local hospitals and
thirteen other suffered minor injuries
by jumping from the third and fourth
floors Of the building at .07-20? San
dusky street.
The dead are Colette Sellman. Helen
Wsher. Sophia Iobok. Caroline Far
Ceci a Joss, Bertha Dunapple. Title
Breinning. Laura B%reinning. Myrtle
Miller. Marcella I,auch, Selma Haag and
Peter WALTON.
Thirty-fivc girls were employed OIL
the third and fourth floors Of the build
ing by the Union Paper Box Company.
The n started on the first floor In a
hay, grain and > ed store of the James
BROWN estate. and ollowed the elevator
shaft 10 the roof The second floor was
occupied by several small manufacture
ing concerns.
Some of the girls might have escaped
IL a door leading from the second to
the third floor been left unlocked. but
when the girls found that 1t would not
open they were compelled to return to
the third fioor and jump from the
window, take chances In crawling down
ropes or over human ladders. or perish
In the flames.
Joseph Bash and A. J. Seigel formed
a ladder and clineing to the side OF
the building :hey permitted eight girls
to climb down over them from the third
door TO the second floor. hen they
dropped into nets held by the police
and nremen. other girls on the third
and fourth floors. however, jumped.
several Of them %alighting In the street.
Man Rescucs Three Girls.
Three girls who jumped from the
third loo We're caught in midair by
an unidentified man, who reached out
VI a second story window.
Henry Schroeder of Cleveland. un-
aided, rescued six girls. He procured a
rope. hurled 1t to the girls on the third
door and they made it fast inside and
slid down in safety. A sixth girl jumped
and Schroeder. attempting to catch her.
was knocked down and severely injured.
Gertrude Berrie. "a years old, jumped
from the fourth floor and alighted In a
maze or telephone wires. bounded up III
the air and came down again In the
wires. which she firmly grasped. She
climbed TO n pole. but flames drove her
back. With IA firm grasp on the wires.
che allowed her body TO sway. repara-
tory to dropping to the street. when "A
man called to her to swing near the
building. She did so and "a man In "a
second story window graspcd her and set
her on the sill. He then lowered the
girl into a net
Preachers Attempt Ncscues.
-Four ministers rushed into the burn
Ing building to aid the trapped girls.
Priests administered conditional abso-
luton to some ~ the girls, but were
forced to make 4 hurried exit.
Margaret Stcigerwald. who jumped
from the third floor and escaped with
ouly slight bruises, says that she and
Ave other girls had reached the sec
ond floor, but the door was locked and
they had to return 10 the third floor.
The flames We're 40 intense near the fire
escapes that 1t was impossible to use
them and they wer. compelled TO jump
city officials admitted tonight tina,
two reports showing the building vas
dangerous We're mad within the last
sixteen months, but assert there Is not
Sufficient legislation TO enable them 10
prevent such disasters. The property
loss Is estimated at SO. 600.