Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1915-10-09

that the employees are a cleanly lot
and take pride in keeping the plant in
good order
Another interesting and highly sue
cessful test was made at the plant
of the l. Lewis Cigar Manufacturing
| Company, Morris avenue and Bank
street. This plant is a tive-story
brick structure and is composed of
several buildings, the main structure
running from Morris avenue to Hun
terdon street. This structure has q
wing on Hunterdon street which runs
to Bank street and on the latter thor
oughfare there are two separate
buildings which are not connected.
There are nearly 800 employees at this
plant, fully 1000 being women. There
are straightaway fire escapes reach
ing to the ground on all sides of the
building, and the entire plant was
clear in three minutes. The system
here has been perfected by Some Pear
son, the fire chief. Although many of
! the women cannot speak English,
they understand the meaning of the
bell
| The next test was made sim ultane-
ously at two buildings in the heart
| Of the downtown factory district of
the city. In order that the American
District Telegraph Company, which
has an alarm system in both build
| ings, should not send call to the
city fire department, notice that the
test would be made was given in ad-
vance and the time set for 11:45
o'clock. The buildings were the Baker
building, at Clinton and Lawrence
streets, occupied by the II. & w.
Corset and Brassiere Co., and the
Condit building. Both structures are
| six stories high and are connected
on the two upper floors by archways.
George A. Kaufman is general man
ager of the corset concern, which en-
ploys 625 persons, of which all but
fifty are women and girls. In the
Condit building were about 800 women
employees.
Fire Tower Equipment.
These buildings are provided with
j fire towers, better described as en-
closed fire escapes, which run from
the top of the building to the ground.
/ By means of these towers the en-
ployes reached the ground within two
and quarter minutes after the alarm
was sounded. All of the employees
came down quietly and with no sign
of fear.
Particular interest attaches to the
test from the fact that a serious fire
occurred in the Baker building on
March IL, 1914, while the ground was
still covered with snow. The fire
originated in the cellar, and worked
its way to the top floor. Not single
employe was injured on that occasion,
as the men and women made their
way to safety down the fire towers.
In discussing the system of fire
drills at the Baker building, Edward
MaIley, superintendent, said that he
always endeaVored to cooperate with
the factory inspectors and believes
the fire drills are a good thing, as
they accustom the employees to leav-
ing quietly at the sound of the fire
alarm.
Another successful test was made at
the Richardson building, 80 to So
Columbia street This building is a
six story brick structure with base
ment and has a frontage on Column
bia street of 106 feet and a depth OF
100 feet. The building is situated on
the southeast corner of Columbia and
Green streets and has two flre tow
ers on the Green street side and two
more on the south side of the building.
These are enclosed on the outside by
wire screening to the height of five
feet, which eliminates the possibility
of any panic-stricken person jump
ing to the street. Thirty-fou differ