The sun., 1916-10-18
6 WOMEN AND 3 MEN
DIE IN FACTORY FIRE
Continued from First Page.

-
at $40 a ton. were IN the Astoria COM
pany's yards. These piles Of wood
poured forth a heavy black cloud that
interfered with the work OF the aremne.
Furthermore. as the floors In the Oakes
plant fell they smashed open r~eceptacles
containing chemicals so the FIRE fighters
had to battle with both fumes and
smoke. 1t was impossible for them TO
get even within water stream distance of
the Cakes main building.
Finally the blaze hit the wharf Of the
Astoria yards and set It afre. Fire
boats summoned from the Manhattan
and the brooklyn waterfronts grappled
with the blaze from the river side, while
the engines fought on the shore. 1t was
a tough four hours light before the
backbone Of the fire was broken.
Recovery Of the Bodies.
Only after this long interval could the
rrenen approach the Cakes building.
Lang led them. besecching them 10
search for the office workers. The
breeze from the water had null!fiei the
poison OF the gases so they could enter.
Under the flooring that had fallen into
he storeroom they found four bodies.
ana then after another hours search
picked up three more. One other was
found later and search for the ninth
continues.
The bodies were taken to Qu!nn's
morgue. II was impossible at first to
give more than a few names of the m
ployees. because the books of tn. COM
rany had been destroyed and Lang
could not remember the names or ad-
dresses OF the women.
Inc absence OF some OF the girls from
tneir home at the evening meal hour
brought their relatives to the factory
ms was the first news they had of the
disaster. Others learned OF IL throu.h
me late afternoon papers. In the morgue
.as. hisht there were mothers and
.a.ners VINO sought to identity their
own but could not because of the con-
dition Of the odles.
Fire Marshal Brophy was on the
seehe OF the blaze early TO make an In
vestigation. He estimated the damage
70 inc oakes company at S2J 900 build.
ING loss and $500 900 in contents. The
damage to the Astoria Veneer COMPANY
Was Appropriated n, $4,000. mos, Of
,n.s que TO the effects OF salt water
rather than fire on the expensive woods
Of $1,000. " N'0
Inc Fire Marshal and Coroner Boeg,n
pegan an immediate nvcstlsation They
oroeted all the witnesses they could ana
10 report to the office of Fire Commis.
sioner Adamson In the Municipal Build
Ing In Manhattan.
Fire Marshnl's Report.
FIRE Marshal Brophy stated In his re.
port to the Commissioner. after ,he ex.
ANIMATION OF witnesses:
investigation has disclosed tina, the
nre Orlg.nnfed rs, .h, a..,
Two story building and was the result, of
rhemica reaction. The condition was
Drought about by a falling ladder which
"'s beng used 10y an electrician In in
>.dlIhg some electric wires on tn. ceiling
VI THIS room. When the ladder fell II
crashed against the edge of "A desk ard
smashed a bottle which had been lef, on
I barrel and believed to have contained
b~sulphate OF soda. There were six and
th~ree-quarters barrels Of chlorate Of soda
ear this point, each containing about, 10
pounds, Within a second after the lad.
yer had fallen smoke and flames Issued
from his point.
Joseph Ross of 5l2 East Seventy
ninth street, Manhattan. was The cleo
tr'c!an using the ladder. and according 70
his statement he Immediately went 20
assist Charles II. Ley, the general fnr.-
man employed rs the Cakes Manufacture
Ihg 'onliany, WHO was trying 20 use a
staudp!pe hose In, in an eudoayor u ex-
tiLgu sh the fire The hose line, how
ever. got tangled up and was valurioss
T The fumes " smoke from the fire forced
nm 10 beat a hasty retreat.
In the meantime several other men
appeared with a second hose line but
Ross has testified that about five min
utes elapsed before they could get vP.ar
BY this tim. the entire building was en-
yelopcd in danes and smoke. and w
10 his time no alarm had been given
to the occupants OF the second door Of
the build nv.
- physical examination shows that
one OF the doore OF the safe in the Of
flee was closed and that all the books
We're in the safe. which Is an unusual
condition. indicating that the cnIce en-
ployees had attempted to protect the rcs-
ords 81 the Office before trying to make
their escape.
Furthermore. II II my opinion tha,
the persons in the Office succumbed 10
the fumes 81 smoke before they at
tempe to make uee Of the three exits
II is Z, ptrcns that the fire had gained
considerable Roadway before the office
force became aware OF the FIRE. and
that there was n great delay In turning
In az alarm to the Fire Department. as
the employees OF the company undertook
to combat the blaze"
Marshal Brophy said there has! been
no violation OF the law In respect to the
storing OF chemicals.