Norwich bulletin., 1922-09-04

AtS lOSS OI S--UsVUu was wrought ef | fire which started at dawn today in T | bunkhouse in the Thirtieth street yards | of the Pennsylvania Railroad and swept through the building with almost incredi- | ble speed
 The building which has been fitted up | as hunkhouse for men employed in c1r 1 repair work, also contained a quantity | of materials used in car cleaning. Tho | men were asleep when the fire start.C. and it spread so rapidly and the uppsr story filled with dense smoke so quickly | that only those sleeping near windows were able to escape They jumped t. the tracks, and those in the hospitals were said to be suffering from injuries sustained in that way.
 City fire companies and the railrosl department summoned to the scene were unable to check the flames and the buii5 ing was soon mass of smouidering ruins
 All bodies at the morgue were so badly burned that physicians said iden- tifcation was impossible.
 Railroad and c.ty officials at once instituted an investigation IL Was said that the record book of the building had been burned with other pepers. and the names of the dead men might never 5e determined.
 Nearly all the bodies were charred be- yond recognition.
 The corpse of J. F. Carr. I414 Thirty sixth street Baltimore was positiysy identified, however Railway officials made a check list of all employees fly ! ing in the bunkhouse and gave out tAe i following Est. Of missing tonight: i Alvin l.. Bruce, 2l, kewanee, Ills.
 Frank Custodino, 2S, laborer. Edgert Dunn, 35, repairman.
  Walter l.. Parsons, 23 repairman-
 Ernest Inozaneto 3S. repairman- Gerald Harper, 34, machine helper Search of the wreckage failed to re- veal an eighth body Railway representa- | tives said it was possible that one of tie above listed men failed to report after he had fed from tthe blazing bunk house
 Official records we're destroyed and the addresses of some of the victims coulj not be obtained.
 The most seriously injured employe is J. Mineru Tajuma, of Tokio J2Daa an airbrake inspectors helper. Iaju1al and the other employees who sustained injuries were hurt when they jumDet ! from the second story of the bunAhouss. The injured include
 | Thomas Burns. of New York
 John Burns, of Philadelphia. | C. Schaeffer of Highland Park. MicS and Ray Clifford. of fClsa, Oka. TT , others gave Pittsburgh as their res.- dence.
 Investigations immediately were started by the railroad, the police and fire de- partments and by the department of jus tice. They were in progress tonight with announcement by the railroad that it had been unable "to determine the cause of the fire
 D. K. Kennedy. a watchman, saw smoke coming from a section of the build ing which in addition to housing work
 men was in part used as a store hous. } and a commissary: Running to the place l he saw the interior of room filled witt \ waste was mass of flames. He turn
 ed in n lrm.
 Knowing that sixty men were sleep 7 ing on the second floor. Kennedy dashed r up the stairway He was driven bacl by dense smoke, but made another at : tempt with better success.
 Many of the men sleeping near win
 dows tumbled out on the tracks. an' n those who were uninjured ran from tn 0 yards Others, trapped in their hunks
 parished.
 The building was set in a network 0 : railroad tracks. and fire companies los Q time in reaching it. When they fnall,
 arrived the oil soaked floors had falle in and the sheet iron sides had bee L. twisted into pile of junk
 Exploring the ruins taxed the re :" sources of the firemen, but by ten o'cloc Il the bodies had been removed
 The bunkhouse was almost within sigh
 of the Union station. adjacent to tn 5, main east-bound passenger tracks! . number of fast through trains were du when the fire started, but they were hel II in the yards until the fire was out an the warped tracks had been repaired
 N P. Good. chairman of the strikin
 shopmen on the Pennsylvania system in Il statement tonight deplored. the fire an V said it could not be charged to the shoT m men.
 A "The shop destroyed was under guart
 as I understand it." said Mir. Good. "an
 could not be reached except by som - one having free access to the yards Y understand that part of this sfbp wa .9 used for the storage and repair of coac l' storage batteries which, from m 'i knowledge are subject to spontaneou
 combustion of the acids they contain.
 am willing to stand upon the record e' !. tablished by our membership of th = peaceful and orderly manner In whic s' this strike has been conducted. and wi
 continue to be conducted to a successfl
 conclusion.
 --.orge W. McCandless. director of put l. lie safety. who is cooperating with agen es of the department of justice, annourcs g. tonight that two railroad shopmen wel 'd questioned in his office at length this a s, ternoon He authorized this announc a- ment: I've have only begun our invest
 gation into the cause of the fire Tv
 shopmen were questioned in my office In the presence of government agents ar ,y officials of the Pennsylvania road. m cannot make any announcement tonigl ,g regarding the cause of the fire. but ,n think l can promise a statement tomo
 row"
 Government agents leaving the office ,. Director McCandless said they had not 1n ing to say, official or otherwise and I .s tfmated that any federal announceme |. r must be made from Washington.
 Pennsylvania railroad officials gave q IT. first casualty list to The Associated Pce
 but had not issued any statement regar
 ing the caue of the fire at late hour { ng night. The burned area was close w patroned.
 he An eighth charred form. removed fro ce the debris proved to be dog. The ca ty cass. like the corpses of the victims. W ee burned to a cfnder.
 A score of shopmen who escaped fire