Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-09-04

I
reveal an eighth body.
Railway representatives said it was
| possible that one of the above men
| failed to report after he had fled from
the blazing bunk house.
The most seriously injured employe
| is j. Minu Tajuma of Toxic, Japan, an
air brake inspectors helper. Taiuma
and the other employees sustained in
Juries when they jumped from the
second story of the bunk house
Investigations Immediately were
started by the railroad, the police and
fire departments and by the depart
ment of justice. They were in prog
ress Sunday night, with the announce
ment by the railroad that it had been
| unable to determine the cause of the
fire"
Watchman Sees Smoke
K. Kennedy, a watchman, saw smoke
coming from a section of store build
| ing which, in addition to housing work
men, was in part used as a storehouse
and a commissary. Running to the
place, he saw the inside of the room
filed with waste and it was a mass of
flames. He turned in an alarm.
Knowing that 60 men were sleeping on
the second floor, Kennedy dashed I'D
the stairway.
He was driven back by dense smoke,
but made another attempt with better
success. Many of the men sleeping
near windows tumbled on the tracks
and those who were uninjured ran
from the yards. Others, trapped in
their hunks, perished.
The building was set in a network
of railroad tracks. and fire companies
lost time in reaching it. When they
finally arrived the Oil-soaked floors
had fallen in and the sheet-iron sides
had been twisted into a pile of junk.
Exploring the ruins taxed the resources
of the firemen but by 10 O'Clock the
bodies had been removed.
The bunk house was almost within
sight of the union station adjacent to
the main eastbound passenger tracks.
A number of fast through trains were
due when the fire started, but were
held in the yards until the fire was
out and warped track had been re-
paired.
ing shopmen on the Pennsylvania sys-
n P Good. chairman of the strik-
TEN. in a statement Sunday night de-
plored the fire and said it could not
be charged to the shopmen.
Building Under Guard
The shop destroyed was under
guard, as | understand it." said Mr..
Good" and could not be reached ex-
cept by someone having free access to
the yards. l understand that part of
this shop was used for the storage and
repair of coach storage batteries,
which. from my knowledge, are sub
ject TO spontaneous combustion from
the acids they contain. | am willing
to stand upon the record established
l. ri,n f,.Y
and orderly manner in which this
strike has been conducted and will
continue to be conducted to a sue
cessful conclusion"
George w. McCandles, director of
public safety, who is working with
agents of the department of justice.
announced Sunday night that two rail-
road shopmen were questioned in his
office at length Sunday afternoon. He
authorized this statement:
I'VE have only begun our investigs-
ton into the cause of the fire. Two
shopmen were questioned in my office
in the presence of government agents
and officials of the Pennsylvania road.
| cannot make any announcement to-
night regarding the cause of the fire
but | think l can promise a statement
tomorrow"
An eighth charred form, removed
from the debris. proved TO be dog.
The carcass, like the corpses of the
victims, was burned to a cinder.
A score of shopmen who escaped
from the blazing bunkhouse told es-
sentially the same story TO newspaper
men. Awakened by the shouts of the
watchmen, or by the clamor whsh re-
suited. the men leaped from their cots
Those who grasped the situation
jumped from the building and fled.
Those who did not do so died 4
resident living in the vicinity declared
the fire flashed from the building with
such force that people living two miles
away were telephouing for details
within three minutes.
District Attorney on Job
District Attorney Harry H. How
land, conducting an independent in
vesugauon, gave out this statement:
If facts warrant, grand jury viii
make an investigation of the fire
Rowland declared. however. that his
preliminary investigation had not
thrown any light on the cause of the
fire.
Pennsylvania railroad officials re-
iterated the statements of employees
that the fire started within the build
ing. This, they said, caused them TO
ignore possible theory that q spark
from locomotive might have been
responsible. The same official de-
clared the bunk house cook corrob-
Grated the watehman's statement that
the fire, when discovered, was roaring
through a mass of greasy waste and
rubbish.
Il was the last man TO get oue
alive" said y. l.. Davis. a tail, mid
dleaged carpenter from Corbin, Ky.
Il heard yell and / jumped for
the door. The fire followed me out