New Britain herald., 1923-07-23
THREE MEN DIE IN
 TRAP SET FOR RATS
Unpunched Time Cards Reveal
 Triple Tragedy

New York, July 23.-The bodies of three laborers, killed by the deadliest of {. fumigating gases were found yes- terday on the ground floor of the dramatically sealed Hecker Jones Jewell Milling company warehouse at Corleas and Water street.
 The dead are John Yuschuk, AZ years old, Russian. living at 123 Pitt street: Isaac Tarnofsky, 36 years old, Russian, living at 31a Stanton street, and third unidentified person who may be either B. Levitt or A. Nea- rzme, whose unpunched time cards were found in the rack beside the time clock. .
 Kills Almost On Contract
 The warehouse was closed and sealed at every aperture Saturday afternoon in preparation for the an- nual Immigration to clear it of rats and vermin. At 4 o'clock in the afternon employees of the Fumigators Chemi- cal company of 511 Fifth avenue pumped the contents of six ten, gallon hydrocyanic acid tanks into pipes pro- vided for that purpose at the front of the building. Those pipes run to every floor In the warehouse, includ- ing the basement. The liquid reach ing the inner air immediately gasifies. killing every living thing almost at the moment of contact.
 About 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon a sister of one of the dead men ap- pealed to Patrolman Michael Hickey of the Clinton street station. She had become worried on her brothers failure to return from work the night before. Hickey found some of the employees of the Hecker plant and all went to the Hecker mill which is across the street from the warehouse. There on discovering three unpunched timecards in the time clock rack the Hecker employees immediately sus- pected the truth.
 The gas was to be allowed to re- main inside for 24 hours to do its work, but Patrolman Hickey ordered the building opened at once. The Hecker employees, after equipping themselves with the small mouthapro- tectors provided for the purpose, slid back one of the freight doors leading to the platform and there, lying be- fore them on the floor was the body of Yuschuk. The other two were several feet further back. All had apparently come down to the first floor when they found they had been locked in, but the gas was upon them before they could even reach the doors.
 None dared venture within even with the door open to draw the men out until Rescue Company No. | of the fire department had arrived. | With their 50 pound gas and smoke helmets on their shoulders the six men of the company worked in relays throughout the afternoon, searching every nook and cranny of the build ing on the possibility that others might have met the same fate as the three found below. In half an hour they opened most of the windows, | but the upper floors were not con- sidered safe until several hours later |
 Sees Criminal Negligence.
 Detective Captain Cornelius Will lemse of the first inspection district said he considered the case as one of | criminal negligence on the part of those whose duty it was to warn all | within the building of the impend- ing danger. His assertion that there was no evidence of such warning having been given was at variance with that ofS John Jacobson and Bosanko, employees of the Hecker company, who said that pre- vious to the closing of the doors men from both the chemical company and the milling company had gone to every floor shouting warning for all to leave. The captain said he had been ordered by Assistant District Attorney Jones of the homicide bu- reau to bring to the district attorneys office all of those employees of the Chemical company whot f lad charge of putting in the gas
 Assistant Fire Chief Thomas J. Hayes, in charge of the fire preven- tion bureau, said last night that so far as he knew the required permit had not been secured by either the chemical company or the milling previous to the fumigation. Had there been fire in the building, he said, at least twenty firemen might have been killed before they were aware of the lurking danger.
 Michael M. Frede, superintendent of the Hecker plant, refused last eve ming to comment on the situation either to say that the men had been warned or that the necessary permit nh htoi