The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-10-04

(Continued from Pago ID dles burned away, and found near them watch cases, buttons and money welded together by tho ter- rifle heat.
 Ashes were screened to determine If human bones were present.
 Doctors who iaborod through the night midst scenes or undescribab blo confusion, told narrowing tales of attacks upon Would-be rescuers by crazed, burned workers.
 A man was brought in scream ing:
 mel"
 His back was burned red. He seized e shovel and attempted to beat those who administered to him.
 Another worker told of seeing a companion drop q huge rock on his head, to fall unconscious In the path of the flames and thus die without pain. I
 Los Angeles, Oct {. (UP)-Be- tweon 50 and 70 men perished and "a others were seriously burned ih a brush fire In Griffith Park, a check of the blaekoned area show cd to-day. The victims, all county welfare workers, were cut down by flames that trapped them In a eone.shaped ravlne where they had gone to fight the fire.
 Some % went Into tho canyon vA1n aus ala baektire was started and the mon were guarding 1t whom the first city fremen arrived and shouted warn. ings that the place was unsafe.
 A group of men started to run up tho steep ravine walls. Almost at tho same moment flames ap. poared nt tho top of tho walls and whether It was the main fire or the baekhre, 1t was only q few seconds until three of tho four walls oi the canyon were aiiame,
 Those who fled at tho first warn ing and had been fortunate enough to choose the last wall fired reached safety.
 The remainder perished, for the flames soon covered tho fourth wall overtaking those who triod belated ly to stumble to tho top.
 A typical ease, of one who got to safety, was Charles Lyons, 2D He was slightly burned.
 'I was lucky" he said. "By nc. cldent l picked out the right way to run. Most Of tho others weron't so fortunate. l saw q lot of thon caught by the fire and fall scream Ing"
 Tho fro was soon put out. after having blaekened approximately 1000 acres. Bremen then turned to scenes of indlseribable horror in the doath canyon.
 Along the still emouldering walls were tho bodies of the victims, ,senttered as if cut down while charging machine guns.
 A flow were near the bottom ot the canyon. Then irregularly spaced and mostly confined to tho last wall to take fire, were the others. Near the rim were two, face down In the smoulderlng ground. They had missed tho top and safety by only 20 feet.
 It was believed that few. if any, of tho bodies ever would be identi- fled. Dental work seemed to hold the greatest possibility for identitl- cation, No attempt at Identification will be made for several days.
 Hundreds of relatives and friends of the welfare workers crowded the park, the county morgue and hospitals.
 Many weeping groups remained through the night, although ofii- elals informed them there was no hope of further Hews until after daybreak.
 Attempts to check the missing will be made today. All welfare workers have been ordered to re- port to their various foremen.
 It seemed unlikely. that there would be any kind of an official death list for several days.
 The county coroner said the dead would total more than 50 and might reach 75 .Thirty-three bodies were in the morgue and many oth- CTS had been reported by deputy coroners, he said.
 These were to be brought in as soon as they could be taken to a road for ambulance transporta- tion, the coroner stated.
 Kleig lights were mounted to permit the grisly work of gathering the corpses to go on through the
 The victims all were family men since that was a prerequisite for the job. They were given 10 days work a month and paid $40 a day.
 Some of those who escaped the inferno claimed they were ordered into the ravine by straw bosses" City and county authorities opened Investigations to fix responsibility. F'ircmen blamed the victims ignor- ance of fire-fghting technique.
 In fighting the brush fire. the welfare workers built a back fire and allowed themselves to be trapped in the ravine between the two fires.
 Nine of the injured were in a critical condition and physicians feared their burns might be fatal.
 The fire presumably started from . clsaret, carelsssly dropped by one of the thousands of men work ing for the county.
 Nearly 2.GOO miles of highway