The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-12-02
Manslaughter
 May Be Charged
tcontinued from Page I,

nf their establishments.
 2. A threatened Increase In thu neath toll as result of an outbreal of pneumonia among S5 Of the vic tlns at City Hospital.
 Alterations Going On
 Theodore Eldracher, Q City oi Boston building inspector, today told Fire Commissioner William A. Reillys board of inquiry that al- tcrations were still going on at the time fire swept the Cocoanut Grove, The alterations were begun Sept % ia the new cocktail lounge.
 "There was door at the end of the passage leading Into the main dining room," he said, Tt was go. ing Co be a fire door eventually but there was no metal covering on 1t At the time"
 He said one side of the passage way between the dining room and the lounge was of wood and that inside the new lounge walls were covered with panelboard and a dark cloth covering.
 T don't Just remember what kind of cloth 1t was,' he said. Tt was something along the lines of cotton but I don't know that it was cotton
 Under questioning. Eldracher said that the door at the end of the passage leading into the main dtn- ing room was considered an exit by the building department although he did not make an inspection to determine what exit facilities there were from that room.
 New Lounges Capacity
 He said the building department estimated the capacity of hall or room at six feet to a person and on that basis said the new lounge would hold about 80 to 100 persons,
 Smoke traveling approximately 300 feet in 30 seconds across the Cocoanut Grove was described by Benjamin c. Wheaton of Belmont, one of the guests.
 Wheaton said that he was in the bar of the main dining room when he looked up and saw smoke rolling NAlC AONNA AANAAl tAAN btesNAAlNAAN Melody Lounge, He said:
 T told my wife move as fast as you can and do as l tell you We went as fast as we could over to the new cocktail lounge and went through the lounge, Most of the people there didn't realize what was happening. When we arrived at the Broadway entrance there was a jam of seven or eight people in the veS- tibule and I had to push couple of girls out into the street.
 Tt took me about 30 seconds to get to the door from the time that first saw the fire"
 In Downstairs Kitchen
 Merrill Gerin, a Brookline waiter, testified that he was in the down. staira kitchen when a couple of walters burst in from the Melody Lounge looking for fire extinguish- CTS.
 T showed them where the extin- gugishers were" Gerin said, and then I went up to the main dining room where people were running arouId screaming. l was going 10 attempt to go out to the Shawmut Street side but there was such a crowd there that I hurried down. stairs and escaped through the back service entrance" Smoke Very Acid
 He said that the smoke in the club was heavily acid and that it penetrated through the damp hand kerchief he had placed over his mouth.
 Andrew Louzan, a i7-year-old tap dancer, said he was in one of the second floor dressing rooms when the fire started and that he opened the door and started to go dcwn stairs. When he saw the crowd mill Ing around he returned to the sec ond floor and warned l2 girl en- tertainers who were in their dress Ing rooms and then climbed through window out on to a roof
 He said he escaped from the roof down a ladder with several other chorus boys.