Show WOMEN BURNED OR CRUSHED A score of victims of a factory fire hanging from the windows window and dropping to death on the pavement Pa rement below A womans comans spine forced by the shock through her brain the number of lives lost cannot be ascertained troy N Y feb 17 A small boy carelessly throwing a match into a pil pile e of oily wate waste a mii mass of same fla it e girls and women frenzied with fright fight ing for life as the hot flames chased them with hungry tongues wat was the beginning of a fire tonight that consumed thousands of dollars worth of property and caused the destruction ot of many lives from the th outside of the high building the first notice of impending disaster dl sitter was wa the tight sight of a body of girls its as they rushed out upon the fire escapes from the windows those who were more for dunate crowding out the tha entrance fol lowing them was a mass of smoke with flashes of hot flame in lurid streaks then the mass of frenzied humanity finding the eg regresses egresses too small for instant escape began climbing over the sides fides of the escapes escapee and bundles of clothing filled with writhing humanity dropped at the feet of horrified passersby within twenty minutes after the fire started there were three thre dead women laid upon the floor of an adjoining store and at least a dozen maimed and burned girls and women taken to the hospital or to their homes of the girls and women in the building it Is presumed that at least a half dozen are in the ruins for it is im possible to locate all and there may possibly be a score dead it was jut just thirty minutes before closing hourin hour in Stet thelmer cos shirtwaist factory on river street and the girls and women were working rapidly to finish up in the cutting roon on the fifth floor girls were closing up their days assignments and preparing to leave when the whistle blew lillie kreiger who was working near a machine called to a small boy to light 0 the gas over her work the boy struck a match and threw the burning stub to the floor it struck a pile of oily rags and in an instant the girl was en in flames with her clothes and hair burning she rushed rushed to the window and at once the room became a struggling sh mass of humanity filling the windows the fire escapes and the only stairway jamming and pushing tearing each others clothes from their backs turning in narrow corners to find a sister or mother or friend the number in the exits augmented every minute by those from the other a floors these girls and women fought for their lives to get away from the lames fames that seemed to be growing to a monstrous size with rare presence of mind policeman farrel who was on the street seeing I 1 that in the panic a number were ll 11 liable a to jump let down the awning ove r the entrance barely was it down when two or three forms came flying down from the fifth and sixth stories and bouncing front from the awning fell to the sidewalk lillie krieger over whose machine the fire started was as one of these she struck the awning fell on her back and bounced to her hands and knees on oil the walk she got up tip and staggered about until people helped her to her feet again by this time lime nearly every window had a female form dangling from it and when the firemen arrived there was a hustle to get the ladders up at the center window on the sixth floor a woman hanging by her hands was forced out by the flames licking her face with a last shriek she let go and came tumbling over and over until she struck the pavement W when hen picked up it was found that she was mrs margaret carroll her spinal column was forced through into her brain just below her in another windows window hung a woman turning appealing glances to the crowd the black smoke was pouring from the win window dow but as yet no flames were visible vil ble and nd the crowd yelled encouragingly to her to koldon but a high red flame reached out jut just then and licked her face and in an instant her body was rebounding from the pavement she was mrs mr foley a w widow and when picked up tip was dead on the tame same floor hanging from another window was war another woman and salvation in the shape of a ladder was almost within her grasp when her strength failed and she went twirling down to death she was mrs kane the firemen and police worked like heroes and to their energy was due a great saving caving of life at least a dozen women and girls were carried down the ladders or dragged out of the corridors corridor the officer sand and firemen cremen going into the mida of the smoke moke the fire burned so fiercely by this time that no detailed search of the building could be made and front from what can be learned there were many girls and women on the three upper stories either lying in fainting fits or overcome by smoke it was this fact that led to the rumors that there were at least twenty women beadi dead and the story even at thil welting does doe not seem improbable |