Brooklyn, NY Comb Factory Fire, Nov 1909

NINE KILLED IN BROOKLYN FIRE.

FLAMES FOLLOW EXPLOSION IN COMB FACTORY THIS MORNING.

EMPLOYES WERE STAMPEDED.

RUSHED TO THE FIRE ESCAPES AND ROOF IN FRANTIC EFFORTS TO ESCAPE -- MANY INJURED IN THE RUSH WHILE THE FIREMEN CARRY IMPERILLED ONES DOWN LADDERS.

New York, Nov. 8. -- Nine persons were killed and nearly a score of employes injured in an explosion and fire of the comb factory of ROBERT MORRISON & Son in Columbia street, Brooklyn, today. Ambulances were summoned from several hospitals to care for the injured.
The explosion occurred in the basement of the factory building and the flames spread rapidly, causing the fifty employes to stampede to the fire escapes and roof. Some leaped to the ground and were injured, while others were carried down to safety.
Four alarms were sounded in an effort to prevent the fire from spreading to the thickly populated tenements in the neighborhood. The inflammable comb material sent up dense clouds of suffocating fumes and the frightened employes began to leap from the windows. ROBERT MORRISON, one of the proprietors was found badly burned and unconscious in the hallway. The firemen rescued many of the employes with the aid of ladders.
Besides the nine known dead it is believed four or five more bodies are in the ruins.

The Syracuse Herald New York 1909-11-08
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!