Philadelphia, PA Tobacco Company Panic, Apr 1902

RESULT OF A PANIC.

TERRIBLE LOSS OF LIFE CAUSED BY A TRIFLING ACCIDENT TO A BOY.

EIGHT PERSONS KILLED.

THREE OTHERS FATALLY AND FORTY MORE SERIOUSLY INJURED.

CRY OF FIRE CAUSED A MAD RUSH.

HUNDREDS OF YOUNG WOMEN AND CHILDREN STRUGGLED.

A HEARTRENDING SCENE WITNESSED.

AMBULANCES WERE INADEQUATE AND PATROL WAGONS WERE BROUGHT INTO USE TO CARRY AWAY THE VICTIMS.

Philadelphia, April 30. -- An accident to a deaf and dumb boy, ISADOR BACCUS, was today directly responsible for the death of eight girls and young women, the fatal injury of three others and the serious injury of more than two score of girls employed in the cigar factory of Harburger, Homan & Co., a branch of the American Tobacco company, located at Tenth Street and Washington Avenue.
The dead are:
MARY GENEVA, aged 15 years.
HELEN TOLINI, aged 12 years.
ELIZABETH TARTINE, aged 12 years.
ANNIE ROSE SCHNEIDER, aged 18 years.
LOUIS DE SEPI, aged 16 years.
IDA GREEN, aged 18 years.
ANNIE FORD, aged 13 years.
Unidentified Woman, 25 years old.
The fatally injured are:
MARY MESION, injured internally, skull fractured.
JOSEPHINE O'RONCO, injured internally.
Unidentified Woman, fractured skull, unconscious.
The injuries of the others consist mainly of bruises about the body and fractured limbs.
The building in which the disaster occured is a five-story brick structure and reaches an entire block. Twelve hundred persons were at work, 90 per cent of whom were girls whose ages range from 12 years upward.
While on the fourth floor, BACCUS, who was the janitor, started for the fifth floor for a ball of twine. The elevator was at the top of the shaft and BACCUS pulled the rope to bring it down. He opened the door leading to the shaft and leaned forward to see where the carriage was. As he did so the elevator, which was descending slowly, struck him across the back of the neck, pinioning his head between the elevator and the floor. A stock boy released BACCUS and cried for help. The foreman rushed from the building to call an ambulance and immediately there was a panic among the employes. Some of the younger girls fainted, while others cried "fire." Instantly there was a mad rush for the stairway leading to Tenth Street. The girls rushed down the narrow staircase until they reached a bend in the exit between the second and third floors.

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