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In the State Department of Labor, even though the law had been on the books for years, we still found locked doors - the factory inspectors did. The management never means to keep it locked. They just lock it for a minute while they go somewhere. It's of course one of the very worst things, but you still find it now and then.

That was the cause of the action against the employers. Except for that it would have been regarded as an accident or act of God. The amount of death as a result of the fire was very great and these employers had undoubtedly caused if not all of it, a very considerable amount of it, because people could not get out that means of exit. Those who got out got out on the one elevator. Nobody else got out. There were 147 deaths. Of course there were a considerable number of persons also who were badly injured, but not killed outright. There were a great many who were overcome by smoke, and, although they got out, were in very bad shape. Those were never counted. Nobody ever knew how many they were.

I happened to be there, so I saw all this, although, of course, I couldn't possibly know at that time what was going on in the loft. That was all speculative. What you saw was the people dropping out of the windows and the