The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 3

OCTOBER 5. 1933. PART 3 THURSDAY MORNING. Backfire Assertedly Set by Foreman Blamed by Witness at Hearing for Park Tragedy 5 DEATH LIABILITY FIRE CHIEF SAYS ENTERING Wives Lay Claim to Bodies of Dead Breadwinners GRAVE ERROR "I have seen blazing brush whisked over hill tops and start firea hundreds of feet away, leaving the space between un-burned," he said. "The terrible tragedy Tuesday could be attributed to the fact that so many men were sent in there to fight fire without any direct leadership.

The conditions, as shown in the investigation, were chaotic. The fire department, if handling this large group, would have ordered them all out of the fire tone." mission was informed by the county Board of Supervisors that R.F.C. funds could no longer be paid for workmen's compensation for the county welfare bureau men working in Griffith Park to the number of approximately 4000. The county had been Informed such use of the funds was improper. MAIL POUCHES RIFLED WOODLAND (Cal.) Oct.

4. Mall robbers plundered the baggage room of the Southern Pacific here last night, taking about 2000 letters from five pouches of first-class mall and ten sacks of second-class mall. Im better satisfied with a M. S. coat Mm 'iiiniii jip urn in i i I I V'v -j'w-' T-'y rx M' mm mmml Mr- lliilliliiil i iii UMlim.iTiii9mmtmmmimmmmtiui li i mimm in wwni 1 vA Uncertainty Gives Way to Grief Left Mrs.

Catheryn Brown and her two children. Ronald and Richard, after the body of the husband and father, Roy Brown, had been Identified. Right Mrs. Ida Cortez Vlorato on the arm of Deputy Coroner MacDonald, leaves morgue after Identifying remains her husband, CANYON WAS Fire Chief, Scott, after looking over the site of the Tuesday fire in Griffith Park, yesterday said one of the worst things to do ls for men to enter any canyon or hollow to fight brush fires. He declared they should keep to the higher vantage points.

"Id these canyons, when there is a fire, there are swirls of wind which lift blazing brush and firebrands as though raised by whirlwinds," he said. pensable, It was stated yesterday by Commissioner Snyder, their fami lies probably will receive $1000 each, which is the minimum death benefit under the law. The only direct statement on the question of city or county liability yesterday came from City Attorney Chesebro, who advised Mayor Shaw that in his opinion the coun ty is liable. "The mere fact" he said, "that the Board of Supervisors on Sep tember 11, 1933, passed a resolu tion declining liability does not of Itself have the legal effect of shift ing liability to any one else." Several weeks ago the Park Com- jLjm 110. Many women prefer quiet, sure fashion knowledge that stands back of Myer Siegel coats this one for example a new black wool Matiasse by Forst-mann with silky, tight curled Persian capped sleeves tiny wing tips over the shoulders and a Tie collar.

An accomplishment in beauty at 110.00. Other Furred Coats 69.75 to 28S.00. quality since 1886 James Cortez Viorato. Wallace to Ask RINGS PROVE WIND SHIFT TRAPPED MEN Foremen and Park Employees Agree on Assigning Cause of Griffith Park Tragedy A whirlwind which started suddenly in the bottom of the canyon and turned what began as a "small fire," covering two or three acres, to a raging inferno of flame was blamed for the Griffith Park catastrophe by eighteen employees of the county welfare organization and the city park department in written statements to members of the police homicide squad yesterday. Among them were foremen and "walking bosses" in charge of sections of the county welfare workers who were employed on Chief to Reject Sugar Program (Copyright, 1933.

bj the Associated Press WASHINGTON, Oct. 4. (Rejection of the proposed sugar stabilization agreement in its present form will be recommended to President Roosevelt by Secretary Wallace. It is reported the Secretary is of the opinion that the sugar agreement would result in a heavy increase in the cost of the commodity to American consumers without commensurate increases to producers in this country, the insular possessions and Cuba. ISSUE IN DOUBT Officials qt Loss Concerning Fire Tragedy Payments City and County at Odds on Question of Responsibility Outcome Hinges on Case Before Supreme Court Uncertainty bv government offi cials as to whether the families of the men who lost their lives and those who were injured in the Griffith Park fire are legally entitled to death benefits or Injury compensa tion under the Workmen's Compen sation Act, and disagreement be tween city and county officials as to which government is liable, made it evident yesterday that no death benefits or injury compensation will be paid until the State Supreme Court passes on a case now pending which happens to cover these issues.

If either the county or city gov ernment had carried workmen's com pensation insurance on these men there would be no question as to their families receiving death bene fits or compensation, but such In surance was not carried, it was learned yesterday from Meredith P. Snyder, Industrial Accident Com an" argu ment has been in progress recent Ly as to which government was liable for the men employed in. Griffith Park. INVOLVED SITUATION These men were all on the coun ty's unemployment relief rolls and were being paid by the county out of funds received from the Recon struction Finance Corporation, but while employed in Griffith Park they were working on city property un der the supervision of the city's park department. The case pending in the Supreme Court is that of Allen R.

McBur- ney, who was injured while work ing in Monrovia as a member e-f a crew of men being paid by the county from relief funds. The State Industrial Accident Commission ruled that McBurney was not regular employee and therefore not entitled to compensation, and he appealed from that ruling. QUESTIONS IN CASE It is expected that the decision in this case will establish not only whether or not injuries received hy men given work by the County Welfare Department are compensable but also whether McBurney was an employee of the county or the city of Monrovia. If the deaths of the men burned in Griffith Park are held to be com- DAILY FOUNDED DEC. 4.

rhn MA41MB Z345 QUIZ CONDUCTED (BY CITYJOARD Effort Made, to Determine Responsibility for Fire Shearer Says Men Should Have Been Kept on Hill 'Attempts to Flee Up Slope Held Cause of Deaths In an effort to determine blame for the catastrophe in a Griffith Park canyon Tuesday the municipal park board held a hearing at the park yesterday and heard firsthand accounts of the holocaust. The hearing was conducted with Deputy City Attorney Fisk and Joe Shaw, secretary to the Mayor, 'questioning the witnesses, including park officials and workmen I present at the cene in the can-yon. Park Superintendent Shearer, a witness to the testified that in his opinion the persons directing the workers "ought to have held the men up on the ridge. Instead of sending them down into the canyon." FOREMEN IN LEAD The park superintendent also said )ln his testimony, however, that while none ot the foremen in charge cf the workmen directly ordered i the men into the canyon, they led I them Into it, calling: "Come on, I boys." i A worker In one- of the crews dropping their road work to battle the blaze testified that a fore-' man of a crew started a backfire Jn the canyon which resulted in the men being trapped, i "The original fire did not do the Bamage," testified the worker, How- Urd Zlnn, of 1072 South Bonnie Brae street. "It was the backfire that caught them." The first witness at the hearing, 1 Marvin Page, a trailer operator for the park department, testified that the workmen, becoming panic-stricken, brought about their doom by running in the wrong direction threatened by the flames.

WRONG DIRECTION "If they had run out through the lower end of the canyon instead of trying to climb the canyon's side they would have escaped," he said. Park Superintendent Shearer testified that he turned in an alarm at a field house in the park near the eccne of the fire's bejinnlng. He eald the smoke of the fire at first was too dark for such fires, that it "seemed more like an oil fire." He took six workmen to the scene of the blaze. Shearer testified, and called to the foremen of a county crew near by to aid in keeping the fire from spreading. He saw men coming from several directions, to fight the blaze, he eald.

and found more than 1000 workers at the scene when he readied it. The men were being directed by their foremen, he testified. He did not learn that men had died in the blaze until about 4:30 p.m he said. The fire broke out shortly before 2:30 he testified. SOME REFUSED TO HELP "Quite a number of the couuty workers refused to go If to- the canyon," Shearer testified.

"Those who went in did so voluntarily." He also said that only younger and more active workmen were interested in entering the canyon to fight the blaze. "The men got panic-stricken and tailed to back track," he said. Zlnn, the next witness, testified he was working in a crew of about 150 men on a road near the Rlrls' camp in the canyon, under a foreman he called a "straw boss," when the fire broke out. He testified mat "a Mr. Ricca, a bossdrove up and told our foreman to send us in to fight the fire." The men worked on a fire break near the camp ground, Zlnn testified.

He said a foreman of one of the crews started a back fire about 300 yards below the canyon's rim, fifty feet from where he was working that the wind caught the back fire and pread It swiftly. NO ORDER HEARD Zmn said he heard no one order the back fire set. The back fire was started at 2:45 p.m., he said. One man in his crew was caught and burned to death, he testified. Prank j.

Thompson, 1128 North Edgsmont street, a county shirt boss, whom Zlnn had identified as having started the back fire, testified he heard "someone order a back fire started," but that he had not started it. 'The boys lit a back fire, but it didn't amount to much," Thompson testified. "I didn't see who started It. I only wanted to get the out of there. I ran one direction and the others ran in another.

If they had followed me they would have escaped." Recalled to ths stand, Zlnn reiterated that he had seen Thompson eet the tck fire. G. Stover, 1685 West Jefferson street, testified he and How-workmen were "yelled at like a bunch of cattle" by their boss's to fight the fire. L. J.

Green, 2119 Oak strt3t, also a workerT5aid that when he ran from the blaze a man "evidently having some authtority" yelled at him to "get the hell back in there." He testified that when about fifty ot the workers lined up to get a drink of water while fighting the fire they were ordered by their bosses to resume the battle against the blaze. The Investigation, ordered by Mayor Shaw, will be resumed today with the park board members vls-; Iting the scene of the park tragedy. I EAT WHAT I LIKE ANDTAKE BELlr ANS WHEN FOOD DISAGREES A Apprord bjr lh Urstt I eilint digesriv tibltt in Amcnca -Bell-ini pcrlectljr harmlest vet (ires prompt rd'el van in severe jm Sit Bell-ns, Hot witer. Sure Relief. Since 1897.

Trial is proof-JJc. SOLE AID IN GRIM QUEST Widows of Tito Victims Identify Remains Through Articles of Jehelry The fire in Griffith Park left little to aid in identification of bodies of the victims of the blaze, rings providing the only means of identifying at least two of the men who died. This was brought out with grim surety yesterday at the, morgue, where relatives of the victims sought to claim their own. One ring resulted in the identi; ficatlon of ames Cortez Viorato of 1839 South Main street Mrs. Ida Cortez Viorato, widow of the victim, made the identification and ordered the body removed to the George K.

Wlllett mortuary. ring identified Roy Brown, 31, 533 West Fifty-sixth street. Following identification of the Viorato remains, Mrs. Cortez Viorato appeared before Superior Judge Shinn, in whose court she was listed as Mrs. Ida Cortez, a juror, and offered to continue In the jury box there if by her absence she might bring about mistrial.

"I know I won't be able to give proper attention to the case," said Mrs. Cortez Viorato, "but if my failure to serve will cause a mistrial I'll gladly try to go on." Attorneys in the case stipulated the trial continue with eleven jurors, so the woman was excused. By means of the second ring Mrs. Catheryn Brown and a friend, J. R.

Gager, 2235 Lake Shore avenue, identified Brown. The widow and family friend recognized the ring, a. high school class insignia, as belonging to the man who fell a victim of the blaze. Brown was the father of two children, Ronald, 19 months of age, and Richard, 5 years. -The body was taken to the W.

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Terms. Advertisement. ictnan, of 825H West Twenty-third street: I saw a large number of the men down in the canyon making a firebreak soon after the fire started and they seemed to have the fire under control. Then suddenly there was a kind of a whirlwind and the fire broke jumped the break and went up the canyon in a regular spiral of flame. I could see men running and yelling as they struggled to get out.

Many of these we helped as they fell prostrated. Frederick Alton, laborer of the county welfare, of 6747 Seventh ave nue: When I first saw the fire It seemed to cover only absut three acres. I got into a truck with a lot of other men and we were detailed to cut brush. The foremen were rushing everybody in to fight the fire. We worked for about three-quarters of an hour, when the wind changed and the Are sviddenly broke loose.

The men couldn't hold it back, though they worked until they were soaked with perspiration. I saw one man running out and a foreman struck him on the jaw and knocked htm down. The man didn't go back to the fire. SOME GOT OUT Marrin Page, tractor operator, of 1351 East One Hundred and Tenth street: When I got on the job there were several firemen directing about twenty-five men to make a firebreak toward the hogback. Suddenly there was what seemed to me to be a whirlwind and the fire broke loose over the firebreak.

The men scram bled up the sides of the canyon. All that I saw got out. Ray Stockton, shift boss of the county welfare, of 3657 Hughes avenue: "I started In with forty men, but after the wind changed and the fire started to break loose over a wide area all of the gangs got mixed up and you couldn't tell what men got in or got out. Others who gave similar accounts were C. B.

Worthen, superintendent of construction In the Park Depart ment; Joe Getzaff, assistant foreman in the Park Department, of 2011 Echo Park avenue; William H. Dungey, truck driver of the Park Department, of 11301 Success street. iflf IMPORTER 2316-18 WEST SEVENTH STREET (r) WE3TLAKE SOUARE-LOS ANGELES I wi only one I e.JRUE I toad construction. None of the men questioned said they saw the division of workers who were trapped and burned to death. They agreed that when the worSeu first started battling the blaze the wind was blowing from the north and west down the canyon, that the firebreaks made by the men seemed to have brought the fire under control and that there seemed to be no danger threatening the party in the canyon.

SCENE CHANGES The whole scene changed with horrifying rapidity, they agreed, when the wind changed and carried' the fire up the canyon. As a result, they said, all outlets were cut off by the flames, which some of them described as leaping 100 feet into the air, except the steep slopes to the north and west of the canyon. All agreed that the flames traveled so rapidly that the workers boxed in the canyon were unable to scramble through the heavy brush before the fire overtook them. Brief resumes of their statements follow: G. L.

Snow, county welfare foreman, of 132 North Avenue 52: I had eighty men under me. All of them had shovels. When I first saw the fire it did not seem to amount to much. I went to the fire station and reported it. All of my men got out safely.

FLAMES LEAPED HIGH Wilfred W. Richmond, foreman county welfare, of 10588 Putney Road: About 300 of us, fifty of them my own men, started down over the firebreak on the south side of the canyon to cut brush. The men who had got into the canyon were working up hill and seemed to have things under control. There was a sudden shift in the wind and the fire started toward the men. At times I saw the flames leaping 100 feet high as we could hear men shouting and could see some of them struggling up through the heavy brush.

The only outlet was up the slopes and they couldn't make it. It was about 2:20 p.m. when I first saw the fire and about 4 p.m. when the men were trapped. They couldn't get away from the flames they were moving so fast.

Peter Ricca, assistant superintendent of County Welfare: I saw foremen directing all the men who could be found to fight the fire. Some them refused and others got shox-els and mattocks and volunteered. They went to the northwest side of the canyon. I saw two firemen leading many of the men down into the canyon to make firebreaks. 5 SAW WHIRLWIND Richard D.

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