1942 — Nov 28, Fire, trampling, suffocation, Cocoanut Grove Night Club, Boston, MA– 498

lornajarrettblanchard November 28, 1942

>500 Barlay, Stephen. Fire: An International Report. Brattleboro: Stephen Greene Press, 1973.

–498 Cocoanut Grove Coalition. The Cocoanut Grove Fire 1942, Boston, Mass. “Victims.”[1]

–492 Boston Fire Historical Society. Boston’s Fire Trail. 2007, p. 34.

–492 Chertkoff & Kushigian. Don’t Panic: The Psychology of Emergency Egress… 1999. p.46.

–492 Collins, Ace. Tragedies of American History. 2003, p. 97.

–492 Esposito, J. Fire in the Grove: The Cocoanut Grove Tragedy and Its Aftermath. 2006, p.2.

–492 National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996.

–492 NFPA. U.S. Unintentional Fire Death Rates by State. December 2008, p. 23.

–492 National Fire Sprinkler Association, F.Y.I. 1999.

–491 Country Beautiful Editors. Great Fires of America. 1973, p. 153.

–491 Drabek, Thomas E. The Human Side of Disaster. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2010, 33.

–491 UP. “Death Toll in Cocoanut Gove Holocaust Jumps to 491.” Lowell Sun, 12-3-1942, 1.

–477 Portsmouth Herald, NH. “Boston Nightclub in Which 477 Died.” 11-30-1942, p. 1.

–474 Smith, Roger. Catastrophes and Disasters. Edinburgh/NY: Chambers, 1992, pp. 98-99.

–474 UP. “Indictments for Manslaughter Hinted by Bushnell in Hub Fire.” 12-2-1942, p. 44.

Breakout of Fatalities by State other than Massachusetts (including military)

Alabama 5

California 4

Connecticut 5

Florida 1

Illinois 6

Indiana 1

Iowa 1

Kansas 1

Maine 3

Maryland 3

Michigan 1

Minnesota 1

New Hamp.10-11 (A media reported fatality is listed as injury by Cocoanut Grove Coalition.)

New Jersey 1

New York 12

North Carolina 2

Ohio 5

Pennsylvania 5

Rhode Island 5

South Carolina 2

Virginia 2

Wisconsin 3

Narrative Information

Esposito: “On November 28th 1942,[3] a huge fire occurred at the Cocoanut Grove Night Club in Boston. 492 people perished in total. The Cocoanut Grove was originally a speakeasy–an illegal bar during alcohol Prohibition–and some of its doors were bricked up or bolted shut. The main entrance to the club was only a revolving door. There were flammable decorations throughout the building including cloth drapery and paper palm trees. The club had a licensed capacity of 500 people, and on the night of the fire there were about 1000 people in the building. All of the above contributed to the tragedy.

“Deputy Chief Louis C Stickel was nearby with one engine and one ladder truck, having been called out for a car fire at the corner of Broadway and Stuart when one of his men “saw a large black cloud of smoke pushing skyward several hundred feet down Broadway. He ran down the street toward the second fire, the remnants of the engine company screaming by him… Boston’s legendary nightclub was burning. The first thing Stickel saw through the thick smoke was a man’s head and arm poking through an impossibly small hole in the thick glass block that had weeks before replaced the store window of the Grove’s New Broadway Lounge. The firemen began smashing at the glass block to help the man, but the awful rush of smoke and heat pushed them back. Stickel ordered his men to play the hoses on the man, but it was too late. He could only watch as the water splashed ineffectually off the block onto the sidewalk. ‘And then a flame took him up,’ Stickel said.” At the end of this long night, Deputy Chief Stickel would learn that the fire had started nearly a city block away from where he watched that first death, at the farthest end of the jumble of buildings that made up the Cocoanut Grove nightclub.” (Esposito 2006, 2)

Celebrate Boston: “It is believed a busboy lighting a match to see while replacing a light bulb had started the blaze in the basement (Melody Lounge). Within 5 minutes the basement was totally engulfed and many people died stacked up at the one stairwell. The exit door at the top of the stairs was bolted shut. The fire spread to the ceiling on the first floor, and totally engulfed it within another 5 minutes. Many people died trying to exit through the revolving door–pushing from both sides and preventing escape. Some diners in the restaurant never even had a chance to leave their seats, having been asphyxiated by smoke and toxic gases….” (Celebrate Boston. Boston Disasters. “Cocoanut Grove Fire.”)

Esposito: “Just a few minutes after the multiple fire alarms came in, Mayor Maurice J. Tobin and Fire Commissioner William Arthur Reilly, who had earlier planned to go to the Grove this night, received news of the fire while dining at the nearby Parker House Hotel. They rushed to the scene. “Smoke and flames were everywhere. Firefighters, policemen, military men on leave, and passersby were climbing over each other in their desperate efforts to pull patrons out of the burning building. What looked hundreds of bodies—the dying and dead—were piled chest-high on icy sidewalks. Reilly watched, horror-struck, as firemen with axes hacked away at locked emergency exit doors and the hysterical victims who made it out of the Grove alive staggered about, dazed or screaming for friends and loved ones still trapped inside” (Esposito 2007, pp. 9 & 13-14)

Barlay: “….The fire inspector was there on November 20, eight days before the fire, and found that the conditions were ‘good’, exits were ‘adequate’, and decorations including the fake palm trees and half-coconut lamp fittings were not inflammable. (He later claimed that he had tried in vain to ignite the fake foliage with a match.)…. [p. 26]

“The fire began in the basement Melody Lounge. A prankster stood on a chair and unscrewed a light bulb to make the atmosphere ‘more romantic’ and create more privacy for his necking session at the expense of the already dim lighting. A waiter told a student, helping out on weekends, to screw the bulb back in. The room was too dark, so the boy held a match next to the coconut fitting while he maneuvered the bulb with the other hand. After a moment the highly inflammable palm caught fire. Flames skimmed over the cloth-covered walls and ceilings….” [p. 27] Barlay, Stephen. Fire: An International Report. Brattleboro, VT: S. Greene Press, 1973.)

Celebrate Boston: “The most famous person that died as a result of the fire was cowboy film star Charles “Buck” Jones. He was in Boston for a children’s show at Boston Garden, and was traveling the country to sell war bonds and for publicity. Local theater owners arranged a tribute for him at the Cocoanut Grove on November 28th. Buck Jones died on November 30th from 3rd degree burns and other injuries. About 20 of 24 people in his party also lost their lives….

“As a result of the Cocoanut Grove fire and tragedy, the fire laws were expanded to include larger restaurants and bars, and not just theaters.[4] Building codes were also changed so that outward swinging exit doors with pushdown “panic bars” must flank any revolving doors in larger facilities. The owner of the club was eventually convicted of involuntary manslaughter and spent 3½ years in prison.” (Celebrate Boston. Boston Disasters. “Cocoanut Grove Fire.”)

What “Celebrate Boston” does not say is that this night began a “crusade for the redemption of Boston” by State Attorney General Robert Tying Bushnell, for, in the words of Esposito, “The flames at the Cocoanut Grove and the flames of corruption charring Boston were one and the same.” (Esposito 2006, pp. 14 & 16). That, though, is another story for which one should read Esposito.

Country Beautiful: A “grand jury indicted ten men to be held responsible, but eight out of the ten were acquitted. The club owner, Barnett Welansky, was sentenced to twelve to fifteen years. The contractor who built the New Cocktail Lounge was sentenced to two years on a charge of conspiracy to violate building laws.” (Country Beautiful Editors. Great Fires of America. 1973, p. 153.)

Celebrate Boston: “During the 1990s, former Boston Fire Fighter and researcher Charles Kenney had discovered and concluded that the presence of a highly flammable gas propellant in the refrigeration systems–methyl chloride–greatly contributed to the flashover and quick spread of the fire (there was a shortage of freon in 1942 due to the war effort). The busboy initially blamed for the tragedy was ostracized for much of his life because of the fire.” (Celebrate Boston. Boston Disasters. “Cocoanut Grove Fire.”)

Newspapers

Nov 29: “Boston, Nov. 29.–(Sunday)–(AP)–Fire which flashed swiftly among Saturday night merry-makers in the Cocoanut Grove night club in the back bay district killed an estimated 260 and injured scores of others and some officials at the disordered scene estimated the death toll might rise still higher. Newsmen counted 210 bodies at the city’s Southern mortuary, and 50 more at the Northern mortuary. A night club manager who was in the Cocoanut Grove with the fire broke out estimated there might have been as many as 1,000 persons in the building at the time. All bodies were believed removed from the one and a half story building by 1:15 a.m. (eastern war time), three hours after the first alarm, which was followed by four others and calls for all available ambulances, police cars and physicians. Soldiers, sailors and coast guardsmen assisted in carrying out the dead.

“As officials tried desperately to gain a true estimate of the dead, an official compilation made at police headquarters placed the possible dead at above 400. The possibility existed, however, that some of the bodies counted in hospitals might have been counted again at the morgues….

“Eyewitnesses said a cloud of smoke burst among the dancers just as the orchestra prepared to play the Star Spangled Banner, opening the floor show. Some said the blaze apparently originated in the kitchen, in the cellar, and spread swiftly to the melody room, a lounge also below street level.

“Some of the trapped night clubbers leaped from the roof and landed on parked automobiles. Others fled the burning building, their clothing aflame….

“Soon after midnight, while firemen still tried to quell the flames enough so that all the bodies could be recovered, a call was made for all medical examiners in the state to report.

“The interior of the low front building was completely gutted. Lined with cloth hangings that were clustered at the ceiling, the interior apparently flamed up in a burst, and dozens who tried to rush for the doors were trapped….

“Stanley Toncizwski, a bar boy, said, ‘All of a sudden a palm tree in the melody lounge went up in flames. John Bradley, a bartender, and I tried to beat out the flames, but they seemed to be spreading everywhere. We escaped through a kitchen door.’

“Firemen said another bartender was found beneath a pile of bodies and that he was alive and unharmed….

“Hospitals were overtaxed, and Dr. James Manary of City hospital, which admitted 150 casualties, said deaths on arrival were too great to be enumerated immediately.

“Regional Civilian Defense Director Joseph M. Loughlin ordered all blood plasma available in the Greater Boston area rushed to the centers of concentration of fire-injured, and directed Lieutenant Colonel Dudley A. Reekie, regional medical officer, to the scene.

“Although origin of the fire was not immediately determined, eyewitness accounts agreed that it spread unusually swiftly. Some said they saw no flame, only the ballooning cloud of smoke, and the appearance of some of the bodies indicated smoke inhalation might have caused death….

“Jack Martin, who saw the first burst of flames from a nearby restaurant, told of pursuing a hat check girl, Anna Lentini, who fled the burning building and ran in the street with her hair and clothes aflame. ‘I beat out the flames with my hands and took her into a restaurant,’ he related. ‘She was suffering intensely. Her hair was burned off and she was in terrible agony. We finally commandeered a car and took her to city hospital.’” (AP. “260 Killed in Night Club Fire. Boston Dancers Trapped; Scores Suffer Injuries.” Joplin Globe, MO, 11-29-1942, pp. 1 & 7.)

Nov 30: “Boston, Nov. 30 (AP) A tiny match flame in the hands of a 16-year-old bus boy touched off a lightning-like fire that snuffed out the lives of 477 Cocoanut Grove night club merrymakers and injured more than 200–many seriously–in one of the nation’s worst holocausts. Deputy Police Supt. James R. Claflin quoted the youth, Stanley F. Tomaszewski, as saying that he accidentally ignited a paper palm tree that cause the terrific blaze which threw about 1,000 persons into a fighting, clawing panic in efforts to reach safety. The boy related, Claflin said, that he was trying to replace an electric light bulb which had been unscrewed by a prankster in the recently opened Melody Room of the club when the match flame brushed the flimsy palm and set off the devastating blaze….

“Deputy Fire Chief John F. Michaels [unclear last name] said that he found a number of bodies, some within 10 feet of a door equipped with a panic lock designed to open under pressure, but it was out of order and had been secured by another lock.

“The death of many of the victims was ascribed by Medical Examiner Timothy Leary to monoxide poisoning and smoke inhalation. He said that a number were ‘terribly burned’ after death.

“The stampede for the exits began, fire officials said, when a girl, detecting a thin wisp of smoke curling along the walls, shouted ‘fire,’ and within seconds the crowd broke for the doorways.

“The wrecked stucco building resembled a huge brick oven after the flames had been extinguished, with hardly a scorched spot on the outside walls and roof, but ith the interior a mass of debris….

“…widely known persons who either perished or ere injured include:

Edward Ansin, Brookline, Mass., president of the Interstate Theater corporation and treasurer of a Boston textile firm, dead;

Robert Beverly Charles, 28, Winchester, Mass., and eastern manager of a Chicago candy company, dead;

Joseph A Boratyn, star fullback of the Holy Cross football team a year ago, dead.

Helen Welch, daughter of Vincent S. Welch of Port Washington, N.Y., vice president of the Equitable Life Insurance society, dead;

Mary Ellen McCormack, niece of U.S. Rep. John W. McCormack, dead;

Grace McDermott…New York, entertainer at the club…dead;

Katherine Woods, 22, daughter of Carl Woods, Boston manufacturer, president of the Crosby Steam Gauge company, dead.

“Police Com. Joseph F. Timulty [unclear] indicated in an interview, that the youth who innocently started the fire should have been barred by law from working in the club.[5] ….

“Claflin quoted the boy as saying:

A patron came into the place and unscrewed a bulb in the ceiling. This made the room too dark. One of the waiters came to me and asked me to screw the bulb back in.

I stood on a chair to do it. I lighted a match and held it while I screwed the bulb in with the other hand. The match set fire to the palm tree. That is how the fire started.

“….A revolving door trapped a number of persons when it became jammed by a pileup of bodies….” (Associated Press. “Tiny Match Flame Snuffs Out 477 Lives in Hub[6] Night Club.” Portsmouth Herald, NH, 11-30-1942, p. 3.)

Nov 30: “Portsmouth Navy yard worker John H. Cushing and his wife, Irene Cushing of Hampton, perished in the Cocoanut Gove fire in Boston Saturday night, which claimed the lives of 11 New Hampshire residents and an ever-increasing toll which already had reached 477 lives today at noon…..

“Known Dead

Arnold M. Baer…Dover

Clyde C. Clark, 39…Keene

Mrs. Clyde C. Clark…Keene

John H. Cushing…Hampton

Mrs. John H. Cushing…Hampton (listed as injured by Cocoanut Grove Coalition list)

Sgt. James Kelly, U.S. Marine Recruiting office, Manchester

Myer Marks of Dover and Brookline, Mass.

Fred P. Sharby, Sr., 42…Keene

Fred P. Sharby, Jr., 19…Keene

Daniel Lawrence Singer, USN, Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth

Staff Sgt. John J. Sullivan, 35…Manchester.

“….Missing William Ramsay, about 35, Walpole.”

(Portsmouth Herald, NH. “Navy Yard Engineer, Sailor Perish in Hub Fire.” 11-30-1942, p. 1.)

Dec 1: “Boston (UP).–The Boston Licensing Board, on recommendation of Gov. Leverett Saltonstall, today suspended the licenses of all night clubs, taverns and other entertainment resorts pending the outcome of the Cocoanut Grove holocaust investigation.

Boston (AP).–A sworn witness before a board in inquest testified today that Boston’s Cocoanut Grove night club was packed — overcrowded — when a flash fire that took an officially estimated toll of 449 lives raced like lighting through ceiling draperies that ‘looked like gauze.’….” (AP. “Boston Suspends Licenses of Clubs.” Berkshire Evening Eagle, Pittsfield, MA 12-1-1942, 1.)

Dec 2: “By United Press. Cities from coast to coast, spurred by the tragic lesson of Boston’s night club fire, today planned new fire prevention laws and ordered more stringent enforcement of existing ordinances. Emphasis was being placed on inspection of possible inflammable holiday decorations and means of exit in case of fire.

“Some cities planned new fire ordinances. In St. Louis, a new and more rigid system of fire inspection of night clubs, hotels and restaurants was ordered and city officials worked on a new ordinance which would plug loopholes in present regulations. In Miami, Fla., the city commission was expected to pass an ordinance forbidding smoking in theaters.

“In Cleveland, Public Safety Director Frank Celedreeze ordered 30 night spots to clean up ‘fire trap’ conditions and three were cited as ‘horrible examples’ of conditions which led to the Boston blaze. Youngstown and Akron fire departments began re-inspection of public gathering places.

“In Philadelphia, Fire Marshal Alexander Smith ordered all inflammable decorations removed from 425 dance halls and entertainment spots on threat of license revocation.

“In Portland, Ore., where immediate new inspections were ordered, proprietors of night clubs withdrew previous protests against fire precaution measures.

“In Detroit, the fire prevention bureau ordered a special checkup of 600 night clubs, taverns and dance halls with special emphasis on use of inflammable decorations, adequacy of exits and tendency to overcrowd.

“California State Fire Marshall Lydell Peck telegraphed all state fire chiefs to make immediate inspections to see that fire laws were being obeyed in public places. San Francisco inspectors were directed to see that holiday decorations in clubs, lounges and dance halls were fireproofed.

“In Wisconsin, Gov. Julius P. Heil asked for the co-operation of all sheriffs, fire chiefs and building inspectors to take measures to prevent a catastrophe similar to Boston’s.

“In Des Moines, the public safety department was authorized to made a complete report on fire hazards in all theaters, taverns, clubs and similar gathering places.” (UP. “Strong, Strict Enforcement of Existing Ordinances in U.S.A.” The Lowell Sun, MA, 12-2-1942, p. 44.)

Dec 2: “Boston, Dec. 2. (AP)–Massachusetts Attorney General Robert T. Bushnell pushed a criminal investigation into the Cocoanut Grove night club holocaust today, hinting of ‘indictments for manslaughter’ against an unstated number of persons, perhaps including some public officials.

“As 52 night clubs and restaurants featuring entertainment closed because their licenses had been suspended, Bushnell said that because the investigation was ‘criminal’ it had to proceed with secrecy, but pledged himself to expose every person in any way responsible for the tragedy in which 474 persons were killed Saturday night.

“He indicated that at least some of his contemplated prosecutions would be under chapter 143, section 36, of the Massachusetts general laws, which specifies that all official inspections of ‘theatres and special or public halls shall cover all details relating to the condition of the building as regards the safety of life and property.’ The Cocoanut Grove was both a theatre and a public hall for the purpose of the law, he said, though Boston municipal ordinances specify that theatres are places where admissions are charged, which is said to have permitted the night clubs like the Cocoanut Grove to get by with much less in the way of fire prevention than theatres.

“In this connection, one Boston newspaper said today: ‘The time of buck-passing by police, fire, building department and licensing officials, of finger pointing at the other fellow, come to an abrupt end, and functionaries who had by dereliction of duty failed to protect, whose servants they are, began scurrying for cover….” (UP/Charles Sweeney. “Indictments for Manslaughter Hinted by Bushnell in Hub Fire.” The Lowell Sun, MA, 12-2-1942, p. 44.)

Dec 2: “Boston, Dec. 2 (UP)–The Cocoanut Grove disaster cost the lives of 52 members of the nation’s armed services, including two WAVES, a survey showed today. Of the injured, 36 other soldiers, sailors and marines are hospitalized with serious injuries. Members of the army killed in the fire numbered 17. The navy, marine corps and coast guard lost a total of 35 men.” (UP. “52 Members of U.S. Armed Forces Died in Fire.” The Lowell Sun, MA, 12-2-1942, p. 44.)

Dec 2: “‘It Needn’t Have Happened,’ says The New York Times, in an editorial on the Cocoanut Grove disaster. That, according to the Times, is the most horrible fact about the holocaust. The editorial in full, followed by other editorial comment through the nation and Canada:

The most horrible fact about the Cocoanut Grove disaster is that it needn’t have happened. The fire itself was an ever present risk. When a place of entertainment is as full of tinder as this Boston night club was some one is likely to touch a match to it sooner or later. What killed so many people, however, was not fire but panic.[7] The crowd could have gotten out if it hadn’t lost its wits. Even that deadliest of devices in any crowded place, the revolving door, could have been used if everyone had remained calm. There were other exits. There were windows which led to safety.

But it would be a shameful injustice to accuse the dead of bringing about their own destruction. Panic can sweep through any crowd, even the bravest soldiers. Public places are safe only when the conditions which produce panic do not exist. Them means that there must not only be adequate. The Cocoanut Grove didn’t meet this requirement. It seemed to be a trap, and consequently it was a trap.

The blame doesn’t fall on the muddleheaded patron who unscrewed a light bulb, nor on the young bus boy who lighted a match while he tried to replace it. It falls on the proprietors of the establishment and on the city officials of Boston. Mayor La Guardia and Fire Commissioner Walsh have given assurances that similar conditions do not exist in this city. The public can assist the safety drive by reporting any apparent violations, regardless of whose feelings are hurt. We have a right to be safe, not only from fire but from any circumstances which can produce panic. ‘Lesson Should be Taken to Heart.’

….

“Springfield Republican

The primary shock experienced by everyone because of the Boston night club horror must be followed by a secondary sensation of shame. Shame because thus unqualifiedly preventable disaster amounts to a monstrous obscenity in public administration. The public officials most responsible are now in a frenzy of investigation as their duty and inclination compel them. Yet the feeling of shame persists. How could this have happened in Massachusetts if the numerous laws and regulations had been adequate and if, such as they were, the enforcement had been satisfactory?”

….

“Pittsfield Eagle —

There is either official dereliction of duty here or connivance to avoid observance of the law which cries for the most thorough and stringent investigation. There is something here with a stench as pungent as the burning human sacrifice of Saturday night in Boston’s Back Bay. For the future safety of anyone who might seek enjoyment and diversion in such places, Massachusetts has a responsibility that the investigation be sufficiently comprehensive that every lesson be learned and every blame assessed.

….

“Bangor Daily News —

A place built of tinder, hung with tissue, furnished with matchwood, crowded by merrymakers….The heedless boy…the careless supervision. What matter which? Better to ask: What of the proprietors of the Cocoanut Grove. What of Boston’s fire laws: And what of the authorities entrusted with administrating those fire laws? Forget the 16-Year-old Kid.

….

“New Bedford Standard –‘No Cool-Headed Action’

A shocking feature of the tragedy is its avoidability. The resort held more people than it was designed to accommodate. The reverse of fireproof, its interior fittings were highly inflammable. The exits were inadequate and poorly placed. There is not record of any cool-headed action by the management and personnel to avert panic and steer people to safety.

(Lowell Sun, MA. “What the Nation’s Press Says.” 12-2-1942, pp. 44 and 12.)

Dec 3: “The nation’s press on the Cocoanut Grove holocaust:….

“Kennebec Journal — ‘No Passing of the Buck’ —

The usual official attitude in such disasters cannot be tolerated in this one. No frenzied activities by all municipal and state departments concerned, no passing of the buck, no grandstand plays, no flood of new regulations as fruitless as locking the door after the horse has been stolen can excuse the existence of conditions needed to make such a holocaust possible. Criminal negligence is indicated and the one duty of public officials is to determine the responsibility for that if it existed and see that it is duly punished. This needless disaster in Boston should be the last of its kind if adequate law and its efficient enforcement can prevent.

(Lowell Sun, MA. “Nation’s Press on Grove Tragedy.” 12-3-1942, p. 3.)

Dec 3: “Boston, Dec. 3 (UP)–The death toll in the Cocoanut Grove Supper club holocaust rose to 491 today as medical experts, chemists and pathologists sought to determine if poisonous fumes from burning decorations were responsible for many of the casualties.

“Latest victim was Lieut. William Langheimer of Winchester, a U.S. army officer, who was one of 78 persons under treatment at Boston City hospital.

“Indications that gaseous fumes swept the club after fire broke out Saturday night came when it was disclosed that many of the 138 still hospitalized were suffering lung ailments.” (United Press. “Death Toll in Cocoanut Gove Holocaust Jumps to 491.” Lowell Sun, MA, 12-3-1942, 1.)

Sources

Associated Press. “260 Killed in Night Club Fire. Boston Dancers Trapped; Scores Suffer Injuries.” Joplin Globe, MO, 11-29-1942, p. 1. Accessed 9-30-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/joplin-globe-nov-29-1942-p-1/?tag

Associated Press. “Boston Suspends Licenses of Clubs.” Berkshire Evening Eagle, Pittsfield, MA 12-1-1942, 1. Accessed 9-30-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/pittsfield-berkshire-evening-eagle-dec-01-1942-p-1/?tag

Associated Press. “Tiny Match Flame Snuffs Out 477 Lives in Hub Night Club.” Portsmouth Herald, NH, 11-30-1942, p. 3. Accessed 9-30-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/portsmouth-herald-nov-30-1942-p-3/

Barlay, Stephen. Fire: An International Report. Brattleboro, VT: Stephen Greene Press, 1973.

Boston Fire Historical Society. Boston’s Fire Trail: A Walk Through the City’s Fire and Firefighting History. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2007. Partially digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=RP_5vV_atJYC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Chertkoff, Jerome M. and Russell H. Kushigian. Don’t Panic: The Psychology of Emergency Egress (Chapter 4: Cocoanut Grove Night Club Fire, November 28, 1942.). Westport, CT: Praeger, 1999.

Cocoanut Grove Coalition. The Cocoanut Grove Fire, 1942, Boston, Massachusetts. “Victims.” Accessed 10-1-2017 at: http://www.cocoanutgrovefire.org/home/people/victims

Collins, Ace. Tragedies of American History – Thirteen Stories of Human Error and Natural Disaster. New York: Plume Books, 2003.

Country Beautiful Editors. Great Fires of America. Waukesha, WI: Country Beautiful, 1973.

Drabek, Thomas E. The Human Side of Disaster. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2010.

Esposito, John C. Fire in the Grove: The Cocoanut Grove Tragedy and Its Aftermath. Da Capo Press, 2006, 288 pages.

Lowell Sun, MA. “Nation’s Press on Grove Tragedy.” 12-3-1942, p. 3. Accessed 10-1-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/lowell-sun-dec-03-1942-p-83/?tag

Lowell Sun, MA. “What the Nation’s Press Says.” 12-2-1942, pp. 44 and 12. Accessed 9-30-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/lowell-sun-dec-02-1942-p-44/?tag

National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996. Accessed 2010 at: http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=1352&itemID=30955&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fire%20statistics/Key%20dates%20in%20fire%20history&cookie%5Ftest=1

National Fire Protection Association (John Hall, Jr.). U.S. Unintentional Fire Death Rates by State. Quincy, MA: NFPA, 31 pages, December 2008.

National Fire Sprinkler Association, Inc. F.Y.I. – Fire Sprinkler Facts. Patterson, NY: NFSA, November 1999, 8 pages. Accessed at: http://www.firemarshals.org/data/File/docs/College%20Dorm/Administrators/F1%20-%20FIRE%20SPRINKLER%20FACTS.pdf

Portsmouth Herald, NH. “Boston Nightclub in Which 477 Died” (photo caption). 11-30-1942, p. 1. Accessed 9-30-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/portsmouth-herald-nov-30-1942-p-1/?tag

Portsmouth Herald, NH. “Navy Yard Engineer, Sailor Perish in Hub Fire.” 11-30-1942, p. 1. Accessed 9-30-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/portsmouth-herald-nov-30-1942-p-1/?tag

Smith, Roger. Catastrophes and Disasters. Edinburgh and New York: W & R Chambers, 1992.

United Press. “52 Members of U.S. Armed Forces Died in Fire.” The Lowell Sun, MA, 12-2-1942, p. 44. Accessed 9-30-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/lowell-sun-dec-02-1942-p-44/?tag

United Press. “Death Toll in Cocoanut Gove Holocaust Jumps to 491.” Lowell Sun, MA, 12-3-1942, 1. Accessed 10-1-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/lowell-sun-dec-03-1942-p-1/

United Press (Charles Sweeney). “Indictments for Manslaughter Hinted by Bushnell in Hub Fire.” The Lowell Sun, MA, 12-2-1942, p. 44. Accessed 9-30-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/lowell-sun-dec-02-1942-p-44/?tag

United Press. “Strong, Strict Enforcement of Existing Ordinances in U.S.A.” The Lowell Sun, MA, 12-2-1942, p. 44. Accessed 9-30-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/lowell-sun-dec-02-1942-p-44/?tag

[1] Alphabetical listing of names of 498 fatalities and 116 hospitalized injured, showing town and state of residence, hospital or mortuary location of victim and source for each listing (most from Committee on Public Safety Master Casualty List; also Boston Police Department, Boston Advertiser, Harvard Crimson). We view as authoritative.

[2] Notes 491 killed plus one suicide.

[3] Starting at approximately 10:15 p.m. (Esposito 2006, Fire in the Grove, p. 2)

[4] Esposito (2006, Fire in the Grove, p. 2) writes that at the time of the fire “Building and fire codes were just a license for politicians to steal.”

[5] He was underage.

[6] Boston nickname.

[7] We tend not to agree. This was a very quick moving smoke/fire/heat event in a very crowded and not well lit environment not familiar to most of the guests. Would be natural for people to try to exit as fast as possible.