It destroyed the Wall Street building in less than 20 minutes, [ 1 ] killing 31 of the more than people inside. The Binghamton Clothing Company was located in a former cigar factory on Wall Street, and produced men's overalls. The employees, mostly young women, were hard at work in the four-story building on that Tuesday afternoon. The exact number of workers is uncertain; early reports claimed as many as were working, but after a few days the number settled between and One of the employees noticed it at about 1 pm, and claimed she smelled smoke an hour later.
The fire likely began after lunch when an employee carelessly tossed a cigarette down into the second floor stairwell, where it landed on a pile of highly flammable plush material on the first floor. The stairways quickly became chimneys for the smoke and flames, leading to the greatest loss of life on the third and fourth floors. A fire alarm sounded at about but many workers, lightly clothed due to the summer heat, initially refused to take the fire alarm seriously, believing it to be just another of the frequent fire drills.
Nellie Connor was recognized for her efforts to save the lives of her co-workers. Employed by the company for 31 years, Nellie was looked upon as a mother figure by many of the girls at the factory.
Although she did her best to hurry others out of the building, Nellie herself never made it out alive. A year company foreman, Sidney Dimmock, was credited with carrying two women to safety before returning to the building to attempt to rescue others from the flames.
He did not escape the smoke and flames. He and his wife were able to raise the alarm and escaped along with many of the workers on the first and second floors. At the time of the fire, the nearest fire company was busy on another call.
