Age 47. 15 Prescott Street, Salem, MA. Born 9/20/1895, in Beverly, MA. Died of carbon monoxide poisoning (death certificate). Machinist at Hygrade Sylvania Corp. (lighting units), Salem. In a foursome with companion Mrs. Beatrice Conway, age 28, dead, also H. Roland Sousa, age 45 (Born 11/02/1897. Died 9/13/1982, age 84. Last residence Salem), escaped, both of Salem, and James "Red" Robinson, age 46 (Born 10/12/1896. Died 4/28/1964, Rutland, MA, age 67), of Beverly, escaped. Group arrived at the club about quarter to ten, had gathered near a table in the cellar Melody Lounge. Mr. Sousa to Boston Police, 11/29/1942 (quote): "I was just going to sit down and there is a little palm tree in the corner and it started to get aflame...It hit the ceiling." Added: "They didn't stop it. It got ahead of them. So we made for the stairs." Salem Evening News, 12/02/1942: "With the doorway quickly blocked, the...party struggled toward the other end of the room." Related by Mr. Robinson to a reporter that the group was halfway across the main dining room when the lights went out and they became separated. Was single. Veteran of WWI. Previously a coworker of Mr. Robinson at Reid Bros. Co., Inc. (machine manufacturers), in Beverly. Was a resident of Salem for 24 years. Was one of three employees lost from the above Hygrade Sylvania firm (also Miss Stasia "Jessie Carlson" Cichocki, age 21, and Miss Leah Sudnovsky, age 23, victims in separate parties). With Mrs. Conway were two of three claimed from the "Witch City" of Salem (also the above Miss Cichocki). The disaster was referenced in connection with a rescue of the above Mr. Robinson from a blazing tenement house in Beverly in January 1952: "Revived by a fire department inhalator squad was James F. Robinson, Jr., who had escaped unharmed in Boston's worst nightclub fire..." (The Boston Herald, 1/28/1952). Parents Mr. and Mrs. George A. and Martha A. (Daniels) Riley. Burial at Middleton Cemetery, Middleton, MA. Middle name Perry.

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