Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 29, 1990                   TAG: 9003290661
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium

FIRE VICTIMS ARE MOURNED BY THOUSANDS

One pink coffin for a female victim and 16 blue coffins for males were carried Wednesday from the Rivera Funeral Home in the Bronx across the street from St. Joseph's church.

The dead were among 87 people, most of them Honduran immigrants, who died Sunday in the illegal social club that was allegedly set afire by a spurned lover. It was the city's worst fire in 79 years.

"God never, never abandons us. Sudden death is also sudden mercy," the Rev. Henry Hill told more than 1,000 mourners packed inside the church.

"My heart goes out to each and every family," said Hill, a Honduran native. "The church understands your loss and extends its sympathies and love."

Another 1,000 people unable to fit in the church huddled outside on the street, about 10 blocks from the scene of the fire.

The Honduran government declared three days of national mourning Wednesday and said 78 victims had been identified as Honduran. Most of the bodies will be buried in Honduras.

But relatives who are illegally in the United States may not be able to return if they travel to Honduras to attend burial services.

Before the Mass, hundreds of mourners prayed in the funeral home and then stood in the street. At least three women fainted and more than 15 required medical attention.

Jose Alvarez, who came for the wake of his brother Denny, 22, left the funeral home sobbing and clinging to a cousin and friend.

Across the street on the church steps, Denny's father, Pedro, railed against the man charged with setting the blaze, 36-year-old Cuban emigrant Julio Gonzalez.

"They ought to take him and give him a public hanging. People like that don't deserve to live," Alvarez said.

Roses and daffodils in vases and coffee cans were placed in front of the smoke-blackened red brick social club. Burned coats, some still on hangers, lay piled against the building. A paper sign on a tree listed the victims' names and ages.

Nearby, family members went to a school to collect their relatives' personal effects.

Carlos Pena clutched a manila envelope that held a watch, keys and some cash his brother Eli, 26, had when he died at the club.

The watch arrived with Eli from Honduras, and Carlos said the timepiece would now be his. "It means a lot, a reminder," he said.

The wake at the funeral home began three hours after a Bronx Civil Court refused to let the landlord of the social club reclaim the establishment until it decides whether the late tenant's widow should replace her husband in an eviction suit.

The hearing, scheduled before the blaze Sunday whose victims included club proprietor Elias Colon, did not delve into responsibility for the tragedy. It dealt only with the demand of the building's landlord, One Peach Associates, for Colon's eviction for failing to pay rent.

Mayor David Dinkins said legislation would be submitted today to City Council that would impose heavy penalties on landlords and operators of illegal social clubs.