The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-01-16
Ritt1mono pispattb.
THE CALAMITY At LAWRENCE, MASS.
THE CORONER'S INQUEST AND EyI.
DENCE OF WITNESSES.


idea of The names OF The persons employed a
| that time but nothing accurate of those EN-
| ploycd NJ the time of the disaster have ney
| er heard OF the foundation of the mill settling
| nor did experience as much OF the iosrlinj
| in this mill AS in some others. l did not heal
! any morse previous to that which I though
resembied a fire; did not lock up the books ly
| ing about, as did not apprehend fire
| Jesse Grover, oVerseer OF the repair shop OF
| the Pemberton Manufacturing Company, ties
| tilted that he had at times seen cracks in th,
walls Of the building, but nothing tha, he co n.
-sdcred as serious he had never strengthened
| The walls with iron work but had heard tha
| il had been SO strengthened he thought the
| building was weak, but apprchended no trou-
| bile; did not think IL was strong as such
buildings usually are had beard that the tim
hers were not bo,ted to the walls iron trusses
/, had been pm into the building before he went
10 work there; the boiler appeared periee tly
sound il was IN a separate bu iidiug have ex-
amiued the building since the accident.
Mr.. Chase agent of the mill. testified to
his escape; he said there was less weight at the
end which fell than al the other; four fly
frames in the fourth story were removed that
day from The part which fell 10 another place;
they weighed ton and half: there We're
probably eight hundred persons in the build
ing: he did not know how the fire caught; the
Essex company built The mill he did not
know how it was constructed there We're
cracks on each side OF the chimney in the
building, caused by the swayiBg of the chin
ney the chimney had broken away from the
to strengthen il. bu, not from any fear Of the
building itself shere have been no new cracks
near the chimney for two years: know of no
other crack in the building; there was less mo-
ton III the building than III others, and he had
considered it safe, especially as it had stood for
SIX Years.
John Patterson. oNerseer in the weaving
rosm :es tified as 10 his escape, He had heard
statements that the building was unsafe. but
never noticed anything about the building to
make him thnk so, Mr. Corless who put in
The sha.ting. had told Mr.. Winns, an oyerseer.
That he did not consider the building safe: he
also understood that he said that two upright
shafts would in time shake the end of the
building ont: don't think over forty persons
employed III his room We're killed; there were
BOA persons employed there on last Monday
John Pindar. woollen manufacturer in the
Washington Mill, testified that he with 9TH
ers, had helped what they could We got the
root of and took out machinery, wood and
bodies; there Were some men near me with
lanterns, aud as they were not doing any good
he said. For Gods sake take care Of those
ian terms, there Is cotton all around here saw
four men going 10 A hole with two lanterns
and shortly afterwards saw them come out
with only one lantern moment after he saw
he flames; the men ran into the crowd and
he after them, but he could not catch them :
the lanterns were guarded ores and he think,
They Were fiiled with Oil the fire took from
the loose cotton hanging about the cartipC
machine.
Richard H. Plummer testified that v,r;ons
men went to work 10 clear away with axes and
bars, and two men held Lanterns. to throw
light on the work. by some accident one of
the lanterns broke or fell, and when the flames
struck the cotton. the fire at once sprung up
Nm. Barber testified that there was water
IN the excavation all the time they were Iaviug
the foundation OF the Psmber Mills The
stone used was good. He thought the founda-
ZION was not deep enough AT the time Il was
too shallow. especially at the south end where
This was part OF the building towards the
river. The ground at south end was lower
and The foundation was stepped" np along
the higher ground. Finished in 1851. The
stones were laid upon the sandy bottom The
wall was about six feet thick xt
the bottom, and four and half at the tom
W itness put IN stone foundations for piers un.
der the building to support the columns and
trusses that the floors res ted upon Thpss
stones were laid deep as the foundation
wall. and IN some instances deeper
Thought the brick walls were too light and
thin at the time for SO large q building the
windows were 50 large that there was INSULT
,ient support between item. Mr. Tuttleand
myself talked about il several times. The
brick piiasters to support the foor-timbers
were carried up only two stories. and in the
nisaer s,ories PROJECTIONS We're simply thrown
)ut of the wall. The walls were do 1bl.. each
sight inches thick with vault between tn.
wall at the south end, by the stairway where
Itie wall cracked was not so thick as the rest
,niuHll was about one foot thick and buiIt
solid
John II, Tuttle, a brick-mason testified he
was one OF the firm that put mp the bricl,-work
Tor the Penn mberton Mill. Witness brother
was made with Chas. IL. Bigelow engineer 81
the corporation. Had noihing to do with tho
Should think the founda non wos
above i've feet deep oD the east side While we
We're building the mill. we got our water to
irink from the foot of the iounda tion wall
IL WAS good water. l thought at the time the
water came from the canal bur have had some
ionbts about 1T since In about two month.
here was drought and this wafer dried IN.
II was constantly running through the stones
II the foundation towards the lower end of the
Mill. The pilasters in the fourth story were
projected out eight inches and in tho second
tory they were dropped to four inches. Or
lers hen came from Mr.. Bigelow 10 dispense
With the piiasters altogether. When the tim
,ers tor the upper stories came they were too
hori and we were ordered to put projections
ipon the.walls to rest the timbers upon.
erpreSSed 9ty opinion at the time and ,,,anv
t'aes dfierWards and hare aerer chan sed it, that
n trails Were too reak TOR sneh a 5aftdiHs tad
'Ir Btg'lor so fcheh re icere tuiiding H. fc!d
VI. PRinom. one of the ouAeyS, 80 IN Bo,ton I
oid many others ihe same thing. ] do not kno7c
! @hs athsf arg mtH rih 'rals so 'reak as the
'einbtrton, aHd nsrer anaat to aear of one. The
uildinS was much cut UP with windows
Which weakened il. We had orders every day
rom Capt. Bigeiow and Benz. Coolidge, the !
n sineer We have generally bnilt walls TWEEN
y-eight inches on the first story including a |
pace OF four inches on the first story DROP
ing 10 sixteen at the top. Witress expressed |
oine doubt about finding out from the appear |
nee oi the foundation now, if it should be |
feared. The usual width of mills is forty |
cht feet There were irons on the ends OF |
le floor iimbers turned up, but they did not |
,nnect with the outer wall 1t would have
tded strength 10 the building had they been
,rewed through 10 the cross wall The stem
formed thn Ipf1
nj II that chimney sWayed off 30 as to make
crack from bottom TO top it would weaken |
iat part of the building very much.
In my opinion, a steam chimney ought never
, be connected with a building. The quality
The brick used in that building was yery
Dor indeed. Witness complained several
mes to Capt. Beeiow Of the poor q tiality Of
e brick. The water was running freely in
e ionhaatioh walls Tor two months. We
uld hear itrunning through the stones We
lg out a small place. about rs low as the bot
IN OF the wall, inside, to dip water from to |
INK. Witness considered that water run
ng al the bottom OF foundation wall in
is way would be dangerous, inasmuch as it
ight undermine the wall Witness explain.
that where the 0pper floor timbers were put
upon the projections thrown out of the in
r wall, the iewall was made solid about
inches Below, the timbers were so short
AZ they altered but little way into the wall |
d rested mainly upon the brick projections
hen the timbers were brought and discover |
TO be too short. the wall had been carried
hlgh that II was necessary to tear 1t down
those places where the timbers were to rest
d bnild In the projections.
At the conclusion of the testimony Of this
tness the jury adjourned.
The New York Commercial, referring TO a
1ternent that the accident at Lawrence was
obably caused by uniformity Of motion /
working the looms Of the factory, says.
u Is well kaown-instances are within the
'oiection OF our readers where acOmpara.
eiy small body Of soldiers, marching over a !
ioae Ia unbroken step, have broken il down.
oukh 'rebie the number might have uassed
er safely With the order of n seh hso.isa,a