New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-01-18
THE LAWRENCE CALAMITY.
TIE CORONER'S INQUEST.
LIrTu DLY
LAWRENCE, Monday evening, Jan. 10

Jotn Crawford sworn-Have been in the employ
of the PembeIton Company for hve years uhsIi nlue
monks AGO when was discharged by Mr.. Glover;
I uas In The Washington mills when the calamity TOOK
rloc.. | know how the fire took; II was bstWeenS
and 10 o'clock | was there helping TO- assist my
dbueher was il the ruins, and was LOOKING Ior her,
,d rprt WAY into the weaving.roOin ana vas stoppe1
by tie ruins, when Young man came up ana asxeu
,.'e IN hold a lantern; l held it about ten MIN,
utter, when somebody asked Tor II, 5O0E " s aGd
went down he i snIs p tSeTe a which vent vent
down IN the card room; he went down again, and
said "or Gods sake be careful of that lanern; be
uent dow further, and rad, Tor Gods sake don't
on there with that light" he ~eut however, ana IN
En- down struck the lantern some timber on the
Tiobt.bsLd side when be struck The lantern 1t broke
and immediately fell; shouted hre, ana stopped
down to pull bm cut; he on hire himself ana the
fire reading like gun-powder; ran iof our ma,
cl;ne and took near the center of the bndinY, and
near the duck factory; the lYntern was "a common
SQUARE one, with metallic top, bottom ana corners,
in Which four squaIes of glass were set; u Wss not
nro,ect,d by the usual gusId about that style OF IAN
teru. II IL raIIied by very large Hat bail, TO hang
considerably on the arm; email mare lamp oil metal
with a single burner supplied win Onr9ihg nuip,
rsted upon the bottom oil toe lantern, am earo ZIG
light; WIiptss then asked ab0nt the oudlug Vi
Tie mill: WAS in the mill fixing ZONE machinery IN
lie third story and saw big crack IN the wall TINS
WAS wear sf,er The Di began to RAM John t'arris
told me il ad tsen ever since the mill was oui'ti
Tho cIacL ran no the whole end Of the building; alter
tbs time | worked in the repair-shopi while was
tr. u loved, the third story settled 20 'hae tney
were ,rns,d 20 level up the man gearing several
tines; tIev did this oil Sunday, the sPpmnS-foom,
nov ever was the worst; | don't know how much the
,Ioftlng was leveled up, but know II was some, Tor
a, sisted IN the Job; they altered the hangers untl
they got the shifting 10 run aiier tns was eaeu
ut1 the card room Snd helped level up the ny l7lnes
they were ievel.d up III various wdyt, aio some of
tb,n ere found half an inch out of levels the setting
of tie above floor might settle the shattlng below,
and all this d-arrange ment might have beeo owing to
III, ?, al OF the huoTs they must, however, have
settled more iban inch 10 90 all ths; had the nOos
Mi SETTLED alike the machires would not have been 80
upeveI the floor tad settled more III some places tnah
in others ait,rtbIs the satlngwas cve"d dp three or
t,ut tn,es but how much | DO net know; the main
line OF the Skating rnLs about one third OF the way
from one side Of the building, and very near the hrst
line Of pillar, bot The lines are not IN the same 1ea-
i've positions IN all the rooms; L have worked Tor
wears mart IN both mills and IepaTshop out only IN
inc harrington ard Pembe ton Mills in this country
Ones Did you ever think the Mil unsafe Ans.
Yer SIR; wlsn the Mil was in notion IL II was
windy oay and you Iut Your foceiDger to the crack,
Won would feel tie wind come. when was paying
ON The fire heard Mr.. KDowlrs say that he was sur
prisd 10 see that end OF the u'loog stand as dlo as
t dayays supposed ito Oe the weakest part OF tue
Mil: | aho heard him say u the gentleman ne was
talking 10 that be bad supposed that wall 10 DC
a suitable one and know that lie bad AT one tune 10
sster il up; never felt any fear as 70 toe SAFETY Oh
he Mill except when mp AT the end near the crachi
bar allow ed nv daughter to work IA the Nj H. but
hive Always tnst she should not work near
,b.t end aud she old Lot work there; when L WAS
IeyeIne M the mscluery never heard any owe seers
r.sk about the BUILDING icing unsafe; the ievehng
oor In al mills but i 70 much as there asKeu
II. ncIick L. II omp.oI the ire ove'se-r now u vac
hi tie shdfuug eded levelng 20 Otien he sdu ne
d dnt know, lsughn, Ill the tue, and giving me no
eon,pete answer; tie blacksmith aud had some con-
yelsa1ion about the crack; then had tue lantern Id
I'D, band aud knew IL was fuid lamp
Tie testimony of the above-named witness, so DIFF
f.rent from lhat of many others, made profound inn
preston on the minds of the jury and al who listened
II war, however, thought that II might have be5ii
somev hat inhueIeed IRON the fact that he once had
b. Ell in The Pemberton Mil, aud had been discharged
as be alleged without cause.
PeIi Harding, sworn-Am n carpenter, and have
been cbe Tor 25 Year,; have been employed in the
P.mbeuon Mills; my huslnsss was, n the llrst place.
p,eraring beans 10 put INTO the MILL there were two
piece il each section boed together with three bolts
lie geces Ct timber were seven by sxteen
before they were planed; they had tree
quarter piece between, making the beam SIX
teen inches for the fr-i lhfee or four floors, The
next in b smaller, think each way; worked
the r. mheriob MIL uDul II was complete; on tho
third story floor the r falt OF the beams next TO tho
canal were full length the other half were II little
shoItOuT inches each end; the center pieces we're
slike through the whole tNeay.seven beams 10
story, and think tlIst about hall short; shoud
think the short all rested from three inches
i'll tire main wall zone OF them may have rested four
ing far A. The third iuor, and then dsconln.
ueG; the lmbers were not cut short; they were not
oIoered ,"ng enough / cut them M s5lf think that
the Projections built from the p,tsirr twness
feped 20 The iau); know where these short Lmbers
put; they probe lions thrown ont from the
wall; J Bm sure II was on the southern h ali that
ulerver the projections were the short tmbers were
plact d; ilmk the burileIl iHIf did Lot have shs+e
Projections hecayse the b-ari- not long enough;
iLe ~ floor tie bramt w're tuIl length rested
inches the wall; the orb carried up
haf ne and then the Tim -rs were aid asked Mr..
Kowies what should do about cnttlug on the timber;
lie snd cut them ss long as sou aud will tell
Capt. BIZ rpw; the result the projections we're
built; the iciuts y ere we'll made with seven ~ gibbs
inch bolts; never knew mil 20 be supporter ike
thit III the thorihgi shoud think the b-sl nethod
BOT used i'll tbe storing Of this ulll always; tha,
columns of the lower stores about big
enough for lee third tory, aud l SAID
not large enough, and not more than half thick
enough thu K the pntos were la,ge enough and that
the places not secured tor # the hanges should
BY any ,auss break did once, the pnt'e could
cone up into the hollow column the being larger
tnab he pnte; | asked If they were secure, when
we were pntling them up, and was told that was
tie orders raid more being none of my business
The bbdng in all Ian-, Tor It's sze was rather e7nnrr
a. only the c. juDps deficient hut there was too
much rpace given to tie wIngs, makl0g the walls
v,ak: 4 would have had three coas Of columns,
making sborer sections; the machinery wa very
heavy Tor the surface me ns1rJus weight TO be held
up bI the columns below lever anew of any O'her
mil with 20 long secobs the man VINO
furt rtended the building snid they should never he
over twenty two twenty -fOnr feet; they were
tv seven; the beams small for the length OF
the ,ectop; should think the easdln1.room described
by Mr. Win, the over.eer, WAS very heavily losdedi
should have thought that the macIiners should
have been moved # il was held up for fear OF DIN
culv; II has ever been nv OPINION that the hooro
were loaded very heavy; there night not have been u
much greater weight to the tquare foot Than IN smaller
m H. but we cannot put double the weight on doable
The length; should think thai changing the bearing by