The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1860-01-20
The Lawrence Catastronhe.

'or tue Iaii OF the Femberton mill, last Tues
day, but nothing seems to be decided bv
them. The inquest will, however, be thor
oosn and searching. and We hope will afford
a satisfactory explanation. OF course there
are now plenty who always knew the build
ing to be unsafe. But the walls appear to
nave been OF the usual thickness, and the
mil was in every respect like others of il.
clas',-high rooms and large windows,-.pd
therefore so far as one would have been able
to Judge before the disaster, no more unsafe
than any Of them. The mill stood, however,
IN rather unfavorable position for solid
foundation, having the Merrimac river close
upon one side and the canal upon the other.
While the building VAS being put up the &C.
ton of the river so weakened the founda.
tons upon that side that it was feared the
walls would fall, but the damage was believ.
ed to be substantially repaired. Only last
week the foundations at the corner where the
fall commenced, were started by the action
of the frost, and workmen had been employ-
ed in Strengthening the place, no one at the
time Except some one who now think so)
seeing anything unusual or fearful in this
The explanation which seems to US most sat-
isfactory comes from large manufacturer in
New York. He attributes the accident to
the uniformity Of motion in working the
looms. If this kind Of machinery is permit
ted to work in unison, as BY single motion,
the effect is sufficiently great to tear almost
any building in pieces, unless constructed
with unusual strength. The same effects are
observable in marching military company
over bridge, (unless the order of march 10
brokeno or in the trot of a comparatively
small animal over the floor of DWELLING
The operatives state that the building vibra.
ted perceptihly under the movement of its
machinery: and another fact which goes to
sustain this theory is that the wing, which
had but little machinery in it was left stand
ing. In many mills in the country great care
is observed, often by the employment of
man for that especial purpose, to guard
against concert of motions in the looms. No
such care seems to have beer observed in
The Pemberton Mill.
The Boston Advertiser describes the man
ner Of the fall as follows:
The long wall on the northerly side of the
building fell first, omrards; leaving, of
course. the roof (which was lat and the
floors, without support on that side, 80 tha.
they dropped into slanting position, and
literally sided many of the operatives out of
the building upon the fallen wall; when, to
complete the catastrophe, the southerly wall
;el inwa'ds over the whole. In this wav it
will be seen that the operatives in the upper
story. for instance, were simply thrown out
Of the building; and although so sudden
and steep fall would ordinarily be disas-
trous, they were supported more or less by
the wall which fell under them, and many of
them escaped. The operatives below, who
happened to be on the northerly side of the
building, were more or less protected from
the same cause, and those on the southerly
side received some protection from the fact
that the floors above them did rot fall at
once on that side. In this explanation, of
course, We do not mean TO assume that there
was any considerable pause in the stages of
the disaster, which everybody agrees was al
most instantaneous, but simply to indicate
the manner of its occurrence.
This theory Of the manner of the fail i,
sustained by the experience of the operatives
IN the upper story. who seem to have been
Sided out of the building and landed in the
yard, the most Of them walking away un.
harmed. The great loss of life occurred a.
mong those at work in the lower rooms
The premonitory shaking of the building
was also more percep,ible in the upper sto-
ries, and Miss Olive Bridges of Maine, who
so nobly took the part of Florence Nighien.
gale in caring for her wounded comrades,
availed herself of this warning to slide down
the elevator rope outside the building and
thus escaped unharmed.
Some of the instances of escape are al.
most miraculous. Three sisters named Han.
cock, employed in the same room, were pre.
cipitated four stories into vacant spot, from
whence they were rescued uniniured two
hours subsequenlly.-Near them, only sepa-
rated BY single beam, was a man hemmea
in by the fallen timbers. This man heroical.
ly went to work with his jackknife, and in
about two hours cut the beam in two, and
was saved.-ln one case, two boys, brothers,
fell three stories, and received very little in.
jury.-A little girl was found crushed be.
meath ponderous block of iron weighing
over thousand pounds. She was supposed
to be dead, but the effort was made to save
her body from the flames. Four men labor.
ed in vain to move the heavy mass, when f.
nally stalvart man caught hold of it and
with marvellous power aided by the excite
ment of the moment succeeded in loosening
it. The girl was taken out alive, the heavy
IRON having met some more powerful obstruc.
iion than her frail body.-Another girl was
taken from the ruins in perfectly nude
state. vet strange to say,with hardly scratch
IN her persona girl who had her hand
caught in the ruins. saved herself by tearing
of two fingers.-One man in the card room,
hearing the crash. jumped into the waste box
and pulled the lid down. The box was not