The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1860-01-12
SECOND DISPATCH.

I SECOND olSPAICA
LAWRENCE, Mass, Jan. 10, l1:3O P. NJ
At about ten minutes after o'clock this
afternoon. our citizens were aroused by the
cry of fire, which proceeded from the Penn
| berton Mills, about four-fif of which had
fallen shapeIess mass, without the slight
est warning to the nearly 500 human beings
| who were there at work.
| The building was never considered to be
| as staunch as it ought to have been. 1t was
built about seven years ago. and then was
| thought to be a sham. Indeed, before the
machinery was put in, the walls had spread
| to such an extent that some twenty-five
tons of iron Stats we're put in to save it
from falling by its own weight. From the
best Information that can be gathered, the
building appeared to crumble and fall from
the eastern corner or end, and it fell in
wardly.
The fire department at once repaired to
| the spot, but there being no fire, they at
once set to work with will to remove tie
rubbish. They very soon reached some
rooms so that the dead and wounded were
taken out as fast as they could be reached.
Mr.. Charles Bachelor helped remove
some twenty-six in various conditions
some still living. Mr.. Branch, oyerseer,
has not been found. The City Hall has been
converted into an extemporary hospital for
the dead and wounded, to be recognized.
Mr.. Palmer was deeply buried is the ruins
and thinking that there was no pros
pect of being extricated, cut his throat to
end his sufferings. Still, he was taken out
and lived some time.
One woman in the part of the mill still
standing, became frightened, aud threw
| herself from the fifth story door, breaking
an arm and injuring herself SO that she can
not recover.
The laboring force of the mills is about
nine hundred and sixty, and it is supposed
that about seven hundred human beings
were actually buried in the ruins.
A woman just rescued says there are some
| twenty-five more in the vicinity of her yet
| alive.
About half past a fire was discover
ed. This additional horror struck terror to
the hearts that had before been hopeful of
saving more lives. Still the work of reno
val went on. The force pump and engines
on the ground were az once set to work,
and have been pouring torrents of water
on, SO that at 1890 the fire does not seem to
gain, and hopes are entertained that it will
be stayed.
Those near the breaking out of the fire
were almost on the point of extricating
woman not much hurt, but the flames drove
them back, and the woman, it is supposed,
perished
The Mayor has.telegraphed for the Lowell
fremen, who viii arrive about O'Clock.
MIDNIGHT.
Calamity succeeds calamity Ia ten min
utes the whole mass of ruins has become
one sheet of flames. The screams and
meanings of the poor buried creatures can
| be distinctly heard, but no power can save
| them.
1:3O A. M.-The Pemberton Mills are cow
mass of smoking brick, mortar and h0-
man beings promiscuously mingled Prob
ably not slesS than three hundred persons
perished in the flames.
The Washington Mills wassin great dan
ger, the wind blowing nearly towards it,
and the counting room touching the Penn
| berton Mills
| LAWRENCE, Jan. IL, 9 A M.-Through the
almost sHperhuman efforts of the firemen the
| Washington Mills are now considered out
| of danger. For the Duck Mill, the prospect
! is not so good. Everything that is posi-
BILE is being done. Fire companies are pres
ent from all the neighboring towns. From
! forty to fifty physicians are in attendance at
| the city Hall, and other places wherever the
| injured need their services. The ruins hav-
ing burned up, it viii be many days before
| a true knowledge of the killed and wound
] ed can be arrived AZ.
| The fire, which finally sacrificed the
/ buried human beings, caught, without
| doubt from a lantern of burning fluid,
which was accidentally split One fireman
dropped down dead in the streets. The
| streets are filled with a mass of human be-
/ ings, every one eager to do, and see, and
hear. Friends, who before the fire were al
I ternating between hope and fear, are now
settling down into hopeless despair.
PM.-A portion of the operators had left
| for supper previous to the failing of the
building, odly about coo remaining. The
building was FIVE stories high, $50 feet long,
and 20 feet wide, with a wing on the west
| side 45 feet square, shaped like the let
| ter Il L."
! Three persons are known to have
been literally roasted alive. Eliza Dew has
since died, and others are dying.
The fire has been subdued. Only two
bodies have been taken out since the confa-
| grafton. Coroner Lamb commences an IN
quest to-day.
10 o'clock, P M.-We have very little ad-
ditional news in regard to the catastrophe
A large portion of the killed are young
! girls, many of them being the main support
| of their parents
The fire was confined to the ruins of the
! Pemberton Mills. The loss in property is
estimated at 5000, 900.
The Mayor has issned the following no.
tiee
"LAwRENCE, Jan. IL.
Terrible as our calamity has been, think
it is much over estimated in the number of
killed. As near as / have been able to ascer-
tain this morning, | found the dead and
missing (Which is equivalent to dead) ll5,
and 16O wounded. Some of the wounded
will die. But very much the larger number
| will survive. N. SANDERS jr, Iayor
Baltimore Market.