The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-01-13


| ..,.,.. :" or doing any good, said, s'F
noas sat. ,sts care OF those lanterns; there's cos
/ II around hercS' saw four men s0''* mole wi
uterus, and shortly Afterwards So nen c0me
'ue lantern, and moment after saw the flame
w"a oniy Into the crowd, and after them, tex
wh ,nau mar. vt coa,t not catch them The la'
terms vere rus,dsd IN ", and think they were nne
with oil. was within q. bout six fsesG wnere ,ne :,
broke out,l and near 1me W, VIC aoaa ooa's', M
hear voice below the ruins <na CLOSE 70 inc nle' -
IRE took from the loose cotton ha ns S00a' s 0ss0n
machine.
Richard Il, Plummer testified that oe was IN 'ne run
when tho Gre broke out. / was ~ "o'A ~ III
south end Of the mill, helping TO s0' ou' :"
girls who were In the ruins; 'nea won
to the middle OF the building, with some carl Sn's'
make hole In floor; the hole was made, and o.o VI
tive dead bodies found; we found some macL 'uorS
jammed together, and beneath were Soma pers. WI
whom we wished 70 get out; we tried TO pry the ma
chimes apart, but did not succeed various men then
went to work To clear away, with axes and bars, and
two men held lanterns 70 see TO- work. by some acoi
dent one Of the lanterns broke or fell, and when
the flame struck the cotton tho fire at once sprung up
we did all We could 10 stop the are but did not succeed
the breaking Of the lantern accident, without
doubt; there were people alive in the mill when tho re
broke out and myself took out one boy afterwards with
broken leg
The inquest was resumed Il two p. n , and William
Barber testified that he present when the fire broke
OUT and went upon the ruins with lantern to examine
them; D. Gordon, stone mason, did tho work upon
the foundation Of the Pcmbcron Mills; Mr. Isaac Fletcher
had the contract, and employed witness to do by the
square yard the foundations extended below the top soil
In 6vef
the excavation; the soil at the bottom was similar
to that at the top scottish loan, sand &c had nothing
to do with the excavation; he thought II different
foundation from what no used 10 constructing, and
that insufficient the foundation OF the Bay State
mills was laid Deep something like twenty feet the foun
dalton Of the Pacific mills is laid Eve feet Deep and that
Of the Atlantic mills also i've feet there was water in the
excavation all the time they laying the foundation
Of the Pemberton mills; the used was good; he
thought the foundation was not deep enough at the time
was too shallow especially at the south end where tho
ground quicksand and spongy SOIL this part orthc
building towards the river the ground OF the south end
lower, and the foundation was "scpped" up along
the higher ground; finished in 1864; the stones
were laid upon the sandy bottom; the foundation
wall was about six feet thick at the bottom and four
and half at the top. Witness put in stone foundations
for piers under the building 10 support the columns and
trusses that the floors rested upon these were laid
as deep as the foundation wall and in some instances
deeper; the brick work Of the mill was commenced some
time in April.
QuestonIs there any way by which you can tell whe.
Their the building fell In consequence Of the settling Of tho
foundation A-Undonbtedly. II the foundation settled
enough to cause the fall will be when the rubbish
is cleared thought the brick walls were too light and
thin at the time for 80 large building the windows were
so large that there insufficient support between te
Mr.. futile and myself talked about II several times; the
brick pasers to support the floor mbers were carried
up only two stories, and In the higher sto-
ries projections simply thrown out Of the wall;
Mr. Bgelow gave directions In regard the laying OF
tho foundaton the walls double, each eight inches
thick, with vault between the wall at the south end
by the stairway, where the wall cracked, was not 90
thick ~ the rest think about one foot thick and
built solid
william Sullivan, sworn-Dd the excavation FOR the
foundation Of the Pemberton Mil; did the work by the
yard, and contracted to dig until good bottom was
found Mr. Coolidge told me when got deep enough
wheel pit was dug to hsrdpan; from the wheel pit Is
we stepped" upon the higher ground, TO sand
and gravel and some reaks Of clay water leaked into
trench from the canal when we digging considered
the foundation deep enough has worked on the excavs
tons for other nilh the river think the Pemberton
foundation solid than that Of the Atlantic in
the middle Of the Atlantic mill the foundation was ten or
fifteen feet in some places.
John B. futile sworn-Resdes In lowell and is brick
macon Of thirty four experience was one Of the
firm that put up the brick work for the Pemberton mill
witnesss brother Gimer futile, was his partner; the
contract was made with Charles H. Bseow engineer Of
tho corporation had nothing do with the foundation;
should think the foundation above I've feet deep on
the east side; while building the mill we got
water to druk from the foot of the foundation wall
good water; thought at the time the water
from the canal but have had some doubts about since;
in about two months there drouh and this water
dried up; II constantly running through the stones
OF the foundation towards the lower end Of the mill the
pilasers in the fourth story projected out eight
inches and in the second story they dropped to
four inches orders then came from Mr. Bgclow to dis
pense with the paster altogether when the tmbers for
the upper stories they too Short and
ordered to put projectors upon the walls to rest
the timbers upon; expressed my opinion al
Ire time, and many times qftr,oards, and hare
nepr changed It, that the Daus pere too weak
for such building; told Mr.. Bigeov chen ace
building til told Mr. Putnam, Of TIE o,Uners, 80 in
Boston, told many others Ne same Ming; do not know
Of any other large min ic ,odls so weak the Pember.
ton, and ne- ,Oant to Hear Of one the building
much cut up with windows, which weakened it; we had
orders every day from Captain Bigelow and BENZ Coo.
idge the engineer; have generally built mills twenty.
eight inches, including space Of four inches the FIRST
ssor dropping to sixteen inches at tho top;
expressed doubt about finding out from the
appearance Of the foundation il should be cleared
the usual width Of mills forty eight feet there were
irons on the Of the floor mbers turned up they
did connect with the outer WALL would have added
strength to the building had they been screwed through
to the WALL the steam chimney formed one corner
Of the building and that chimney swayed of 30 a. TO
make crack from bottom 10 top, would weakenEhat
part Of the building very much In my opinion steam
chimney ought never To be connected with building;
the quality Of the brick used in the building was
very poor indeed; witness complained several times
70 Captain Hgelow Of The poor quality Of tho
brick; the water was running freely In the Soun-
dalton walls for two months; we could hear run
ming through the stones; dug out small place. about
low as the bottom 3 the wall inside, TO dip water
from TO drink witness 0asdered that water running
toASnun ~ n In tn