Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1860-01-21
TIE LII HRENCE CATASTROPHE

ing the island under penalty of death, set aside.
TIE Ii HRENCE CATASTROPHE
That unparalleled calamity which occurred at
Lawrence on Tuesday of last week, by which
so many individuals were ushered into eternity
without a'moments warniI e, and so many 9TH
ers were MANNED for life, has yet not ceased to
occupy large space in the daily journals
These accounts are filled with narrative of
events and the depicting of scenes the most
trying and heart-rending imaginable In the
manged, blackened and charred remains in the
City Hall, parents recognize their children,
brothers their sisters sisters their brothers, and
others their relatives and friends, sometimes BY
the form and features of the deceased, but in
most cases, these being undistinguishable, by
some article of apparel or adornment. The ex-
CARNATIONS and outbursts of grief at these sor-
rowfully welcome discoveries can be better i'm
agined than described. In many instances
those in whom the lineaments of the human
countenance are now obliterated were the sup
porters of infirm age or helpless infancy, and
the love which sheltered and guarded helpless
ness is now mourned almost without hope
The record of this disaster has not yet been
fully completed. BY the most careful investi-
CATION the whole number known to be dead and
and whose bodies are recovered, is reduced to
IS, but it is believed that there were bodies en-
tirely consumed amid the ruins, so that no YES
tige can ever be found of them; hundred
and seventy-nne are badly wounded, and two
hundred and sixty-three slightly wounded, while
the number saved is about two hundred and
thirty.
In many of our largest cities and particularly
in Boston, liberal contributions have been raised
for the relief of the sufferers Nearly $40 COO
has been received at Lawrence about three
fourths of which was raised in Boston. 1t is
estimated that $4,000 will be requisite to car
~ all those needing aid through the winter
The Mayor and citizens of Lawrence are devot-
ing themselves with interchangeable zeal to the
work of ministering to and caring for those
who are the victims of this distressing casualty.
A Coroner's jury was mpaneled on Thurs
day and the inquest is not yet completed A
thorough examination will be made BY compe-
tent men into the cause of this disaster and the
blame will be laid at the door of those 20 whom
it properly belongs. When this inquest shall
have completed its labors and made up its rec
ord we shall be in possession of all the facts
that can be ascertained by careful scrutiny
But from the testimony that has already been
elected we feel safe in saying that the building
was VIGOROUSLY unsafe from its completion. 1t
was radically defective from foundation to roof.
and possessed neither soundness nor SAFETY
The foundations extended below the surface of
the soil only from three to five feet. and that
too on bed of loose sand underneath which
was substratnm of quick. sand, between the
river and the canal, where there was water in
the excavation all the time the foundation was
laying, and water running between the founda-
ton stones while the structure was going up
A prudent man would not erect a dwelling
house or a store on so insecure basis, and vet
high building, to be filled with heavy mach;n-
cry, and subject to constant and severe lar,
was thus built upon the sand. The whole struc-
ture was carried up with perfect consistency. as
if to see how frai thing could be made to
stand The walls were thinner than usual. and
the master builder warned the proprietors Of
the fact at the time, and repeatedly declared
them too weak for such building. The brick
pilasters to support the floor timbers were car
ried up only two stories, and the timbers above
were supported by projections from the walls,
and when the timbers of the upper floors were
found to be too short, the projections were ex-
tended SO as to appear to support them, while
the timbers entered but little distance into the
wall, so that evidently slight yielding of the
timbers from pressure or motion would cause
them to act as immense levers upon the wall it.
self. At that part of the building which fell
first, the south end, the wall was only about a
foot thick. The steam chimney which formed
one corner of the building, had swayed off SO
as to leave crack half an inch wide. When
the machinery was put in, the flooring settled
so that the timbers had to be trussed up. The
man who put in the shafting declared the build
ing unsafe, and predicted that the two upright
shafts would in time shake the end of the build
ing out.
That this statement is warranted by the tes-
timony. we give summary of what was said
by some of the principal witnesses:
JESSE GLOVER, overseer of the repair shop, was
standing about five rods from the mill when it
fell. The end towards the river settled first, and
the building fell Immediately. There was a