The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-01-16
The Massacre NJ Lawrence. Frailty Of
Northern Arc hlsectuve.

The Massacre nj Lawrence Frai1ty Of
Northern Arc hltectuve.
The New York Express and other journals
Of that city and the Philadelphia Novta Amer
sea", which heads the late appalling catasiro-
phe Wholesale Murder" point out the com
mon and criminal practice In the Northern
States Of substituting architectural shams
for known realities, in the hope the suspected
feeblcness. while II is a great deal cheaper.
may, perhaps, I'LL the place OF undouoted
strength" The structure which has just faii-
en- was regarded, on ito first construction, sew
en- years ago, as sham, and even then requir-
ed the application Of twenty-five tons Of stays
for the walls, to keep them from being brought
down by their own weight aud that of
the machinery In such building as this
seven or eight hundred girls and boys, men
and " women, were ruthlessly exposed to the
unparalleled and heart-burning calamity
which has now occurred II was not enough
that their days were passed in poorly requi :
ed toll, and that, when middle age arrives,
they are cast off to take their chances for star
walton or the poor house but they must pur-
sue their vocation amid perils Of life and limb
greater than those Of the battle field. The
stockholders have only to insure their mills
and if they fall and the operatives perish, they
can easily get more hands TO supply their
places. The New York Express says that there
are just snch mills in New York as the "Pem-
berton Mills by the dozen, frail buildings
with walls of a mere veneerin thickness, run
up, in a night, like JoNAH's gourd, or like the
card houses which children amuse themselves
by building; bat which fall at the slightest
touch. In these buildings may be seen heavy
machinery, at which are employed hundreds Of
both sexes, whose fate on any day may be that
of the unfortunate operatives at Lawrence
In truth, says the Express, were it not for the
fact that they mutually support each other
either SIDE like soldiers on parade shoulder
to shoulder, there are MOI, perhaps, nia.ty 5Aiid-
fngs in a hundred, in Ne,c York, ichieh used
for manu- aetHring purposes, that could reniain
standing for year, after being erected. And
why this The property owner, taking into
consideration the shifting nature Of the popu-
lation, runs up, as cheaply as he can contriye,
rickety editice, calculated TO last the six or
seven years which he suppOses will elapse be-
fore the people of the locality move further
up town and thus, hundreds and thousands
of human beings are in danger Of a violent
and painful death At any moment in order
that he may add few thousand dollars to his
bank account.
The Philadelphia American observes this Ia
mentable instance of wholesale slaughter the
extent of which is not yet fully known, and.
perhaps, never will be, is only of piece with
the general chapter of accidents occurring on
railroads, steamboats, and bridges and in
churches, school rooms, theatres and fac tories
Some party has, in every case, been guilty of
carelessness in the first construction Of these
huge establishments, and, perhaps, even of
criminal retcence of knowledge regarding
their condition and management. The sacri-
fees of life made in the last few years at Nor
walk, Whitesboro' and Lapor,e were all, in
some measure chargeable to clear neglect on
the part of officers of the respective roads,
The disasters occurring in the loss of vessels,
explosion of boilers and the falling of build
ings are commonly, in the first instance, the
fault of some particular person more than of
any one else.
The american speaks in the same terms as
the Express of the slovenly and insecure man
ner in which warehouses and fac tories are con-
structed. 1t says that the company desiring
such an establis hment engage its completion
on the cheapest possible terms; a brick and a
half, or two brick, make ample thickness; if
the walls bulge a little, put in Orders The
builder, DESTROYS to make what he can out of
too low price, is not over nice about plumb
lines and the quality of his materials The
structure falls makes nine days wonder for
the public, ana then, all is forgotten, until the
recurrence CT a new tragedy. In the Old
World, we rarely hear of building falling.
and steamboat and railroad accidents are of
unfrequent occurrence. In London and
Naples the walls are so thick as to be almos,
fireproof. In Williamsburg and Yorktown in
our own State, and in other old Virginia
towns, houses and churches are still standing
which We're built more than a century ago,
and which are stronger and more substantial
at his minute than most of houses which have
been built within the last ten years. 1t ought
to be a legal requirement that the thickness of
Il wall shall be proportional to the height of
the building and the burden ii may probably
be called on to sustain.
We have certainly never read such a tale of
hear.rending horror as the late catas trophe
at Lawrence The base greed of gain and
murderous inhumanity which can thus ex-
pose the lives of poor operatives, (whose con-
diiion at best is SO depressed that their en-
ployers find it good policy to keep always be-
fore their eyes the imagined horrors OF negro
slayery,) is too shocking for contemplation.