New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-01-20
The Pemherton sIiils oalamlsy.
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EIrRTuER PARTICULARS.

The Boston Herald Of the 18th has the following
The dreadful calamity which yesterday Afternoon
cast a gloom over the city of Lawrence has alread,
been detailed with much fallness, but the follow
Il ing fuller account, gathered last night by our owl
reporters ON the spot, will be read with intense in
terest.
Il The mill. which was a long brick building 30t
feet long by "a feet wide was yesterday in full ope
ration when, at very few minutes after S oclocl
Il in the afternoon it fell with sudden crash, ans
/ without hardly moments warming, to the ground
burving in its ruins the vast masses of machiner,
used at the mill, and with this of solid iron
and mingled with the beams and brick of the edi
Ace, lay in mangled and CORY layers the forms d
4 over four hundred human beings.
As soon as those in the neighborhood could re
cover from the Mortified establishment into which
they were thrown by the disaster the fire alarm
4 was at once sounded, and the department were
soon on the spot Their services were not however
required to eXtinguish any flame, for at this time
no fire had broken out.
Without the horror Of fire, however. the scene
| was frightful beyond description. The ruins Law
in one confused heap, covering area of about
| thirty feet.
From nearly every hole and crevice in this vast
pile. from the top from the Sides and in fact from
every fssure from whence q voice from the inside
could make its way, came shrieks for help groans 81
anguish, prayers and meanings, and in many, very
many cases, the poor sufferers could be distinctly
seen, talked to, and even reached by the hand from
the outside Many thus imprisoned were encour.
aged and sustained by assurances OF safety and III
many cases cups Of coffee could be, and were
passed down to those below, who alas! after ali
this near approach to safety, saw hour after hour
pass away until at last, the frightful cry of fire
and the greedy licking of the flames approached
with fearful rapidity, cracking and kissing all over
the remains on the ground, told them too plainly
building took place just as the mill was being
| lighted up, and outside, of course, all was dark.
4 To obvate this difficulty huge fires were made
to the leeward of the ruins and the light thus made
| lighted up the horrible scene with ineXpressible
Il grandeur z$55
Early in the morning squad Of canvassers were
| organized and the whole city was laid out into
small districts and pretty thorough canvass was
| entered into, the men going from house to house.
thereby ascertaining in every family where per-
sons were either wounded missing or safe The
summing up shows that one hundred and sixty two
| persons were missing. This embraces all those
4 known to have been killed and those of which no
tidings have been obtained. is admitted BY those
1 who have gone into the investigation that ffty-two
persons are yet inundated in the brick and mortar
One hundred and thirty dead bodies have been re-
moved to the City Hall, or been delivered to recog-
4 nizing friends
From numerous incidents and fearful scenes re-
lated by the correspondent of the Boston Tran
script we select the following:
| When the alarm from this disaster was first given
| in Lawrence, it was supposed to be caused by the
explosion Of a boiler at the mill, then that the
structure was in flames. After the true cause be-
| came known, the alarm which before existed was
intensified into panic fearful to contemplate Eve
witnesses Of the say that it would be hard to
conceive its parallel. To-day general gloom ap-
\ pears to have settled over the community One 81
the largest schools in the city, numbering several
| hundred scholars was convened this morning, but
dismissed, as half of the usual number Of pupils
\ were not in attendance.
The falling of the walls of the building COM
menced at the southeast corner, where portion
| Of the brick work, fifteen feet high was seen nv
bystanders to force itself outwardIy. In less than
minute thereafter the walls of the mills, with the
exception of the chief wing were precipitated into
a hideous mass of ruins. The noise produced by
the awful event was said by some to resemble that
of terrible snow slide--a sharp, quick rattle
giving premonition Of the occurrence Of an awful
catastrophe. The sound was heard quite a dis
lance, and was regarded by many individuals as
the shock of an earthquake.
The most appalling feature in the calamity was
the burning to death of scores Of individuals in the
wings of the building. Though confined within
solid brick walls, assistance had nearly reached
them when the fire broke out.
In one case one Of these persons was helped to
glass of water by parties who were endeaYorne
To extricate her. She said that near her seDarated
only BY single beam, were six men uniniured.
Alas they were all consumed in the flames, which
spread with great rapidity. How many were thus
burned there is no data for estimating. A person
who was at the fire from its beginning became
cognizant of three parties Of NATURALIZATION
four to SIX in numher-who thus persisted.
Singular to relate, it was currently reported and
generally believed, that a man was rescued from
the ruins at IL o'clock this forenoon only slightly
injured. If this were so, it was most miraculous
preservation
The vicinity of the mills looks very much like
vast charnei house, as filters, having on them
corpses are constantly passing through the streets
in that quarter
The sights and scenes at this period Of the disas
ter were frlghtful. One poor girl, alive and fully
conscious, was dragged from the east end of the
fallen mass with her left arm torn from the socket
and her body and legs awfully mangled She was
taken by her friends, but could not have survived
long. In one place the bodies of three girls were
found locked in each others arms, but quite dead |
They could not be removed without mansIiup the |
bodies, and being abandoned for time. the flames
broke out before another attempt was made, and |
all three persisted.
One irishman was taken out quite unhurt. and |
his first act was to feel in his pocket from whence
he drew forth sooty tsdudeen,n and sejzine |
brand from the fire, he lit his pipe and went his
way.
. Next from the ruins we saw the dead body of a |
lad, and following him was borne girl with one of
her ANKLES burnt to crisp. She had been CON
nhed py one loot between two beams, and only by /
the utmost exertion was she recovered. She was |
also taken home by her friends
young grl was released just before the flames |
burst fOrth and in answer to question stated that
she was unhurt. 1t afterwards appeared that her
right arm was badly broken near the wrist, but in
the excitement Of the moment and in the joy of |
deliverance from dreadful death she had not no.
ticed the hurt
One woman was found with her head damned |
between two heavy beams, and pressed so that it I
was not thicker than the thickness of hand It
was a sickening sight
one young girl, whose name we have but do not |
publish, was confined in a narrow hole surrounded 1
bJ broken machinery and ragged timber and
poaras, succeeded in crushing ont into the open /
ar, but when she emerged from the ruins she had
scarcely an article of clothing on her person.
Perhaps one Of the saddest episodes of the whole
Calamity was the fate of Mr.. Maurice Palmer who
was oyerseer in the mill. In the fall he was SO en-
pedded IN the ruins that he could not be extricated
before the hre, and seeing the dreadful element /
approaching him, he, in his agony and despair de-
termned not to be roasted to death, and SO drew
ms pocket knife and cut his throat. He was how
ever, taken out alive, and would have survived
put Tor the selt.iniieted injury. Who however
can Judge the anguish and agony which induced
the fearful deed?
Previous to the fire, two sisters were together
and comparatively unhurt They would have been
rescued. Hearing the roar of the flames, they ex-
claimed, Oh God! we have got to de-
announcer woman shrieked out piteously that the
ne rs was burning her brain, but the flames soon
after silenced her cries.
IL mas already been stated previously that one
man cut MS throat lest he should be burned alive
MI. Branch told his friends who were digging for
nun thal ne Should resort to the same means to
escape ne sortnres Of the fire. He was persuaded
10 Gesist and fortunately was rescued.
ne awful death which some died by the fire was
ieariaily attested by those baked and blackened
IorIns When taken out-not in anything like those
hmm an hat.n