Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1860-01-21
THE GREAT DISASTER at Law.
RENEE.
Particulars OF the Fall ana Burning OF
che FembertOn Mill.
DEAD, 200 = woUNDEDi $50.

migration Of the ruins while hundreds were
buried helplessly beneath them, is the most
appalling event that we remember to have
betallen so many persons. Scarcely ever
did war, in so brief space of time. count
an equal number of victims. The details
as they come in, do but add to the horrors
of the earlier dispatches, and while they
render certain an almost unparalleled loss
of human life, the loss is happily not as
great as was at first feared.
The PemJerton yMiH.
The Pemberton mill was chartered in
1858, and the factory was erected soon af.
terwards John A. Lowell and Samuel
Lawrence were the leading owners. Its
size may be inferred from the fact that It
contained 600 looms and 10000 spindles.
1t was three hundred feet long by "a feet
wide. The mill was involved In the failure
OF Lawrence, Stone & Co., and was sold by
auction late in 1857. 1t was purchased by
Messrs David Nevins and George Howe
for $500 600. The original cost was $780,
900. The present owners have run it about
two years. The operatives were mostly
girls; great many of them were of Scotch
origin and were regarded as the most skill
ful aud faithful operatives in Lawrence.
The Fail Of The Building.
AT abont 5 o'clock, Tuesday afternoon.
when the mill was being lighted and was
then in full operation, disaster, with one
sudden crash, overlook its hundreds of in.
mates The falling of the walls commenc-
ed at the southeast corner, where portion
of the brick work, fifteen feet high, was
seen by bystanders to force itself outward
ly. In less than minute thereafter. the
walls of the mills, with the exception of the
chief wing, were precipitated into hdeous
mass of ruins. The noise produced by the
awful event was said by some to resemble
that of terrible snow slide-a quick, sharp
rattle, giving premonition of the occurrence
of an awful catastrophe The sound was
heard quite distance, and was regarded
by many individuals as the shock of an
earthquake.
The shock was very sudden and the crash
immediate. Those of the inmates who are
able to give definite account of the sounds
and scenes of that dreadful moment. unite
in this statement John Ward, who was
seriously injured, tells straight forward
story. He was in card room in the Sec
ond story, with the second overseer, about
to light up that room. They heard a slight
noise, and looking up, he saw some shafts
falling down. He was astounded with
what'he saw, and seeing the ceiling coming
down, while the floor beneath him gave
way, he stood terrified. He had no power
to move. The next moment he saw the
overseer running from the room, and he
followed him. He went towards a window
and it fell ont lie gave up all hopes of
life, but still pressed on towards that part
of the building where his wife worked -
A pile of ruins ready to fall hung over his
head. He was struck on the head severe
blow, and lost all consciousness for time.
When he finally came to his senses, he
found himself in the rnins under On i'm
mense grndstone, which had shielded him |
from the falling ruins. He remembers of !
hearing no cries for help, but as he worked |
his way out of the building he saw three
women lying dead. He thinks he saw as
many as fifteen persons in the weaving
room go down in the general wreck.
Some exhibitions of heroism and presence
of mind accompanied the spectacle of the
wild multitude. Miss Olive Bridges of
Calais, Me-, who worked in the fifth story.
seized the hosting chain of the elevator
and went safely down five stories to the
ground, and escaped from the building
without injury.
John &. Chase, agent of the mills, and
5. q. Howe, the treasurer, were passing
through the spinning room in the third
story when the first trash was heard. They
rushed into the wing of the building, which
remained standing. In passing out thro'
the door, Mr. How fell and was trampled
on by several behind him before he could
rise. He escaped, however, without SER
ions injury. The door through which they |
made their Escape was not in common use.
and was usually locked; it was now, how
ever, providentially open to them. They
concur in the statement that the south end |
Of the building fell first, aud say that the
crash proceeded toward the other extreme |
Of the building as rapidly as q row of bricks
falls when set in motion.
When the alarm from the disaster was |
hrst given in Lawrence, II was supposed 20
be caused by the explosion of boiler ut
the mill; then that the structure was in
hames After the true cause became known
the alarm which before existed was intensi-
fed into a panicj fearful to contemplate
Eye witnesses of the scene say that it
would be hard to conceive its parallel -
The whole town turned out en- maSse, and
at once the work Of clearing away the ruins
was commenced by thousands Of willing
hands. The alarm spread rapidly through
cut the neighboring towns, and people came
docking in from all quarters, to see and
hear aud do. While there was yet hope of
'escuing the poor sufferers whose voices
we're constantly coming up from beneath
he ruins appealing for relief, all worked !
With zeal that was almost Incredible
How many of the probably 100 under the
uins had thus been released dead, injured
# dying--when the terrible fire broke out /
t 9 o'clock, it is impossible now to deter
line. Probably 200 persons, the most of
hem alive and many Of them but slightly Z
ljured, still remained In inaccessible parts
! the wreck when the last touch Of the
estroying angel swept over them. Il
The Fire 1
But the most appalling spectacle remain
d. Sad and terrible as was the wreck Of j
be building, il was nothing to the swift d
a. y Al l.