The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1874-09-24
FATAL FIRE.
Fearful Work Of the Flames at Fall Riv-
er, Mass, On Saturday.
More than Forty lives lost and Half a
Million Of Property destroyed.
Employees Sufocated il Upper Stories
and Killed Leaping from Windows.


and Killed Leaping from Windows.
Boston, Sept. ia special dispatch
to The Traveller from Fall River, dated
7:45 A. NJ, says At this morninga fire
broke out in the Granite Mills No. |, in
this city, and spread with great rapldity.
The operatives had commenced work,
and there was
GREAT PANIC AMONGST THEM.
Many persons escaped by jumping
from the windows. Others were killed or
injured it their attempts to escape in this
manner. Others were burned in the
building, being unable to escape by any
means. Many lives were ostby attempt
ing to jump from the roofs of the burn
ing houses. About 7 o'clock
AN ALARM OF FIRE
was sounded, but the location could not
properly be understood, consequently
the firemen did not reach Granite Mill
No. 1, on Twelfth and Bedford streets,
until the flames made fearful headway
Finding themselves unable to cope with
the flames, a second alarm was struck,
| and theaa remainder of the department
brought to the spot. In the meantime
the results had become heartrending in
the extreme AS far as can be learned
under the present excitement and turn
oil, the fire originated at the tower, in
the fourth story, and an attempt was
made to extinguish it with pals Of wat
er, but Intellectually During this? en-
deavor the door leading to the spool
room, which opens south, on the tower
staircase, had to be closed to keep the
help back and prevent panic; but when
the flames had gained such strength that
it was found impossible to quench them,
the escape Of
THE GIRLS HAD BEEN CUT OFF
The frightened and terrified creatures,
with the roaring flames on the tower
staircase, rushed in a body for the fire.
escape, but the dense volumes of smoke
that poured into the room and the bit.
ing flames forced them to the northeast
end OF the apartment, at which end, TN
fortunately, there was no mode of escape.
Many In the meantime had become suf-
located. Others, preferring death by
falling to the ground, sprang recl1lessly
from the windows, and were picked up,
V0aaagls1, nls sding, dead and dying.
The excitement was terrible, every
mill nearly emptying it's contents to
swell the sympathizing crowd. All the
medical men in the city were promptly
on hand, mattresses, wagons, stretchers
and all the paraphernalia of the hospital
being promptly furnished, and the dead,
dying and suffering attended to. It is
certain that nearly thirty or forty lives,
nearey all girls, have been lost, while
the list of wounded is probably as great.
The Granite Mills were Incorporated in
1868, and mill No. / had 36, ,64S spindles
and 400 looms, and employed about
400 persons.
Later investigation seems to prove
that the
FIRE ORIGINATED IN THE MULE ROOM,
having started from unoiled mule heads.
in charge of boy named Samuel Young
AS soon as the flames were discovered by
the lad, he shrieked out fire and made
his escape. The spinners in theroom tried
to check the spread of the flames with
boxes and sticks, which broke all the
threads attached to the machine. Ef-
forts were made to subdue the fire. but
Intellectually, and when it was at last
found necessary to sound the alarm, the
flames had gathered such strength that
they were darting from the tower wind
ows. The upper story, or attic, used as
a spool room, was at the time occupied
by sixty persons, and the first intimation
they received of danger was a cloud of
| dense, binding and suffocating smoke,
| that swept up the staircase and forced
them to seek safety in the northern Sec
ton of the building. A young girl nam
ed Katie Smith states that her first an
| nouncement of danger was received by
the girls from the other end of the room
| rushing towards her,
SHRIEKING AND CRYING,
many of them so terror-stricken that
their limbs bscame almost useless. Some
| of the girls we're praying and lamenting
their situation, while others were so
possessed with fear that they stood in
mute agony, watching the brave conduct
of one man, who regardless of his own
| safety, worked with heroic ardor, and by
means of a rope landed on the ground a
number of girls In safety. One man, be-
ing completely cut Off, made his exit to
the roof by means of the scuttle, and
| with a rope lowered himself over the
roof and to the ground in safety. He
stated that his companion, who was Just
| behind him, had fallen back suffocated.
Many of the girls became unconscious
from freight ere the flames reached
them, and though the number of loss at
this writing Is uncertain, it cannot but be
great. Some leaped from the windows,
preferring to be crushed and mained
than burned, and shrieking. The heart
rending sights that met the eye on all
sides were agonizing. The wailing of
mothers, brothers and sisters. over their
dead, was terrible to hear.
The loss of life SO far as known is
twenty-nlne. Loss on property, $780,
900.
MORE DETAILED ACCOUNT.
Mills Nos. / and 2 of the Granite
Works had been running about twenty
minuteS when the n,,oro4ixroa In No L