The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-10-06
THE FALL RIVER DISASTER.

VERDICT OF THE CoRoNER's JURY-IT BIAMHs
THE AUTHORITIES MILDLY-ASD MAKES
SOME SUGGESTIONS.
FAIL RIVER, Mass. Oct. 8.-The coroner
verdict on the Granite mill disaster was rem
dered this evening. The jurors fisd that the
fire department was as promptly on hand ss
could be expected, from the confusion Of the
alarm caused by the striking OF four different
boxes ~ about the same time, but that the hooks
and ladders included in the fire department
were insufficient in an emergency of This kind
reports concerning the other branches
of the department are unfounded. IL il
apparent that due precaution WIS not used in
story. Had such an alarm been given and dus
care taken the lives OF all the persons in that
story might have been saved, Notwithstanding
there was but one escape therefrom, viz: the
tower stairs. 1t Is remarkable that the fire being
discovered in the mule room, in the fourth
well as those in the firth story, 70 whom there
can be no doubt the alarm was general, they did
warn their s feiiow operators nd In iRe sixth
story TO fee from their fiery fate,
and had even the male operatives in the sixth
story not become panic stricken at the first
alarm of fire that reached them, they might
have led all the women and children in their
charge down the tower stairs in safety. The
evidence fully shows that al the appliances fer
extinguishing fires in all the stories, such az
tanks pumps, and pipes and horizontal pipes
and hose in the various rooms, were in this mill
apparently ready for use on the morning Of the
fire, but apparently water was wanting in them.
story at this time. In the construction OF
the mill the Jurors believe IT TO have
been the aim of the corporation to furnish every
facility that money could purchase, and the les
sons Of the past furnish for the escape of help
from their mill in case of fire. but it was proved
conclusively that there were not ample means
of escape from the attic. Had there been. the
loss OF life would have been avoided, and the
Jurors suggest, as an additional means of safety
and escape. that in case OF fire it should be so,
arranged that an alarm struck in any story
should reach all the Others in the mill.
From the evidence taken, the Jurors say
that it clearly and indubitabiy appears
that the means of escape by doors from every
story was free and uHobstructed except by the
smoke and flame, there being no locks or bolts
on any door communicating with any room ex-
cepting the tower door leading to the tower, and
that is always open during the time the helyfs
employed. The approximate cause OF the death
of James Turner and the twenty-five Others on
the morning in question was the bur- Ing
of the mill, they either being de-
stroyed by the fire inside or killed by
leaping To the ground from the mill. The jurors
conclude the verdict as follows: "I1et the lesson
not pass unheeded either 10 mill owners or the
public in general, that human life is precious,
and all means that tend 10 save, either parficsl-
larry or generally, the precious boon TO The
poorest mortal have the sanction OF all man
kind and an example in Him who died for all"