The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1874-09-24

Elizabeth; and never till he came before
the investigating committee did he put
forth the unmanly preteXt that Mrs Tlton
had thrust her affection. on him I'M
sought
Awful Calamity at Fall River.
FALL RIVER. Sept 10. The mammoth
and beautiful siN-story granite mill No l
is totally destroyed Hardly stone is left
standing. The fire broke out in the tower
in the 4th story, about A. NJ, and in
short time the widest excitement pre-
vailed The women operatives made
frantic efforts to reach the tre-escapes
but their retreat was cut off by the roaring
flames. Seeing no other means of escape
many rushed frantically for the windows,
and some of the girls threw themselves
headlong from the burning building, being
either instantly killed OF badly mangled
At this time the excitement is So great
that it is impossible to ascertain the names
OF the killed and wounded. 1t is known
for certainty that more than forty per
sons, mostly girls, are killed, and as many
more wounded. The bodies of some of
tlt dead present horrible sight. being
mangled almost beyond recognition
The scene al the ruins is heart reudng,
parents rushing about, crying trantically
tor their missing children Several bodies
have been found burned to crisp. All
the other mills have shut down, and bust
ness for the most part suspended Every
thing in the way OF relief for the suffering
people is being done. Physicians are
working heroicaly, and rendering every
possible relief in their power
LATER-THE ORIGIN OF TIE FIRE.
FALL RIVER, Sept 49, Later investiga-
ton seems to prove that the origin of the
fire was in the mule room, having started
from an unoiled mule head, in charge OF a
young lad named Samuel Young As soon
as the flames We're discovered BY him he
shrieked fire, and made his escape, and
the spinners in the room tried to check the
spreading OF the flames with boxes and
sticks, which broke all the threads attach
ed to the machine When it was at last
found necessary to sound alarm the flames
were darling from the tower windows.
The upper story OF attic used as a spool
room, was occupied by sixty persons, and
the first intimation they received of any
danger was cloud Of dense suffocating
smoke that swept up the staircase and
forced them to seek safety in the northern
section Of the building.
A young girl named Katie Smith states
that her first announcement OF danger was
received by the girls from the other end
of the room rushing towards her shrieking
and crying, many of them We're so terror
stricken that their limbs became almost
useless Some were praying and others
wildly lamenting, while others were so
possessed with fear that they stood in
mute agony watching the heroic conduct
of one man who, utterly regardless of his
own safety, worked with brave ardor and
by means of q rope landed number of the
girls on the ground in safety
One man being completely cut off, made
his exit to the roof by means of the scut-
tie, and with a rope lowered himself over
the roof and to the ground in safety He
stated that companion Just behind him
had fallen back, sutfocated Many of the
girls became unconscious ere the flames
reached them, and though the number of
the lost is unknown, it cannot but be
great. The wailng of parents. brothers,
and sisters over their dead was terrible to
hear.
Those who jumped fell so or GO feet
and were either killed outright OF suffered
such a shock that they died afterward.
Ten escaped alive. When the fire had
been got under search was made for
bodies nearly all were in the fifth story.
They were wrapped in sacks and quilts
and dripping with blood were let down,
put in express wagons and carried to the
police station or chapel. Ten We're recog-
nizable, but some were in fragments
Agonizei parants filled the streets with
cries and shrieks, which mingled with the
shrieks of the wounded
LATER PARTICULARS.
The loss of life as far as heard from is
29 loss by fire $780, 900 The fire caught
by friction of a mule. The walls of the
mill were standing at noon, engines play
ing and clouds Of smoke rising
A despatch dated 1890 p. M, states that
l8 charred bodies have been recovered
The killed and wounded thus far foot up
GO