The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1874-04-14

VI tho dig hpuSo WSIo leu lrOn Ine bJOI0
and superintended by the master. The
saw-mills the glass factories and the
foundry made strange music in the wilds of
New Jersey. In the pottery a pair of
wheels weighing $500 pounds crushed
through the sandy clay and added to the
chorus of noises in the industrious place.
In 1920 the foundry furnace was again re-
built, and the date is inscribed on the old
iron plate.
By 1910 ten iron furnaces were busy In
New Jersey, but the discovery of coal and
iron ore together in other States soon dealt
them heavy blow. The prosperity of
Jesse Richards made him the proudest, as
he was the wealthiest man in the State.
He looked upon the fires as they glowed in
his furnaces with a princely pride. He re-
viewed his tenants as they collected in his
store for provisions with lordly satisfac-
tion. His wine melowed as it grew old in
his cellar, and in the smiles of his good for
tune he drank his liquor in joy. In 1848
the furnaces was so Improbable that he
allowed the fires to die out and they were
never relighted. This check to the growth
of his wealth panied him. In 1854 he died,
seventy-two years old, with three sons
and three daughters to enjoy his enormous
fortune.
AS William Richards had left as legacy
to his sons love of thrift and power, Jesse
Richards left to his sons love of strong
drink. Thomas, Samuel and Jesse were
executors of the estate, and ordered the
factories to be managed in their name.
The broad acres and thriving village re-
turned to them vast revenue. They made
Robert Stewart, faithful secretary of
Jesse Richards, their manager, and they
left Batsto for Philadelphia They lavish
ed their wealth in every possible pleasure
and demanded all the profits of their fac
tories to supply them /; and finding these
scarcely enough, in 1866 sold to Matlock &
Allen, clothiers, of Philadelphia, 10000
acres of their land. This went as fast as
young men of fortune can make money
go.
The working men we're left unpaid. They
clamored for their wages. At length they
threw down their tools, and the fires in the
glass furnaces went out, and the busy vii
lage of half century was idle, and the
men met and talked over the days when up
to the Big House, "Widlam' Richards as
their dialect turns the name, kept every
body well fed and paid, and so endeaIed
the men to him that he had only to ask
them and they would fight for him.
The young men returned to their home
and started the wheels of the factories and
mill again, and gave promise Of adding to
the thrift of the village, but as soon as the
factories began to return them more mon
ey one after the other went off, until Rob-
ert Stewart was again compelled to treat
with the clamOrous workmen. A few of
the old laborers, under Jesse Richards,
agreed to work without their wages, for
the sake of the village. Many moved
away. The old houses began to crumble,
the old foundry tumbled in, the canal
choked up, and the mill stopped. Ten years
ago the fires went out for the last time.
The retainers of the Big House chose the
best of the dwellings, and chopped wood
by the day for enough to buy their bread.
No rent collector called on them, and as
one house grew too old to be inhabited, they
; moved into another. The Big House was
desolate.
Seven years ago the post Office was taken
away from the village and given to Pleas
ant Mills, smaller place in Atlantic coun-
ty. The old store at the Big House was
exhausted, and there was no money in the
town to restock it, and no money to pat
ronize it if restocked. The carpenter the
joiner, the shoemaker, the blacksmith
deserted their shops. and the doors stood
wide open, but nobody entered at them.-
The mill race burst, and the splash of the
falling water night and day re-echoes as it
did before Quaker Ball discovered its water
power. The middle-aged men moved
away, aud the old men and women clung to
the ruins. AS the years weakened the
timbers in the houses, they gathered
in the strongest Of them, and where one
house would accommodate two families
they lived together They kept a COW or
two among them, and raised pigs, chickens
and vegetables. The little returns from
the woOd-chOppers bought bread and scant
clothing. A few days ago spark from
the chimney of Robert Stewards house
burned his own dwelling. A strong sweep
ing wind carried the fire before 1t, and
in two hours the best dwellings in Bats
to were in ashes