New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-10-05
TIE FALL RIVER FIRE.

VERDICT OF THE CORONRR's JURY-THE MEANS OF
ESCAPE FROM THE MILL INsUFFICIENT-RE-
MARKS ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF MILLs-THE
APPARATUS OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT DEFEC-
TIVE
FALL RIVER, Oct. 4.-The verdict OF the
COroner's Jury the Granite Mil disaster was rem
dered Saturday at sp m. 1t is as follows:
we tho undersiened having been .Tm%oned as Jurors
did assemble the 2.t day Of September. 1874 70 act
the 18th Of said september and having proceeded 70
home in said Fall RIVER did proceed TO make e1ann,
tons into the cause or causea that led to his
mens from day to day until q. ,G Oct d ILL.,
thereafter the death rate but at the time OF
sy to fns Of
ined during the inquest was 40 and two recalled ana
magnitude Of the disaster not only appalling in its i'm
mediate vicinity but sending thrill OF horror through
sS % nv s hs
%s 40 sns % e
general outlines Of the evidence In the narrative now
nes ss%' giving H merely accumulated testimony:
It was in the evidence that the first alarm Of fire on the
Of Sixth and Peassntsts the fire being rst discovered
in the mule on the fourth story at pair OF mules
No. 49, $50 O'Clock m From the time the alarm struck
promptly on hand as could be expected from the
fusion Of alarms caused by the striking Of four different
boxes about the same time and further say thatt
evidence that the hooks and ladders included IN
this department. we're insufficient in an emergency OF
deliberate examination we now say, and as an act Q.
Justice are GLAD that the epFfs s
Department are unfounded. And upon further
the sad truth becomes appsTent, that
sons at work the sixth story. Had such alarm been
given and the care indicated TAKEN the lives OF a the
persons That story might have been saved, notwtn
standing there was but one escape therefrom VIZ the
NOT IN our judgment that is remarkable that
fire. being discovered in the mueroom. In the fourth
01y sa the & sae %eR to be
doubt the alarm was general and ample did not nave
in the sixth story to fee from their fiery fate and had
the male operatives in the sixth story not become
sSe%, they might have led all the women and children
in their charge down the tower stairs In safety
used by corporation xtngush and prevent fires
in their mills, and to consider the means
this mill as regards its style of architecture in afordng
means OF escape like the present The evidence
fires in all the STORIES such tanks pumps and pipes.
horizontal pipes and hose in the various rooms were
the ire but apparently wanting in them, and
hose and pipes were useless in the fourthstory al
much has also evidence and we now say
and believe it TO have been the aim OF the corpora
ton to furnish every facility that could furnish
and the Of the past furnish for the escape OF help
from their mill in OF fire. BIT this great disaster
has shed farsearchDg though lurid light on the sub
ject OF mill architecture In this particular u was
proved concusvey that there not ample means OF
escape from attic. Had there been tho loss OF lie
would have been avoided and we now suggest as an
additional means OF safety and escape that In case OF
fire. should be arranged that alarm struck In
story should reach all others 10 the MILL and mere
from evidence do that 1t clearly and indu-
btably appears that all the means OF escape by doors
from every story were free and unobstructed,
except by smoke and fame there being no locks or
hall on
ceping the lower door leading to the tower ana that
always open during the time the help Is employed Anu
that the approximate cause OF the Oedtn Vi
said James Turner and the twenty-five others whose
presence there in evidence the morning In qnes
tOn caused by tine burning OF the mill they either
being DESTROYED by the inside killed by eapng TO
the ground from The mill And in returning the lnqs
ton hereto xed and in closing the preceding state
ment with all the facts distinct reality, we say let
the lesson pass unheeded, either to the mill owners
or the public In general that human life IS precious ana
in all that tend to save, either particularly OF
generally the precious boon TO the poorest mortal mas
the sanction OF all mankind, and an example IN HIN
Comnonweaih Of Massachusetts Bristol County, SIS
At an iuqustiOn taken at the City of Fall River, IN the
County Bristol the 2lst day Of September IN the year
of Lord 1874, before Andrew W. White one OF the
there lying dead, by the oaths OF the jurors, whose
names hereuntO subscribed whom, being sworn 10
inquire in behalf Of said Commonwealth when, how,
and what the said James Turner came 10 MS
death do their Oaths they do find that the said
James Turner his death the .mornhg OF the
10th day of September A. D. lsI by lnnplns IRON the
ground, said mill being then on fire, and also that
twenty others came to their death from the same
together with the hire Inside the mil consuming
sufocating them. 49,
In witness whereof the said and jurors to this
nQustOn have hereuntO set their hands and seals ths
80 day OF October, A. d., 1874.
ANDREW W.WHITE, Coroner, CHARLES ALMY.
j. Il. TRENCH, Foreman, DANIEL HILLwELL
CHESTER W. GREEN, EARL p. BOWEN,
A