The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-10-04
MASSACHUS FITS MILLS
TIE pEMBERroN MILL DISASTER OF 1860.
Iron the Boston Globe

Inc accounts Oh o1tufu}V lcdriut lTdord
at Fall River have recalled to the mind,
most Of our reader, doubtless, the terrib
destruction of the Pemberton hill at Law
renee, Mass, January 10, 1859. On that da,
while the machinery Of the mill WAS i'll m'
ton, the main building fell, without warnin:
anda CONFEDERATION soon after broke out Ia To
ruins. OF 100 persons in the building at tn
time. n were killed and 1874 injured, of whol
IA subsequently died. The tuse OF this di:
aster was the faulty construction of the iro
pillars which supported the floor timbers, an
the lack of adhesive power in the mortar. L
the Atlantic Monthly of March, 1868 Mis-
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps gave thrilling IN
vivid description of the disaster in stOr
from which will be found Of deep interes
in this connection.
The silent city teeped and bathed itself il
rose-tints; the river ran red, and the soov
crimsoned on the distant New Hampshire
hills; Pemberton, mute and cold, trownet
across the disc of the climbing sun, ant
dipped, as she had seen it dip before, wit!
blood The day broke sof ly, the snow melted
and the wind blow warmly from the river.
sene was a little dizzy this mornng-tht
constant palpitation Of the floors always made
her dizzy after a wakeful highland so bel
troubled her.
Del Ivory, working beside her. said: sc How
the mill shakes what's going on?"
SITS the new machinery they're histing in, "
observed the oyerseer, carelessly. "Great
improvement but very, very heavy; they
calo'late on getting it all into place to-day"
The wind began at last to blow chilly up the
stair-cases and in at the cracks the melted
drifts out s,nder the walls to harden; the sun
dipped above the dam; the mill dimmed
slowly; shadows crept down between the
frames.
ats time for lights, said Meg Match, and
swore little at her spools.
'Del. said Sene, Il think tomorrow
She stopped. Something strange happened
to her frame it Jared, nuzzed, snapped the
threads UNFINISHED and flew out of place.
''Curious !" she said, and looked up.
Looked up to see her overseer turn wildly
clap his hands to his head, and fall ; to hear a
shrek from Del that troze her blood to see
the solid ceiling cape above her; to see the
walls and windows stagger; to see iron pillars
reel and vast machinery throw up its grant
arms, and tangle of human faces blanch and
writhe She spr.ng rs the floor sunk. AS
pillar liter pillar gave way, she bounded up an
inclined plane, with the gulf yawning after
her. 1t aimed upon her, leaped at her, caught
her. be ond were the stairs, and All open door;
she threw out her arms and struggled on with
hands and knees, trip ping i'll the gearing and
saw, as she fell, Il square oaken beam above
her yield and crash; it was of q fresh, red
color; she dimly wondered why, as she felt
her hands slip, her knees slide, support, time
place, and reason, go utterly out
At 10 minutes before 5 o'clock on Tuesday,
the 10th Of January, the Pemberton Mill, all
hands beings at tho time on duty, fell to the
ground.
So the record flashed over the telegraph
wires, sprang into large type in the news pa
pers, passed from lip to lip a nine days won
der, gave place to the successful candidate
and the nuttering South and was forgotten.
Who shall say what it was to tho seven hum |
dred and fifty souls who were buried in the |
ruins? What to tho eighty eight who died |
that death Of exquisite agony? What to the |
wrecks of men and women who endure even |
this day life that is worse than death |
What to the architect and engineer who, when
he fatal pillars were first delivered to them
ior inspection, had found one broken under
The eyes, yet accepted the contract and built
With them mill, whose thin walls and wide,
stretches could never keep their
place unaided? One that we love may 60 to
the battle ground and we are ready for the
worst we have said our good-by; our hearts
wait and pray; it his his life, not his death,
which is the sur orise. But that he should go
put to HIS safe, daily commonplace occupa-
lion, unnoticed and uncaressed, scolded
little, perhaps, because he leaves the d Dor
open AMI tells us how cross We are, this
morning and they bring him up the steps,
BY and by, mangled mass of death and hor-
-or-that is hard.
Sene's father heard at 49, what he
hought to be the rumble Of an earthquake
,nder his very feet and stood with bated
breath. waiting for the crush. As nothing
further appeared to happen. he took his stick
md limped out into the street A crowd
urged through it from end to end. Women
With white lips were counting the mills. Pa
ific, Atlantic, Washington = Pemberton.
Where was 'Pemberton? Where Pemberton
lad blazed with its lamps last night, and
lummed with its iron lips this noon, cloud
f dust, black, silent, horrible, pulled hun
lred feet into the air.
Asenath opened Ter eyes after q time.
;, autiful green and purple lights had been
ancing about her, but she had had 10
houghts. 1t occurred to her now that she !
ad been struck upon the head. The church
locks were striking g. A bonfire, which had
cen built at a distance to light the citizens in
he work OF rescue, cast little CLEAN in
trough the debris across her two hands c
'hich lay clasped together at her side. One of !!
er fingers, she saw. was gone. 1t was the
niger which held Dicks little engagement
ng. The red beam lay across her forehead,
nd drops crlpped from it upon her eyes.
Ter feet, still tangled in the gearing which had
tipped her. were buried beneath pile of
ricks. A broad piece of flooring that had .
Illcn slantwise rooted her in and saved her |
ON the mass OF iron work overhead, which ;,
ould have crushed the breath out of Hercu- u
~. Fragments OF looms, shafts and pillars !,
ere in heaps about. Some one whom she :
ould not was dying just behind her A
tile girl who worked in her room-a mere
hild-was crying. between her groans. for
lother Del Ivory sat in little open space,
about with reels of cotton; she had .
shallow cash upon her cheek; she was wiring v
IS her hands. They were at work from the =
Inside, saving entrances through the Aby-
nth OF planks. dead woman l.y close by;
nd Sene saw them draw her out. One of the :
retty Irish girls was crushed quite out of sight,
NV one hand WAS free. sha noyed IL faahlv