The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-09-25
From the Maine State Press of Sept. 24th.l
History of Seven Days.
The news for the week ending Wednesday
Night Sept. 23d.
A SHOCKING AFFAIR.

Night Sept. 23d.
SHOCKING AFFAIR.
This week we have to record the occurrence
of one of those calamities resulting in great
loss of life and limbs, which afterthought east
ly provides remedy and points out the almost
criminal carelessness which results in such ter
rible scenes Saturday morning when the OPP
eratives in Granite Mill No 1, at Fall River,
had been at work about twenty minutes they
were startled by the cry of fire and the escape of
smoke from the fourth story. In the room on
the fourth were almost 100 girls at work under
an overseer. On the floor above (the fifth
story were almost 30 of the youngest operatives
in the mill at work. With the alarm, the
flames seemed to leap up this attic from the
windows below and up the great tower in the
center of the building where were all the stairs.
The fire caught in mule spinning room on the
fourth floor in the northwest part of the room
from the friction in mule head and igniting
the cotton waste about the machine, almost as
infamable as gun cotton, the fire flashed along
the floor toward the central tower, burning the
waste to which point the flames were drawn by
tue urdIU 1uiS IOWeT Was Tue only HEALS Oh
escape, except two of which there were on each
side of the gable end of the mill. The burning
cotton made thick suffocating smoke and
there was enough material to make hot fle
until the more substantial wood work was ig-
nited.
The most shocking scenes followed. The OPP
orators mostly young girls and children were
frantic with terror, running about the ROOM
shouting, crying and begging to be saved. The
few cooler heads who were present could have
no control over them. Even after the tower
was impossible,it was difficult to get even a few
of them to go up the ladder to the roof from
which they could reach the ladders leading to
the ground. They were 60 feetfrom the ground
and could not jump without certain death or
shocking mutilation. On the fourth floor
where there were hundred girls the scenes
were no less frightful. There escape, teo, by
the centre tower had been cut off, but the two
ladders of the south gable were before them,
but SO bewildered and horror-stricken were the
poor girls with the peril of the position and the
thick, suffocatng smoke, that although urged
to take the ladder, many rushed to the balcony
and threw themselves into the street below
without look to the ladder. When the means
of escape provided by the mill had been cut
off, the people brought feather beds and mat
tresses to break the fall of those who must now
jump, but in nearly every case those who took
this means of escape were shockingly manned
or killed by the conclusion. The full fire de-
partment was soon on hand, but their efforts
could only be directed to attempts to save life,
and in this they were baf1ed by the great dis
lance from the ground, the scarcity of long
ladders, and the dense smoke and increasing
heat. One fireman in his heroic efforts to save
the lives of the helpless children had to be
abandoned by his friends, thus sacrificing him
. self to save others. Words, say eye witnesses,
can give no idea of the terrible scenes, in the
streets and at the windows where the poor VIC
tins rushed for aid. Parents could see their
children cut off by flames, fifty feet from the
ground, while the whole populace was little
better than an Infatuated mob. The police and
firemen showed great GOODNESS and courage
AS the mangled bodies, some dead, others
nearer dead than alive and better to have been
dead, were taken from under the windows
where they fell, they were carried on stretchers
to an improvised morgue or hospital according
as they were dead or alive. At the Mission
chapel nearly 20 dead bodies were lying at one
time. The fire was not so destructive to prop
erty as might be suspected, as the firemen coz
fined it to the two upper stories and short
time put it out above. Indeed, only por-
tions of the two upper stories were
destroyed. II is said, however, that the walls
of the mill will have to como down largely
as the granite was cracked by the heat and
water. As soon as the flames were subdued,
the search for victims was begun and many
were found so shockngly charred that no one
could recognize them. Full lists of the casu-
alities are nov made up with the following
result: Killed or burned to death, %; wound
ed and MANNED, 36; more than third of these
are dangerously injured and many cannot
recover.
There are many rumors about the affair,
one that the elevator by which all might have
escaped would not work; and the coroner's
jury has taken testimony showing that the
Superintendent, who says he did all in his
power to save the girls was not present at all.
The jury are now in session. and when their
verdict is made up the result will be given
The total insurance on the mill is $45O'OOO.
The insurance agents value the property re-
naming at $4,000.
THAT DREADFUL BORE
During the week Theodore Tilton has pun-
ished the newspapers with Statement" so
long that it would cover one side of this PAPER
in fine type. 1t is well written and there are
many who believe that he has improved his
case with the public; but life is short and in
general too valuable to devote to the details of
this nasty affair, whether based OF truth or
falsehood. The statement contains little that
is new, and maiuly rests upon the word of Til
ton. The story of Mrs. Tllton's confession
of the crime iof adultery with Mr.. Beecher is
told with great explicitness, and letter is in
troduced from Susan Anthony to show that
she knew the nature of the intimacy, and
that Mr.. Beecher was the sinner and a
great liar Tilton also shows that at the time
the famous letter of apology was written by
Beecher, he(Tilton) had no trouble with Bowen
but mad just entered into new contract with
him to edit his paper. He denies that his
first charge against Mr.. Beecher was imnron-
er proposals. by showing from the records of
the Plymouth church that he was called no.
fore its committee to answer to CHARGES tba,
he (Tilton) had accused Beecher, his pastor
of committing adultery, as early as August
1870, and for telling Rev. DR.. Taylor that
Beecher preached to seven or eight of his
mstresses every Sunday, as early as the spring
~ of 1871 He further asserts that Beecher and
Mrs. Tilton confessed their crime to others
than himself and Moulton. These are the
new points. Edna Dean Proctor has COM