The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1874-10-17
PEMBERT0N MILL.

PEMBER10N MILL.
The crashing Parallel Of Fall River
Folly In sOO-MaSsachusete has
no Slave PEN, but He'll for Its OPP.
eratives--A Reminder that History
Repeats Its Disasters.
The accounts Of the fearful tragedy
Of Fall River has recalled to the minds
Of most Of our readers, doubtless, the
terrible destruction Of the Pemberton
Mill, Mt Lawrence, Massachusetts,, JAN
nary 10, 1860. On that day, while
the machinery Of the mill was in
motion, the main building fell; with
out warning, and conflagration
soon after broke out in the ruins. Of
700 persons in the building at the time
II were killed, and 1875 injured, of
whom Ia subsequently died. The
cause Of the disaster was the faulty
construction Of the iron pillars which
supported tho floor timbers, and the
lack Of adhesive power in the mortar.
In the atlantic Monthly Of March,
1853, Miss Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
gave thrilling and vivid description Of
the disaster in story entitled "The
Tenth of January" extracts from
which will be found Of deep interest in
this connection.
The silent city stepped and bathed
itself in rose tints; the river ran red
and the snow crimsoned on the distant
New England hills; Pemberton, mute
and cold, frowned across the disc of the
climbing sun and dipped, as she had
seen it dip before, with blood. The day
broke softly, the snow melted and the
wind blew warm from the river.
Sene was little dizzy this morning
the constant palpitation Of the floors
always made her dizzy, after wakeful
night--and so her colored threads
danced out Of place and troubled her.
Del Ivory, working beside her, said !:
"How the mill shakes! What's going
on?''
Its the new machinery they re hist.
ing in" observed the overseer, care
lessly. "Great improvement, but very,
very heavy; they calc'lat on getting
i: all into place to-day
The wind began at last to blow chilly
up the staircases and in at the cracks !;
the melted drifts out under the walls to
harden; the sun dipped above the
dam; the mill dimmed slowly; shad-
ows crcpt down between the frames.
ITS time for the lights" said Meg
Match, and swore little at her spools,
'Del," said Sene, 81 think to.mor-
row.
She stopped. Something strange
happened to her frame; it Jared,
bnzzed, snapped; the threads un-
twisted and flew out Of place.
Spurious - she said and looked up.
Looked up to see her overseer turn
wildly, clap his hands to his head, and
fall; to hear shrek from Del that
froze 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
giant arms, and tangle Of human
faces blanch and writhe! She sprang
as the floor sunk. AS pillar after pill
lar gave way, she bounded up an inciin.
ed plane, with the gulf yawning after
her. 1t gained upon her; beyond were
the stairs and an open door; she threw
out her arms and struggled on with
hands and knees, tripped in the gearing,
and saw, as she fell, square oaken
beam above her yield and crash; it was
Of fresh, red color; she dimly wonder.
edwhy; IS she felt her hands slip, her
knees slide, support, time, place, and
reason 60 utterly out.
At ten minutes before 5, on Tuesday,
the 10th Of January, the Pemberton
Mill, all hands being at the time on
duty, fell to the ground.
So the record flashed over the tele.
graph wires, sprang into large type in
the newspapers, passed from lip to lip,
nine days wonder, gave place to the
successful candidate and the muttering
South, and was forgotten.
Who shall say what it was to the $50
souls who were buried in the ruins
What to the lightweight who died that
death Of exquisite agony? What to
the wrecks Of men and women who en-.
dure even to this day alife that is worse
than death :! What TO the architect
and engineer who, when the fatal pill.
lars were first delivered to them for in.
spection, had found enc broken under
their eyes, yet accepted the contract
and built with them a mill whose thin
wall and wide, unsupported stretches
could never keep their place unaided
One that We love may 30 to the battle
ground, and we are ready for the worst
we have said our good-by; our heart.
wait and pray; it is his life, not hi.
death, which is the surprise. But thai
he should 60 out to his safe, daily com
monplace occupation, unnoticed ani
uncaressed. scolded a little, perhaps
because he leaves the door open am
tells us how cross we are this mornino
and they bring him up the steps,
and by, mangled mass of death ant
horror-that is hard.
Scne's father heard, at twenty min
utes Of five, what he thought to be tn
rumble Of an earthquake under his yer,
feet, and stood with bated breath wait
ing for the crash. AS nething furthe
appeared to happen he took his sticl
and limped out into the street. /
crowd surged through it from end t
= end. Women with white lips wer
counting the mills. Pacific, Atlantic
MISREPRESENTATION, Where wa
Pemberton Where Pembcrton hat
blaze<l with its lamps last night, ant