Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1874-09-20
Destruction by Fire Of the Gran
ite Mills Of massachusetts,
and Loss Of Over Forty
Lives.
Hesrt.Rending Particulars Of the
EOst Fearful Calamity Of the
Year - Poor Creatures
Burned to Death.
Origin and Progress Of the Fire
Five Hundred Thousand Dol
lars Worth of Property
Destroyed, Etc.

1 ite Ali, No. l. on Twelfth ana Bedford streets.
until the flames had made fearful headwsy,
I Finding themselves unable 70 cope with the
/ danes, the second alarm was struck, and the
I remainder OF the department brought 70 tha
sp)t, Meantime the reuslts had been heart
/ reading in the extreme. AS far as can be
! 10 Ined under the present excitement and
I turmoil, the fire originated at the tower In
I the fOurth story, and an attempt was made TO
! hut in ffectoal Y. During this endeavor the
! door leaithg 70 the spool-room, which
/ opens south On the tower staircase, had 20 be
I closed % help keep back and prevent panic; /;
but when The flames had gained such slTal gth
that II was ound impossible 10 qusneh them,
the escape OF the girls had been cut on. Tue
frightened and terrified creatures, with the
roaring flames on the lower staircase, rushed
Ia TO y for the hre-escape, but the dense
volumes o smoke that poured INTO the room,
he bitlng flames, forced them 20 the
northeast end ot ths apartment, at which end
unior luuateiy there we're no means OF escape.
Hauy in th- meautime had become suifocat-
ed, and others, Vreiarlng death by falling 70
the ground, spraltg recklessly nom the win
q VS., anu we're picked al tnfngled anu Dieed-
ing, dead and dying The excitement was
terrible, every mill nearly emptylng
ffs contents % swell the svmpathiZing
crowd an the medical men In the city We're
promptly on hand. Mattresses, wagons,
stretChers and al the paraphernalia o. hos
piial were quickly furnished, and the dead,
dying and suffering attended 70. 10 IL certain
that nearly thirty or forty lives-mOstiy girls
have been lost, while the list OF wounded is
probably as great. The Granite mills were n
corpOraIed Ia lS3. Mil No. l mad thirty-sx
thousand SIX hundred and forty-eight spin
dies, ana eight thousand four hundred looms.
and employed about four hundred and twen-
ty-1Ye male ana female operatives. The di-
rectOrs are William Mason, J p. SlGde, Ed-
mund Chase. J. :. Brayton and Ira ID. Smith,
LATER INVESTIGATION
seems to prove that the fire originated in the
muls-rOom, having started in from the unuset
mule heads, in charge of a boy named Samuel
Young. As soon as the flames were discovered
% The lad, he shIiekei ont "hre! aud made
check the spread OF the flames with boxes snd
stick, which bIoka all the thread sttaehea TO
the machine. Efforts were made 70 Hubdue
the n q, ont Intellectually, and when IL was at
last found necessary 10 sound the alarm, the
flames hgd g .thercd such strength thst hey
were darling from the lower wiDGOTs Of the
upper story, or attic, which was used as
spoOl-roOm, and WAS at the time occupied by
sixty persons, and the q st intiInatiUn they
r, ceIyed of danger was cloud of dense, blind
ing smoke, that swept up the staircase and
forced hem 70 seek safety In the northern sec
ton of the building A young giri named Ka-
tie Smith, 81 ates that the nrst announcement
Ofdanger was received by girls from the other
end Of tue room running toward her shrek
ing and crying, many of ihem 50 terrof-strick-
en- that their limbs became almost useless.
some of the girls we're praying and lamenting
their situation, while others we're 50 possessed
with fear that they stood in mute agony,
watching the brave conduct OF one men,
VINO. regardless OF his own safety, worked with
heroic ardor, and by means of rope landed
on the ground a number OF girls in safety.
One man being com -letely cut-Of, made his
exit TO the ROOF Dy means OF the scuttie, an
with a rope lowered himself over the roof and
TO the ground in safety. he stated thst COM
panion who was just behind him had fallen
0ack sufOcRted. Many Of the girls became
unconscious from fright era the flames reach
ed them, and though the number Of los AZ
this writing is unknown, Il cannot but be
great some ieaped from the Windows, PIE
ierring TO be crushed and mimed than
be burned, and the shocking, h9Irrending
sights that met the eye u l-ldr- we've agon-
izing. 1he Wailing Of mutL ere, brothers
hear. The loss of life 50 far as known is
twenty nine; loss on property, nve hundred
thousand eollars.
ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS.
BOSTON, September l9 The following
account Of the fire at Fau River, to-day, is
taken from a dispatch to the Boston Journal:
aiils Nos. ana Of the Granite soTks had
been running about twenty minutes, when
ths operatives Ia No. were startled with the
cry OF fire and escape OF smoke nom the
fourth story. In this, next to the upper nOOr,
was the mule warp spinning department, end
there were nearly one hunured girls at WOrK
uudar male Overseers. On the upper, OF fftn
floor, thirty girls were employed spOoling and
8 arpl ng cotton. These We're tue youngest Of
the operatives With the alarm the flames
seemed 10 leap TO this attic. coming from The
WINDOWS below and mp ihe great tower
In the center OF The building, IN which
were all the stairs communicating with
aacn story. The tire caught in the middle OF
the spi ning-TOOm in the northwest end Of
the mill, from fricLOn on the mulehesds, and
sprea ing by means Of the oil on The q or and
about the ma. niueTy, with great quick
ness rushed toward the center tower, the only
means OF escaps for those in the fourth and
nth stories except four fre-escapes, two on
q ch gabis-end. Once getting into the tower
the flames ran up 20 and through tho single
eI trance II the NTH story, filing two great
room, fOrty-nye Dy ninety feet, With dense I
back smoke and flame. While the flames !
were making such terrible headway the ops
ratlves became taiTly wild. The OvsTsee-s saw
tht re- was no way possible 70 check the IRE !
and gave tner, sole attention to those
whom they had at WORK. They called (
10 taen 10 save themseves, and pointed cut
wHys OF Csefpe, principally hre-ladders The /
uversecr Of the spOoilng-rOOm, who remained /
{ a nearly sutfOcated, states that the scene IN I
mis- ruOm-anu IL must have been worse in /
ne room belOw-cannOt be depicted. Chill |
dren ran about crying and begging pieO0siy /
70 be sayeI, ct wrenchiug themseiVes away /
when tas en- furciD y 30 the tower. While yet 1
there was some chance to de ,cend tue iron /
LADDER that reached The two scuttle windows /
If the south end, opening upon me roof OF a /
balcony at the head OF Twentieth street, 10 /
he fire-ladder~, 70 was impossible 70 get the 1
great ms1Orlty 10 adopt even tniS method 10 /
save their lives. some wanted their
clothing, others something else. As the /
drs frightened Them away from these /
ladders hey rushed 20 The windows At the /
south gabie-end, nearly siEty feet from the /
ground, but dared not jump down. COttO1 I
opes were put out for them TO slide down by, /
but no sooner would rope be lowered than I
tuere Was a m b fGr IL from the story below. /
aud tuo many would take hold, when IL WuulJ /
break, and an clinging to It would come /
soing on in the mule-spinnlng room, The l
flames had ascend d Iapiuly the entrance /
uf the tower On the fourth floor cutting oh /
this mean OF escape. But the operatives had /
awJ ladders the south gable dir city before /
them, md We're urged Uy the Overseers and |
itiZens telaw TO take them. Some did so,bGt !
others rushed headiOng upon tho ualCOny aud !
dropped or threw themselves from the guards. !
There was ample time for every one " have
an saved had the girls taken the course u1- /
rected. The supsTintendenIs, as soon as the !
slarm was given, tuAped 10 the up. or story, /
and with the OYerseers dld al they could pos
sib Osave l.f4. when the me ans provided I
for escape in the mills were rendered useless |
By the heat, flames ami smoke, tbs pc pie /
p o, ured beds and Mattresses for the poor un-
I rtungtes to jump upon, and many did i
throw themselves irom ths windows to, IN /
almost every case, receive faial or terrible in
iuneS. be nTemen worked TO keep the /
flames out OF ne south enc wniineT many OF
the operatives bad fed. Ladders, as long rs
they were at command, were used to rescue /
them, and II il said four ntemen lost their
ives while thus engaged, Oge fireman was |
lowered from the TO0f by a brother firemsn /
INTO the buildiug, aud rem ined so long try /
ing to drive the girls forth that he had to be /
Ieg 90 ry thos- who held his rope, who we're /
driven away by the smoke, and he was lost. /
D he mOTgueS and hospitals were speedily I'm
proVised. a Mission chapel being taken Tor the /
latter, and as fast as the grls could be picked /
from under The windows OF tbs mill, stretch /
srs were ready TO convey them TO the chapel OF
Central station. AT the latter place twenty |
nve dead bodies were soon lying, and other |
had been taken 10 the station or
their homes, ana IN a NUMBER OF Instances
they could not be recognized they wele 20
disdgured, begrimed and dirt-c 'vered. IN /
, ne II ssion chapel were thO>e whose suffer
/, ny was intense, and every doctor in tSe ciiy /
was summoned at the earliest moment. It is |
not too nigh to place the number of killed a.
iorty, and the injured at twice that number.
The fire was under control shortly before half
past eight o'ciOck and the roof had not fallen /
Id nor had the walls crumbled much below.
The caves OF the north wall, where tbs flames
had been Kept were almost wholly out OF tbs
building. The FOuthern portion of the fourth |
and hflh floors vas left, The roof north
Of the tower fell in a took with u the tops
Of the gable-end wslls, portion Of the nth
dOaI, and some of the side walls, crashing
through to the third story. The eaTding and
Granite mills have been for sQule time
ruuning full time and turned out I'VE thou
sand pieces Oh print cloth per week,
and it is supposed that considerable
smOuut Of stO Is ruined either by fire,
water or smoEe. A large amount OF mschin-
cry is also rendered useless, pfinci ysthat
in he upper stores The most expensive is
sill good, Rnd the engines and boilers are un-
injured 1t is therefore expected has the in.
surance will cover al loss to property. 1t is
that the galls win have TO be
taken down, As the granite Of which the
building was made IS cracked by heat. Work
in other mills was suspended 80 that the oper
atives might assist IN the rescue OF their
co-laborers. Two and three members OF one
family are, in several instances, among the
now incomplete lists OF killed, wounded and