The interior journal. [volume] (Stanford, Ky.) 1872-1881, 1874-10-16
THE PEMBERTOy WILL DIsAs.
TEN OF 1890.

TRE PEMBERTOy WILL DIsAs.
TER OF 1890.
The accounts Of the fearful trag-
edv at Fall River have recalled to the
minds Of most Of our readers, doubtless,
the terrible destruction of the Pemberton
mill at Lawrence, Mass, January 10th,
1860. On that day, while the machinery
Of the mill was in motion, the main
building fell, without warning, and a
confagration soon after broke out in the
ruins. OF 700 persons in the building
at the time, II were killed and 1874 in
jured, Of whom fourteen subsequently
died. The cause of this disaster was the
faulty construction of the iron pillars
which supported the foor-timbers, and
the lack Of adhesive power in the NOR
tar. In the atlantic Monthly of March,
1868, 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 connec-
ton.
The silent city stepped and bathed
itself in rose.tints; the river ran red.
and the snow crimsoned on the distant
New Hampshire hills; Pemberton,
mute and cold, frowned across the disc
of tbe climbing sun, and dipped, as she
had seen it dip before, with blood. The
day broke softly, the snow melted, and
the wind blew warmly from the river.
Sene was little dizzy this morning
the constant palpitation of the floors
always make her dizzy after a wakeful
highland so her colored threads danced
out Of place and troubled her.
Del Ivory, working beside her, said !:
How the mill shakes! What's going
0nr'
cts the new machinery they're hist
ing in" observed the overseer, carelessly.
"Great improvement, but very, very
heavy; they calc'late on gettiong it all
into place to-day"
n
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; shadows crept
down between the frames
SITS time for lights" said Meg Match,
and swore little at her spools.
"Del," said Sene, al think to-mor-
row ~
She stopped. Something strange hap
pened to her frame; it Jared, buzzed,
snapped; the threads UNFINISHED and
few out of place.
"Curiousp she said, and looked up.
Looked up to see her oversecr 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 great
arms apd.a tangle of human faces
banch and writhe! She sprang as the
floor sunk. As pillar after pillar gave
way, she bounded up an inclined plain,
with the gulf yawning after her. 1t
gained upon her, leaped at her, caught
her, beyond were the stairs, and an open
door; she threw out her arms and strug-
gled on with hands and knees, tripping
in the gearing, and saw, as she fell,
square oaken beam above her yield and
crash il was of 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 ten minutes before five O'Clock ON
Tuesday, the 10th Of January, the Penn
berten 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, a
nine days wonder, gave place to the
successful candidate and the mutterng
South and was forgotten.
Who shall say what il was to the seven
hundred and fifty 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 endure to this day life that is
worse than deathl What to the archi-
tect and engineer who, when the fatal
pillars were first delivered to them for
inspection, had found one broken under
their eyes, yet accepted the contract and
built with them mill, whose thin walls
and wide, unsupported stretches could
never keep their place unaidedY 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 II is his life, not his death, which
is the surprise. But that he should go
out to his safe, daily commonplace occu-
patton, unnoticed and uncarressed,
scolded a little, perhaps, because he
leaves the door open and tells us how
cross we are, this morning, and they
bring him up the steps, by and by, a
mass of death and horror-that
is hard
sene. father heard, at 4;5o, what he
thought TO he the rumble of AN earth
quake under his very feet, and stood,
with bated breath waiting for the crash.
As nothing further appeared to happen,
ne took his stick and limped out into the
'treet--A crowd surged through il from