The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-01-10

Here passenger car was standing. THIS
was overturned as neatly as if it was toy
and its splinters were scattered i'll every
direction.
RAINING IN TORRENTS.
| Meanwhile the rain poured down in tor
rents. The atmosphere became heavy and
| oppressive and it was almost as dark as
night. Directly alongside the tracks OF the
! Reading railroad WAS situated the amt
! shops of the company. 1t was one-story
| building about 60 by $50 fest. Here about
| thirty men were employed In
painting passenger cars. There were
eight or nine of these cars in the building.
| The building was struck square in the mid
| do and the bricks scattered as If they were
| pl llythingS. The cars were turned top5y
| turYy, wIile the men were buried under
| the debris. Some of the bricks were carried
q square away The chamber of each Of
! the passenger cars was already filled with
gas, as they were ready to be taken out on
the road.
A SERIES OF EXPLOSIONS.
These exploded one after another with
the bang of cannon. They resounded over
| bu6 Ctlys SduSitS DHODl6 w run Ou0 VI tnOii
houses, thinking that it was the sound OF
| an earthquake. There was a considerable
quantity of gasoline in the building and
this added fuel to the flames.
| The flames shot heavenward with
the roar of musketry. Some twenty of the
men had a chance to crawl out Of the
| debris, but four of their companions were
enveloped in the embrace of the flames.
They were quickly roasted to ath, and the
| ffrefrom the passenger cars lit up the heavens
for miles around. In the meantime
| the fire depa tment was called out, but its
services were unavailing. The building
and the cars were CONSUMED in fifteen min
utes, and nothing was left but the black
ed smoking ruins. The loss to The rail-
road company is fully $4,000.
THE STORM SWEEPING ON.
While this was going on the storm was
travelling forward with fearful rapiditv.
1t struck and unrobed a dozen private
residences. Huge sheets of tin were car
ried half a square away. Then the storm
proceeded in its fury Directly in its path,
at tie corner of Twelfth and Marian
streets, stood the Reading silk mill. Here
about 175 happy girls were working. The
b Hiding was huge structure, most sub
stantially built, four storys in hight and
had q basement besides. 1t occupied an
entire block of ground. The sizh of the
| building itself was nerrlv 100 feet in length
and about $50 feet deep. 1t was surmounted
by a massive tower fully 100 feet from the
ground.
STRUCK BY THE DEATH DEALER.
The tunnel-shaped storm cloud struck the
building directly in the center on its broad
ct side, which faced the west. 1t fell to
pieces as if composed of so many building
blocks. Nearly 200 human bsings went
down in the awfui wreck. The walls gave
way; the floors fell down one on top Of the
other, and carried their great mass of
human beings to ths bottom. Bricks
were piled up in the greatest
confusion, while amid the hurricane and
whi5tling, rushing, roaring wind, terrible
cries for succor were sent up to heaven. 1t
was moment that tried mems souls, and
almost simultaneous with the fail of the
building came awful cries for relief.
FATE OF THE GIRLS.
Girls with hlaciened facos, usod and
broken limbs, their clothing tattered and
torn, dragged themselves from the ruins.
So proba ly 75 to 100 escaped, or were
dragged out by their friends These worked
on the upper fl ors, and were thrown near
the top of the debris. At some places
bricks were piled twenty feet deep, and
underneath these are lying tonight, human
bodies by the score. About 80 girls and
young women are usually employed
in tne mill, but at o'clock about eighty
were relieved from duty for the day. They
returned to their homes before the storm
came. The most reliable s atenent tonight
places ths number il the building when it
went down as in the neighborhood of 175,
and, as before stated, 100 of these were
rescued by friends or dragged themselves
out Immediately after the accident.
AN ALARM FOR RELIEF
An alarm for relief was Immediately
sent out and in short time thousands OF
citizens arrived to help get out the dead
and dying. Tne scene was a narrowing
one aud beggars description. The mill IS
situated at the foot of Mt. Penn. high
mountain overlooking the city. When tle
people arrived everything was enveloped
in darkness. Then huge bonfires were
built, which cast dismal glare On the sur
rounding sceue. The fire companies left
the burning paint shop and assisted
in the rescue of the dead d dying. The
entire police force was called out and the
ambulance and relief corps, and 900 people
were in among the debris, carrying out
bricks, pulling away timbers, and assisting
wherever they could, all at the same time,
but their work was slow compared with the
demands for rescue from the victims of the
disaster.
A DECAPITATED CORPSE.
One body, noticed as it was dragged out,
had its head cut off o hers were in vari-
Gus posUures, the living all suffering from
terrible ounds and some almost scared to
DEATH The Associated Press represe tat,ve
entered what was once the basement OF
the building, and cropping his way
through the debris, no iced five
bodies of young girls lying close
together, pinned down, and it was lmpos-
sible to get them out. They were dead and
beyond all human aid. Up to 10:3O O'Clock
tonight, probably the bodies of a dozen
dead had been ken out, while the greater
portion of the remainder were still under
the ruins.
WORK OF THE REsCUERS
The work of rescue will be pushed al
night, but it may he far into tomorrow
before all the bodies are taken out. The res
cuors still have greate,t hopes that some OF
those inside are still living and there is
every reason for saying that in this the per
sons who believe that way are right. AL
is excitement ard confusion around the
mill. Tue managers are missing
aud the correct number Of dead
is guess work. AT all events
the disaster is terrible one-the worst in
the history Of Q city Tho .ilk mill was
built about four years ago. The builders
were Reading capitalists, and the cost of
putting it up was $4,000. The mill was
tuen leased to tho Grlnshaw Bros Of Pater-
son, N. j., where they also operated similar