Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-01-17

winds terrible cries for succor wer,
sent up to heaven. It was q moment
that tried mems souls, and almost sim
ultaneously with the fall Of the build
ing came the awful cries for relief.
Girls with blackened faces, bruised
and broken limbs, their clothes latter
ed and torn, dragged themselves from
the ruins. So probably IS or 100 es
capped OF were dragged out by theiI
friends. These Of course, worked on
the upper floors and were thrown neai
the top Of the de bris. At some places
the bricks were piled 20 feet deep, and
underneath were lying human bodies
by the score.
About $50 girls and young women are
usually employed in the mill, but at 4
o'clock about eighty were relieved from
duty for the day. They returned to
their homes before the. storm came.
The most reliable estimate of tonight
places the number in the building
when IL went down in the neighbor.
hood Of It's, and, as before stated, 100 OF
these were rescued by friends or drag
ged themselves out Immediately after
the accident. The alarm for relief was
Immediately sent out and in a short
time thousands of citizens arrived to
help out the dead and dying.
The scene was q narrowing one, and
beggars description. The mill is situ-
ated near the foot of Mount Penn, a
high mountain overlooking the city,
When the people arrived everything
was enveloped in darkness. Then huge
N h.rs \ tat, -
glare on the surrounding scene. The
fire companies left the. burning paint
shop and assisted in the rescue Of the
dead and dying. The entire poliece
was called out, the ambulance and re-
lief corps and thousand people were
in among the debris, carrying out
bricks, pulling away timber and assist
ing wherever they could, all at the
same time, but their work was slow
compared with the demand for the res
cue of the victims of the disaster. Here
a young woman was taken out all
bruised, suffering with cuts and bruises.
One body noticed as it was dragged out
had its head cut off. Others were in
varions postures, the living all suffer-
ing from the most terrible wounds,
and some almost scared to death.
The Press representative entered what
was once the basement of the building,
and grouping his way through the de-
bris noticed five bodies of young girls
lying close together. He tried to pull
them out, but they were pinned down
and it was impossible to get them out.
They were dead and beyond all human
aid.
Up to 1880 o'clock last night probab-
ly the bodies of a dozen Of the dead had
been taken out, while the greater por-
ton of the remainder were still under
the ruins. The work of rescue was
pushed all night, but it may be far in
to the morrow before all the bodies are
taken out. The rescuers still have the
greatest hopes that some of those on
the inside are still living, and there is
every reason for saying that in this the
persons that believe that way are right.
All is chaos and confusion around the
mill. The managers are missing, and
the correct number of dead is merely
guess work. 1t may not be over 40,
and then again at this hour there is
that it will reach so, or even
80.
The silk mill was built about four
years ago. The builders were Reading
and the cost of putting it up
was $1,000. The mill was leased to
Grimshaw Bros, of Patterson, N. j.,
where they also operate similar mills,
and they have been running it ever
since. The machinery they put in the
mill cost $45, 600. This is total loss.