Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-01-10

A sheet of flames shot upward with
the roar of musketIy. Some twenty OF
the men had chance to crawl out of the
debris, but four of their companions
were enveloped in the embrace OF the
flames Their cries were heard for a
moment by the workmen and then their
voices were hushed forever They were
quickly roasted to death. The fire from
the new passenger cars lit up the heavens
for miles around.
REscUNG THE VICTIMS.
In short time thousands of citizens
errived to help out the dead and dying
The scene was a heartrending one, aud
beggars description. The mill is situated
near the foot of Mount Penn, a high
mountain overlooking the city. When
the people arrived every thing was en-
veloped in darkness. Then huge bon
fires were built, which cast dismal glare
on the surrounding scene.
Four human beings were burned to a
crisp. Their names are John Keller +,
Albert Langbarger, Sheridan Jones, and
George CHATTER. 1t was rumored several
Others had been burned but these are the
only ones known to have lost their lives.
Aaron Dewalt, another employee in the
paint shop, had his arm broken, and
George Knabb was injured internally, no
doubt fatally. The loss to the railroad
company is fully S75 900.
SCORES OF LIVES LOST.
While this was going on the storm was
travelling forward rapidly. 1t must have
travelled at the rate of 100 miles per
hour. 1t struck some more private houses
and unroofed a dozen residences. The
rainstorm proceeded in full fury. Di-
rectly in its path at the corner of
Twelfth and Marian streets stood
the Reading silk mill. Here about I75
girls were working The building was q
huge structure, substantially built, four
stories III height, and had a basement
besides. 1t occupied the whole block of
ground. The size of the building itself
was nearly 300 feet in length and about
100 feet in width. It was surmounted by
a massive tower fully 100 feet from the
ground.
TUNNEL-sHAPED STORM CLOUD
struck the building directly in the center
on its broadest side, which faced west
1t fell to pieces as if composed
of so many building blocks.
Nearly 200 human beings went
down. Human tongue can never tell the
distress of that hour. The walls gave
way, floors fell down on top of others
and carried their great mass
of human beings TO the bottom.
Bricks were piled up in the great
est confusion while amid the hurricane
and the whistling, rushing, roaring wind
terrible cries for succOr were sent up to
heaven. 1t was a moment that tried
men s souls, and almost simultaneously
with the fall of the building came awful
cries for relief. Girls with blackened
faces, bruised and broken limbs, their
clothing tattered and torn,
DRAGGED THEMSELVES FROM THE RUINS.
Probably seventy-fve to 100 escaped and
were dragged out by their friends. These
of course worked on the upper floors and
were Thrown near the top of the ruins.
At some places brick were piled twenty
feet deep, and hid human bodies by the
score. About 250 girls and young women
are usually employed in the mill,
but about 'clock about eighty
girls were relieved from duty for the
day. They returned to their homes be-
fore the storm came. A most reliable
estimate of the Geaths places the number
in the building when it went down in the
neighborhood of 175, and, as before
stated, 100 OF these were rescued by
friends or dragged themselves out imme-
diately after the accident.
The fire companies left the burning
paint shop and assisted in the rescue of
the dead and dying. The entire police
force was called ont, ambulance and re-
lief corps and thousands of people were
among the debris carrying out bricks,
pulling away timbers and assist
ing wherever they could, all at the
same time. But their work was
slow compared with the demand for res
cue of the victims of the disaster. Here
i young woman was taken out suffering
with cuts and bruises. One body, noticed
as it was dragged out, had its head cut
off; others were in various postures, liy-
ing, all suffering from most terrible
wounds and some
ALMOST SCARED TO DEATH.
An Associated Press representative en- |
tered what was once the basement of the |
OF the building and cropping his way
through the debris 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. Up to 1890 o CLOCK to- |
night probably the bodies Of a dozen |
dead have been taken out, while the |
greater portion of the remainder were |
still under the ruins The work Of |
rescue win be pushed all night, but it |
may be far into Tomorrow before the |
bodies are taken out. The rescuers still !
nave the greatest hopes that some OF those |
inside are still living, and there is every |
reason for saying that in this the persons |
who believe that way are right. All is
chaos and confusion around the mill, |
The managers are missing and
THE CORRECT NUMBER OF DEATHS
IS merely guess work. It NAV not be
over forty, and then again at this hour
there is i likelihood that it will reach
sixty or eighty. The silk mill was built
about four years ago. The builders were
Reading capitalists, and the cost of put
ting it up was SOB 900. The mill was
leased TO Grimshaw Bros of Paterson,
N j. where they also operate six large
mills, and they have been running it
ever since. The machinery they put in
the mill cost $40, 600. This is total loss.
When the Associated Press reporter
visited the scene of the wreck ut II
o CLOCK tonight he found everything in
the greatest confusion. At that time
about dozen dead bodies had been taken
out. Among those who are dead are the
following: