New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-11-16
A ROMANCE OF SILK.
THE STORY OF THE OLD MILLS IN THE
DERWENT

IRON AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT or THE TRnurhi
Derby. November l.
One Of the most interesting relics In this inter-
esting old city has disappeared forever Il was .
big building or cluster Of buildings, on an island
in the Derwent River. For many generations II
was landmark OF the place, and a cberished
landmark, since IL represented one of the chief
sources Of the industrial greatness Of Derby. But
in the course Of more than century and . half
time wrought sad havoc on the edihce. few
weeks ago a considerable portion of it fell int
ruin, and the wall toppled over into the Derwent.
It was then seen to be necessary to pull down the
remaining portions. There will soon, therefore,
be nothing left of it, and its site will in time b
occupied by some new structure
The old building was the first dlk-mill ever
built in England There were q few workers Of
hand.looms at Sptals6cld, where the industry
dated back to the Protictorati. These were mostly
French Protestant refugees, who had fed to Eng
land for safety from persecution. They brought
over with them their old hand-looms and brss
practised sk-weaving on English soil. After tho
Edict Of Nantes was revoked, many more refugees
came over and joined the Spitalsfeld colony, %
that before this Derby mill was built there were
thousands Of slk-looms at work. These were all
hand-looms, however, each worked by it's owner
in his own cottage, and they produced only
few varieties Of silk cloth, and not nearly enough
to supply the demands Of the English market
The trade was very profitable, and many great
fortunes had their origin among the hand-looms
of Spitalsfeld. Yet England had still to look
abroad, chiefly to Italy, for her chief supplies
Of silk.
Early in the eighteenth century, however,
young man named John Lombe conceived the idea
of building mill where looms might be run by
waterpower, and where there might be made
successful competition with the famous silk fac
tories of Italy II was not an easy thing to do.
For, to begin with, he must go to Italy to learn
how to equip and operate the mill. And the
Italian factories were secret institutions, from
which sight-seers and all visitors were rgidly
excluded. Lombe went to Italy, however, and,
disguised as q laborer, secured employment in
silk mill. Even then he could not gain the In.
formation he wanted, as some important parts OF
the establishment were kept under lock and key,
only the actual operators Of the machines being
admitted. He accordingly had recourse to Did
cry. Two Of the foremen Of the mill were induced
in this way to give him secret access to all parts
of the building. at times when the machinery was
not in motion. He was thus enabled TO STUDY ~
carefully and make drawings Of all essential
parts But about the time when he had learned
it all, he and his accomplices were detected by tho
ings of some of the machinery. Had they been
arrested they would have been imprisoned, per-
haps for life for in those days it was serious
matter to SPY upon an industry which was pro-
tected BY the Government as q monopoly But
by desperate struggle and flight they got away
taking with them the drawings. Heavy rewards
were offered for their apprehension. and they had
many narrow escapes But at last they reached
the coast in disguise and bribcd the owner OF
fishing boat to take them out and put them ABOARD
the first English vessel they met. In this way
they all got to England in safety, and Lombe ire
auently remarked that their detection was really
a godsend to him, since it forced the foremen to
flee with him and thus gave him two skilled A.
sistants in his work in England.
The three men got back to England in 1717. and
q wear later had erected the mills at Derby which
have now been demolished. The concern was the
wonder Of the whole community and Lombe was
the hero of the hour, both on account Of his en-
terprise in founding new and important In
dustry and also because Of his romantic career in
Italy and his harbreadth escapes. His adventures.
indeed, were the subject of song and story, and
were even dramatized and presented with great
success on the stage. But in Italy the feeling
was bitter. There was much diplomatic haggling
over it, and even some talk Of war, which ended
in talk. Then vengeance was determined on. Two
women were selected as best fitted to accomplish
the task. One of them was the young and beau
tiful daughter of the chief proprietor of the mill
in which Lombe had been employed and the other
was one of her friends. They left Italy in dis
guise and came to Derby, where they pretended to
be Italian refugees seeking employment. Lombe
himself accepted them and set them to work In
his MILL and they watched their opportunity to
assassinate him and burn the mill. But before
their design could be put into execution curious
fell Violently in love The daughter Of the Itai-
ian mill-owner set her affections upon LOmbe HIM
SELF and her friend became enamOred OF one OF
Lombe's Italian accomplces In the former case the
love was all on one side. Indeed. the girl never
let LOmbe know Of her affection for him.. But
she wOrshipped him at distance and in silence.
She Of course abandoned her scheme OF vengeance
her life. 50 as to be near Lombe. Her oom-
panon. however persisted in her design Of
the other girl that she had given it up. She took
her lover into her confidence, and by her per:
suasions got him to turn against Lombe and aid
her in killing him. Indeed, it was the runaway
Italian foreman himself who put the poison in
Lombes food. When this was done LOmbe fell
Ill at once. The doctors could do nothing for
him, being ignorant Of the nature of the poison.
1t was. however, a slow poison, and he did not
die for year. He pluckilJ took advantage Of
that time to impart to others all the knowledge
Of silk weaving that he had gained in Italy, 80
Then he died. at the age of twenty mine, and all
Derby mourned the loss. His murderer escaped
TO Italy and was never punished, but both the
women remained in England.
Lombes brother Thomas then carried on the
enterprise. 1t was to him, indeed, that the King
granted letters patent for the silk-weaving ma
chnery which John LOmbe had made from his
Italian plans The patent is dated September 0,
1918, and it sets forth that Thomas Lombe, Of
Our City of London, merchant, hath by his petit
ton humby presented unto us, shown and set
forth that he has by long studies, paines and
travels and at great expense found out and brought
70 perfection three sOres Of engines never before
made or used within this our Kingdom Of Great
Britain, one to wind the finest raw silk, another
to spin and the other to twist the finest Italian
raw silk into Organzine in great perfection which
was never before done in this our Kingdom, by
which means many thousand families Of
our subjects may be constantly employed
in Great Britain, be furnished with silks
of all sortes of the manufacture Of our
subjects and great quantities exported into for
eign parts by being made as good and cheap as
I'M