The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1892-02-25
THIRTEEN ARE DEAD
Terrible Accident in Cleckon-
ham, England.
TWELVE SERIOUSLY INJURED.
An Enormous Chimney Falls and Orushes
Mills Like Eggshells

All the Dead aud Injured Have Been Re
moved-shrieks of Women and shouts
of Men Heard Above the Din of the
Falling Mass Many of the People Pris-
oners in the Demolished Mills and Had
to be Rescued by Means of Ladders and
Fire Escapos-A Pathetic Incident.
LONDON, Feb. 25-The immense chin
ney of Thornton's mills, located at
Cleckenham, Yorkshire fell yesterday.
The chimney was 1S0 feet high, and
almost completely demolished the mills
Thirteen persons were killed outright
and twelve were serio usly injured.
The dead and injured have all been
removed from the ruins
The survivors say that they heard
terrible. rumbling sound, which seemed
to come from the chimney. The great
stack quivered and swayed, and then
toppled over from the top, at first almost
keeping the chimney form and then
bursting into an avalanche of brick and
mortar and dust, which fell with terrific
force upon the mills.
All the employees heard the warning
sound, and although they did not know
what was the matter, they stopped work
Immediately, and many made rush for
the exits
Then came the vast mass of material,
crushing the mills like an eggshell, and
everything was hidden by the cloud of
dust that arose, dense and suffocating,
from where the chimney and factory had
stood
The shrieks of women and cries of men
could be heard by those who rushed to
the scene, and here and there some
wounded person made an appearance,
with halting step seeking to escape from
the scene of the fatality.
Women dashed forth with dishevelled
hair some of them white and silent,
others uttering cries of terror and of
pain,
A strong man, with arm helpless and
broken. crawled forth. "There are two
score buried there" he cried. 'Dig
quickly. if you wish TO save any of
them ), Then he rose and started for
kome.
The rescuers went to work with a
will
1t was found, as the cloud of dust
cleared away, that portions of the mills
remained standing, but that the occu-
pants could not escape except by the
windows, other means of exit having
been cut oil.
Ladders and fre-escapes were raised
and the employees were helped to the
ground.
1t was dangerous work, for the patches
of wall seemed to reel and shake and
threatened every moment to fall be-
meath the weight of the rescuers and
rescued.
One poor widow woman stood at a
window, while her little children, four in
number, and not one of them over eight
years of age, were in the crowd below,
looking up at their mother and crying as
if their hearts would break. She was
safely carried down.
Apparently miraculous was the eXper-
ience of the men who had been at work
repairing the chimney. Only few min
utes before the disaster they desisted
from work for lack of material and LETT
the chimney just before the catastro-
phe.
An investigation is to be held as to the
cause of the accident. 1t is thought
that the foundation of the chimney was
not sufficiently strong, and the structure
gradually settled out of plumb, until the
fall was inevitable.
1t is also said that misgivings as to the
security of the chimney have been enter
tanned for some time, but that no steps
had been taken TO look out for the safet!
of the employees.