The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-06-12
THE SPARTANBURG DISASTER.

This entire section of the country
was shocked beyond measure on Sun
day morning at the news Of the fear
full disaster in the S~partanburg neigh
borhOOd. The close proximity of the
awful wreck brought home TO rs, as
was natural. a clearer comprehension
of the awfulness of the calamity.
We read in the newspapers Of disas-
ters by Wlnd or flood in distant parts.
but they do not impress Us with the
horror that this one SO close to our
own doors has. And, indeed in pro-
portion to the size of the place and the
number of residents it is as appalling,
If not mora so. than the Gainesville
or the Kansas cities experiences. Con-
Isiderins the number of people. and the
size of towns in the different sections
afflicted We suppose Spartanburg has
suffered IN loss OF life and ope
as much if lot more tina the other
two places.
Whether this be SO or not. We all
know there is great suffering among
the survivors of the Spartanburg dis
aster. There are hundreds of women
and children who know not where to
Hook for the next meal.
There have been disasters in his
country where the aggregate amount
of property destroyed and the total
number of lives lost have been great
er but there has not been in recent
lI-a9 re a 1iS1 Ctar which wrecked moro
lives and property in the same small
area. This fearfully Obstructive blow
came like a clap of thunder from a
clear sky, and its work was appalling.
The estimates at this writing of the
loss of property in this small area are
three and a half million dollars and
the loss of life is placed at eighty,
though both are likely to be under the
real figures.
There are hundreds Of men, women
and children who depended upon these
mills which have been annihilated for
their daily bread. Their homes are
gone. They are shelterless. They nave
nothing to eat except what charity
furnishes them. 1t VIII be months and
months before these mills Will be re-
built. In the meantime these people
must be fed. The call for aid has gone
forth. The country is responding
nobly to the call. What are the people
of Wilmington going to do? Will they
respond to this all? Surely they Will.
God has been good to US and has
spared us from the Affections which Of
late AVE been visited upon so many
sections of our country. We have
never been forced to call upOn the out
lSide world to aid US because of any
Isuch calamity. We should feel CRATE
full to a benign Providence for such
good fortune and should show our
gratItude for such immunity vouch-
Isafed : Us, by liberal contributions to
our neighbors who are in such sore
distress. Let's raise a handsome sum
for their benefit.
We hope our citizens will come for
ward and respond literally and cheer
fully to this mob cause. Fellow cit
liens, we nave been wonderfully
spared from such calamity. We know
not when We Will have to call upon
others to help US. Let's show that we
recognize and appreciate this fact by
a substantial spoons to the cry for
help from these poor. stricken people.
commensurate with our means. Cit
liens of Wilmington. come to the aid
of the poor. stricken. homeless people.
Who of our mOneyed men will start
the substitution with a generous do
inatiOn? And those who cannot give
much, let them remember the parable
of the widows mite. Do what you can.
To this date the latest accounts of
the disaster are contained in Mondays
issue Of the Charlotte Observer, from
(which we make the following clippings
lof its special correspondents report
from the scene of the disaster:
Il arrived at Converse this evening
an hour before dusk and in a moment
was standing in a group Of mill opera
tlves who discussed only one subject.
They seemed stunned or ~listleSS. for
las yet they are unable to a~pprehend
fully the terrible effects of the disaster.
Past long rows of pretty white cot
tages l walked to the edge Of a high
hill and looked down. The sight is not
to be forgotten. Two hundred yards
above the trestle over the Southern
RAILWAY there stood yesterday the larg-
est mill in Spartanburg cOunty and
one Of the best known plants in the
south. On this spot today there is a
mass of debris scattered unevenIy
along a level sandy beach that lies
iclose TO a quickly rising cliff. OF all
the magnificent structure only one
building remains the picker and cloth
room. a small. high building that tow
Iers bleakly above the wreck and in its
Loneliness seems TO accentuate the ruin
that is at its foundation. Down the
iwlnding hill and through hundreds OF
moving people l walked to the river
Iside. Above the torn machinery were
the footprints of a thousand persons.
with the fall of the tide had come the
Ifullness of desolation and o. a straight
lstretch for 500 feet the steel from over
II San Iooroc +bo+ bod racta1 on thu first