Evening star., 1924-09-28
Mill Fire Horror
at Fall River.

at Fall River. sna sGsIe the OF inipfS pT0p,f of
many others. The disaster was re-
ported briefly in The Star of that date
and more fully in the. issue of Sep
tember 81. The building was occu-
pied by 400 men, women and children.
The fire. it appears, caught from the
machinery. There were few appli-
ances for an emergency of that char
acter beyond some patls of water.
There were numerous fire escapes on
the sides OF the buildings. but none
on the ends, where. in this instance.
they would have been useful The
elevator refused to work at the criti-
cal moment or many might have been
rescued by that source. To add to the
horror, the fire apparatus was unable
to reach the scene until many minutes
after the alarm was sounded because
OF the imperfect working Of the alarm
system. AT first the wrong number
Of strokes was sounded so that the
fremen were confused as to the loca-
tion Of the blaze, and when they ar
rived on the spot the saving of the
building was an impossibility.
The excitement was terrible" says
The Stars account of the catastrophe,
men. women and children running
through the streets in a half-crazed
manner, many being not more than
half clad. Not until after the flames
had gained great headway was the
alarm sounded. At that time the
flames were pouring out of the lower
windows. The attic, or spoolroom.
contained from SO to rs young girls,
and the first they knew of the
presence of the approaching fire
was a dense. suffocating volume
OF smoke. OF course. this pro-
duced a panic, and the girls were
almost paralyzed with fright. AS the
flames were leaping up the staircase
there was now no possible means OF
escape, and the crowd of shrieking
half-crazed girls fed to the northern
section Of the building, and, realizing
that the flames must soon reach them
some began praying for help. One or
two heroic men, by means of rope,
landed several Of them safely on the
ground. Others jumped from the win
dows, preferring death in such a man.
ner. Many Of those who threw them
selves from the windows were in the
sixth story. and, of course. werk
nearly all instantly killed. or so badly
injured as to live but short time.
In The Star Of September 81, 1874
is a news article stating that doubt
w.. rh.-,;. po.. had been e1'
a,I....as tain newspapers
Aouucteos in Pennsylvania
as to the genuineness Of the
abduction of Charlie Ross. the
little Philadelphia boy. One paper
published an article to the effect that
the child had actually been taken by
his mother, who had been displaced
in the affections of her husband by
another woman, and who had adopted
this means of gaining possession OF
her child.
In its issue Of September 20. 1874.
The Star, editorially quoting from an
Need of . New another washing,
Hotel Here. the subject of a
need Of a new hotel in Washington
Of large accommodations and OF the
Saratoga type. said:
I'VE are glad to hear that a number
OF our influential citizens have had
the matter of the erection Of a hotel
of the character above stated under
consideration, and that. appreciattng
such a feature, believing at the same
time 1t will be a remunerative in
vestment, they are ready to unite in
carrying 1t through II proper site
can be obtained for the structure.
1t Is held as a desideratum for the
site that II should be on or near
Pennsylvania avenue, west OF Four
teerth street, and in the vicinity of
the White House, and that 1t should
cover a whole square, with room for
q spacious tree-shaded court and
roomy halls. parlors, corridors,
piazzas, ETC., affording opportunity for
promenading, dancing. social inter-
course and all the features that make
hotel life at Saratoga so essentially
bright, cheerful and exhilarating.
There should be suites Of rooms
specially designed by their comforts,
convenfences and elegancies to invite
family parties of wealth and culture
to make Washington their Winter
home; and all the rooms should be
planned 70 be attractive through