Terrible Fire at Massachusetts.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 268, 29 December 1874, Page 7

Terrible Fire at Massachusetts.

The correspondent of the Southern Cross writes;—On the morning of Saturday, 16th' September, at seven o’clock, there broke out in the cotton factory known as Granite Mill No. 1, at Falk River, Mass., - a fire, which proved as disastrous to life and property as any that the loss of a single structure has ever inflicted on the community; At this writing it is estimated there were forty persons killed outright, and eighty injured. In the building, which was six storeys high,. 368 feet long,. and 68 feet wide, there were employed over 700.people, of whom by far the larger proportion were women and young girls. The fire began in the fifth storey, near the north end of the building. It was caused by friction in a “ mule” head, and if proper means had been immediately taken, it could have been extinguished in a few minutes, arid there would have been no need of striking an alarm. The whole north end of the room was soon one sheet of flame, which spread with fearful rapidity to the south end. It then burned through the floor into the attic, and became wholly unmanageable. The Superintendent of the mill, Mr M‘Creery, was the first to discover the fire, and he says that he immediately i struck the. fire-alarm, in ordOr to warn ail of their danger, and of the immediate necessity of at once escaping from the rooms. By this timely warning sixty ; girls were saved from the weav-

fMOin f'T n*p . ing-foom, nine being 1 lost in that department. The greatest"loss of- life was from the attic, the “spooling-room,” where forty-four-girls and seven men were employed, and the only means of egres3.,w9re,tjie„(ire escape and the stair latter .was choked with smoke and flame, and the former could only be reached by means of skylight ladders, which were not in place, of course. On ,the discovery of this'U terrible panic ensued. . Some descended op ropes; others jumped to the ground, a distance of 60ft., and were dashed to pieces at the very feet of their friends and dearest relatives ; and still others cried and gesticulated from the attic windows, vainly imploring aid that never came. Young girls were burned'to death before the eyes of their fathers and mothers. The roof and flooring of the attic and fifth storey soon fell in, carrying with them a portion of the side walls, by which many persons were crushed and killed. One of the worst features of the affair is said to have been the carelessness or mismanagement of the striking of the alarm at the enginehouse. One signal after another came for different sections of the city, arid the firemen did not know where to go to. •Consequently fifteen precious minutes were dost before a stream of water was brought' to bear on the burning building. Then ttye movements of the firemen were interfered with by the panic-stricken people'in’the milhyard and street. One ladder 30ft. long is said to have been placed against the building wrong end up, and before a splice could be made it had to be taken down and put up again. Even then it did not reach the attic window by about 10ft., and might ;as well have been stowed away in the house or hook and ladder truck. Four firemen were injured by having people fall or jump on them from above. One large woman who leaped from one of the upper windows fell upon an upraised ladder, breaking four rounds of it. She was dashed to pieces on the pavement below, her brains bespattering the sidewalks and the spectators. Every calamity has a hero; John-M. B. Boosworth, a common sailor, was the man who so distinguished himself in this instance that his name should be printed in letters of gold. He was passing along the street when the fire hrgke out, and recognising the necessity at once for prompt action, procured a rope and mounted to the top of the building. Once there, he made it fast, and induced a woman to cling around his neck, while he lowered himself to the ground. He also saved a lad in like manner as he rescued the woman, and was instrumental in recovering dead and dying persons from the flames.