TERRIBLE FIRE AT FALL RIVER IN AMERICA.

Evening Star, Issue 3690, 19 December 1874, Page 1 (Supplement)

TERRIBLE FIRE AT FALL RIVER IN AMERICA.

The correspondent of the ‘ Southern Cross’ i writes : —Du the morning of Saturday, I6lh ' s eptember. at seven o’clock, there broke out in the cotton factory known as Granite Mill 1 * x o. I, at Fall River, Mass., a fir , which proved ns disastrous to life and property as any that the loss of a single structure has ever i-flictcd on the community At this' writing it is estimate'-' that tbore were forty persons killed onr.ni.ht, and eighty injured. • n ihe building which was six storeys hi hj, •168 ft iiug, and 68fr wide, there we‘e employed over 70l) people of whom by far the larger popoaim were women mi young girls. The fire begm in the fifth storey, near the north mid of the hnihling. It wasuiu-ed by friction in a “mu e” head, an t if proptr means hid bem immediately taken, it c-u'.d have been r-xtnigui-hed m a few minutes, aud there would have been no need of staking Ru alarm. The wh-Ie north end of the room was sootf one she t of flame, which spread with fearful rapidity to 'he south end It then burned through the flo r into the attic, and becam wholly unmanageable ( lie superiati n«lent of the mi-11, Mr James (-!, M'Creery, was th«f first to discover the fir , and lie says that be immediately struck the Hre-alarm, in order to warn all of their danger, and of the immediate necessity of at once escaping from the moms. By hist’mely warning sixty girls were saved from the weaving-room, nine being lost in that'dipartmeut. Ttie greatest loss of life was from the attic, the “ sp olmg-room,” where fortyfour girls and seven men Were employed, and their only means of egress were the fire escape and the stairway —the latter was choked with smoke aud flame, and the former could only be reached by means ot sky iglit laddeis, which were not in plac-, of coarse. On the discovery of this a terrible pa dc ensued. Some descended on ropes ; others jumped to the ground, a distance of 60ft. aii'. were dashed to puces at the very leet of their friends and dearest relatives ; and still others cried aud gesticulated from the attic window.-, vainly imploring aid that never came. Young girls were burned to death before the eyes of their fat"ers and iiiothe s. The roof and flooring of the attic aud iifeb storey soon fell in. carrying with them a portion of ihe side walls, by which many poisons were crushed and killed One of toe w-.rst features of the alfair is said to have been the carelessness or mismanagement ot the striking of the alarm at the engine-house. One signal after another came for different sections of the city, and the tinmen did nor. know where to go. Consequently fifteen precious minutes were Jose before a stream of water was brought to bear on the burning budding. Then the movements of the tiremen were interfered with by the panicstricken people in the mill yard and street. One ladder 30fc long is said to have been placed against the building wrong end up, aud before a splice could be made it had to be taken down aud put up again. Even then it did not reach the attic window by about I Oft, aud might as well have beep stowed away in the house or hook and ladder I ruck. 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. was dashed to pieces on the pavement below, her brains bespattering the sidewalks and the spectators. Every calamity has a hero; John M. B. Boswortb, a common sailo', was the man who so distil gnished himself in this instance that uis nam : should be printed in letters of gold. He was passing along the street when the fire broke out, and recognising at once the necessity for prompt action, procured a rope aud mounted to the top of the building. Once there, lie 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 rescind the woman, and was instrumental in recovering dead and dying persons from the flames.