Disaster in Lawrence

Download or read book Disaster in Lawrence written by Alvin F. Oickle and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2008-06-27 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The destruction was unimaginable. Workers in nearby factories watched with horror as the Pemberton Mill buckled and then collapsed, trapping more than six hundred workers, many of them women and children. Word of the disaster spread quickly and volunteers rushed to the scene. As survivors called out for help, a lantern fell, and within minutes fire engulfed the building, burning those trapped inside. It took days for rescuers to complete the grim task of removing the charred bodies of the dead. Alvin F. Oickle's riveting account illustrates why, nearly a century and a half later, the Pemberton collapse is still considered one of the worst industrial calamities in American history.