Middlesex County, Newspaper Articles
In Stow, Capt. J. Whitman, killed by a stage passing over him and the same day,
Charles Hale, one of his neighbours, by a log passing over his body. [The North American Review, Nov 1815 - Sub. by K. Torp]
The Cotton Manufactory at Waltham, is owned by gentlemen of Boston, and is unquestionably the most extensive of any one in the United States. We have heard it stated that the capital is six hundred thousand dollars. About 500 workmen are employed (but few boys or girls) nearly all of whom are Americans. The weekly expenses are about $2000, which amount to upwards of one hundred thousand dollars in a year. There are manufactured thirty-five thousand yards of cloth in a week, or in a year one million eight hundred and twenty-seven thousand yards! Which cloth, for shirting and sheeting, is daily gaining credit in every section of the Union. The machinery, too, is in many respects superior to the English; so that this extensive establishment may be emphatically styled The Pride of America! –
[Boston Gazette, reprinted in the Gettysburg Compiler (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) Wednesday, October 9 1822 Page 2, submitted by Nancy Piper]
Republican Compiler, (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
Wednesday, January 1, 1823 Page 4
Plumbago or Black Lead discovered.
Mr. Charles J. Dunbar, of Concord, Mass. Has discovered a mine or quarry of Black Lead, in the town of Bristol, N.H. He has exhibited specimens of this substance to Professor Dana, of Dartmouth College, Professor Gorham, of Harvard University, and other gentlemen who are versed in the science of Mineralogy. They all speak favorably of the specimens. Professor Dana states that those which were exhibited to him “are of the very first quality, and will make excellent pencils, and other articles for which this substance is employed. The specimens are far superior to the black lead found in Sutton, or any part of the United States, so far and I know – and equal, in every respect, to the celebrated ore of this substance found in Burrodale, in England.” -- N. E. Farmer
[submitted by Nancy Piper]
Shocking Accident
On the evening of the 15th inst., a boy aged six years, son of the late Mr. George Harvey, of Watertown, being missing, search was made for him until late at night without effect. The body was found the next day in the creek, below the paper mill, It appeared that he had fallen through the platform in front, and was drawn under the water wheel. He was crushed in a most shocking manner, nearly all his bones being broken.
[From the Boston Pailadium, Jan. 27, reported in the Republican Compiler (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) February 11 1824 Page 2 - submitted by Nancy Piper]
Several Persons Injured.--On Friday last, in Townsend, MA, (East Village) another accident occurred by which twenty-six men came near losing their lives, all through the carelessness of workmen in erecting a staging.
The facts are as follows: Between thirty and forty men were engaged in erecting the frame of a new Unitarian Church. Upon the upper beams were laid a few slender boards, unsupported in the centre. Upon these was erected a heavy staging on which was placed all the sharp-edged tools required by the workmen, twenty-six in number, all of whome took their postions upon it, and were in the act of raising some of the upper frame work, when the slender foundation of the staging gave way, and the men, staging, axes, adzes, chisels, hammers, heavy lumber, and all, were carried down together, a distance of twenty-five feet, to the ground.
Twelve of the men were taken out senseless. Mr. Joseph Kilburn had his ankle bone fractured. Mr. Calvin Sanderson, of Lunenburg, had one of his ribs broken. Mr. __ Lane, of Lunenburg, was severely bruised. A Mr. Adams, of Townsend, was nearly scalped, and Mr. John Hart, one of the contractors, had a foot very severely jammed. Others were more of less injured. It is indeed surprising that none were killed.--
[Boston Post, Thursday, Feb. 20, 1862 (Contributed by Mrs. Carole Dick, www.myhartt.com)
Huntsville item: Rev. G. N. Dorsey, formerly one of the Huntsville boys, is here a few days - he is on his way east for a course of Theological studies, after which he will return to his chosen field in Minnesota; Mr. James Sprigg, a rising barrister of Quincy, formerly of Huntsville, was honored at a recent examination at Cambridge, Mass.; Mr. N. J. Everson has just returned from a visit with his son in Kansas. --
[October 22, 1875, The Rushville Times, contributed by Sara Hemp]
FATAL HOTEL FIRE
Three Lives Lost by the Burning of the Richardson House in Lowell, Mass., Early Saturday
Lowell, Mass., Jan. 28 – Three lives were lost by the burning of the Richardson hotel here at 2 o’clock Saturday morning and several persons sustained injuries, one of whom is likely to die. The dead are: Christine Nelson, pastry cook of Boston; H. C. Harding of Somerville, Mass.; and Miss Josephine Kenniston, nurse. Franklin Falls, N. H.
There were more than 40 guests in the building when the fire broke out and as the hotel register was not available for hours it was feared that many had lost their lives. A search of the ruins, however, revealed the fact that only three had perished. The two upper floors of the hotel were burned out. The two lower ones were wrecked by falling walls and smoke and water.
[Walnut Valley Times, El Dorado, Butler Co., Kansas. February 2, 1906, front page - Submitted by Peggy Thompson]
