History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 28

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1150

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On Tuesday evening, July 11, 1871, violent rain fell in torrents for half an hour, accompanied by vivid lightning and heavy thunder. The storm, which moved from the direction of New Castle and ex- tended to Philadelphia, included only the river town- ships in its passage through this county. In South Chester, the walls of several houses in course of erec- tion were blown down and much other damage sus- tained. In Chester part of the walls of the house of Humphrey Fairlamb, in North Ward, was destroyed, the roof of National Hall much injured, and in South Ward a frame building was bodily moved from its foundation. In Ridley lightning struck a tree at J. Morgan Baker's brick-yard, near Leiperville, shatter- , ing it to pieces, and Mrs. John Dunlevy, while stand- . the mill was forced into the creek. Morton, Black &

ing near the door of her house at Leiper's Landing, on Crum Creek, was struck by lightning. When car- ried into the dwelling she showed no visible signs of life, and although respiration was resumed in a short time, she remained in a comatose state until noon of the next day. At the dwelling of George Caldwell, on the Edgmont road, in Chester township, a large sycamore-tree was struck. The lightning, it is said, like a great white ball, descended from the tree to the well-curb, where it exploded with a deafening noise. Fences and trees were prostrated and uprooted, while the air was filled with broken branches during the violence of the storm.

A furious gale, extending from Washington to the New England States, occurred on Wednesday, Feb. 2, 1876. At Morton Station, in Springfield, an unfin- ished house was blown down, and at Aston a new barn being erected on the farm of George Drayton was also demolished. The tin-roofing of Patterson's mill, at Chester, was partly torn away, as was also that on the residence of Rev. Henry Brown. A portion of the roof of the Sunnyside Mill was blown off, as was also . much injured. At Beatty's axe-factory the water rose

part of that of the barn at the Pennsylvania Military Academy. In Chester township a house on the farm of Abram C. Lukins was overturned, the roof of the picker-room of No. 3 mill, at Upland, was carried .

bodily into the creek, and two brick houses near Kirk- man's mill, in South Chester, had the roofs taken off by the gale. The velocity of the wind is said to have exceeded forty miles an hour in this vicinity.

On Sept. 15, 1876, occurred a storm exceeding in violence any which had preceded it in thirty years. Throughout the county the corn was blown flat to the earth and the blades stripped from the stalks by the wind, pears and apples shaken from the limbs and fences laid prostrate, while houses and outbuildings were unroofed and otherwise injured. Tinicum Island and Morris' Ferry to the Lazaretto was almost entirely submerged. Jacob Alburger's meadow of one hundred acres was overflowed, his corn crop almost destroyed, and many tons of hay floated off. His loss was computed at several thousand dollars. The banks of Darby Creek were breached in many places, and the damage sustained was great. In Chester, all the cellars in the Middle Ward, near Chester Dock, were filled with water, and in some instances the dwellers in the houses in that locality were removed in boats to places of safety. The floor of the chemical works, at the foot of Market Street, was covered with water to the depth of two feet, and salt cake, valued at five hundred dollars, and other articles, were destroyed. The tin roof of Irving & Leiper's mill was blown off, carrying with it many of the rafters, and a large quan- tity of coal was swept from the mill-wharf into the river, involving a loss of nearly seven hundred dol- lars. The lower floor of Patterson's mill, near Chester Creek, was covered with water, causing much damage to the machinery, and the greater part of the coal for

Bro., at their lumber-yard, near the month of Ridley Creek, lost nearly five thousand dollars by the storm. Along the line of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad telegraph-poles were blown over the track, and in many cases the wires prevented the passage of the cars until removed. The aggregate loss throughout the county was many thousands of dollars.

Sunday, July 28, 1877, a rain storm of much vio- leoce visited our county, particularly the townships of Nether Providence, Middletown, Newtown, Edg- mont, Marple, and Springfield. The streams were gorged with the torrents of rain which had fallen; but noticeable was this the case with Crum Creek, which, about midnight, carried away the bridge at Paxon's Hollow, and another on the same road. The culvert which crosses the road at George Allen's, unable to vent the water, blocked it there until it in- undated the road for several hundred yards, making it impassable. The highways through Upper Provi- dence, Darby, Springfield, and other townships were

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STORMS, FRESHETS, AND EARTHQUAKES.

ten feet, carried away the bridge at Holt's mill, and rushed forward towards the dam at Strathaven. J. Howard Lewis, hearing the noise of rushing waters, and fearing that a freshet might follow the rain, went to his paper-mill at midnight, and not long afterwards the waters of Crum Creek covered the lower floor of the building to the depth of three feet, but subsided without doing any serious injury save floating away several ricks of straw. The dam at Strathaven banked the torrent for a time, but it only augmented the power of the flood, for when the obstruction finally gave way a roaring mass of water came with a rush down towards Avondale. Neill Melloy, one of the operatives in John Greer & Co.'s mill at the latter place, had risen to smoke, and as the stars were shin- ing brightly had walked to the hillside spring for a drink, when chancing to look up the creek he saw the flood approaching. Without a moment's delay he ran from house to house waking the slumbering inmates. Not a moment too soon, for the rushing water forced the foot-bridge away, uprooted trees, swept away the wool-house, poured into the mill and into the houses, from which the dwellers fled in their night clothing. In several cases women sleeping in the upper stories were lifted through the windows by Neill Melloy (who preserved his presence of mind), and passed to parties without, who bore them to places of safety. Over a dozen houses were flooded and greatly injured. Daybreak disclosed the fearful damage that had been wrought, and everywhere were strewn broken articles of household furniture, while clearly defined in places along the banks and on the houses were marks show- ing that the water had risen to the height of fifteen feet.

On the 9th of October following, the most violent rain-storm since 1843 swept over our county. Early in the evening of that day the wind blew heavily, in- creasing to such an extent that the Philadelphia, Wil- mington and Baltimore Railroad dispatched no trains . from Philadelphia southward after nine o'clock, al- though the storm ceased an hour before midnight. Chester Creek was swollen to a rushing torrent. From a short distance above Rockdale down to its mouth great damage was done. The dam at West Branch and Crozerville Mills broke, as did that at Glen Rid- dle, and much damage was done at J. B. Rhoads & Brother's mill at Llewellyn. The hurrying water forced its way into the lower floors and engine-rooms of Crozer's mills at Upland, and a carpenter-shop at No. 1 mill floated down the stream, accompanied with numerous articles of personal property which had been caught by the flood in its course. At Chester boats and shallops torn from their moorings were car- ried out into the river, and the yacht " White Wing" drifted down the Delaware. Along the line of the Chester Creek and Baltimore Central Railroad the damage was so great that for two days no trains passed over the road because of washouts and uprooted trees which lay upon the track. At Bridgewater an engine

and tender was thrown from the road by a break in the track there, and between Chad's Ford and Brandywine Summit the road had so sunk that it was dangerous. A culvert east of the latter place was washed out, at Chad's Ford the railroad bridge was swept away, and a short distance below Concord Station a small bridge was carried off, while another near by had so suuk that it could not he crossed until repaired. The lumber in the yard of Alexander Scott & Son at that place was strewn in every direction, while fences and trees were leveled to the earth. Three acres of corn belonging to George S. Cheyney was absolutely annihilated.

At Darby, Griswold's mill was partially inundated, which, with the coal that was washed from the wharf, occasioned a loss of over ten thousand dollars. A stable at the same place belonging to William D. R. Serrill was inundated, and two horses drowned. Some damage was sustained by J. Howard Lewis, at his paper-mill on Crum Creek, while at Morton a large unfinished stable belonging to Judge Morton was partly blown down, and much injury sustained at his brick-kilns, near by that station.

A terrible tornado swept over this county on Wed- nesday morning, Oct. 23, 1878, causing great destruc- tion of property. At Media trees, fences, and barns were leveled with the earth, and a dwelling-house on State Street, near Jackson, being erected by Ralph Buckley, was blown down, and Mr. Buckley, who was in the building at the time, was buried in the ruins and seriously injured. The sheds of the Methodist Church in Middletown were torn away, and the lumber so broken that it was useful only as kindling, while in all parts of the county great damages marked the tracks of the storm. At Glen Riddle the wagon of James Howarth, the mail carrier, was thrown against a telegraph-pole just as he was entering the bridge over the West Chester Railroad, which prevented Howarth from being precipitated over an embank- ment nearly forty feet in height. The wagon was demolished.

In Chester the frame stable of the Hanley Hose Company was destroyed ; so was also the drill-hall of the Pennsylvania Military Academy, and a row of eight unfinished houses on Second and Norris Streets were thrown down in a mass of ruins, as were some houses on Penn Street, above Sixth, then building. The roofs of St. Paul's, First and Second Presbyterian, Madison Street, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary Churches were injured, as were Patterson's, Ledward's, Gartside's, Barton's, and Irving & Leiper's mills; Sanville's spar-shed, Cox's sash-factory, the sugar- refinery, and the engine-house and mould-lofts at Roach's ship-yard were blown entirely or partially off. In South Chester the front wall of a row of brick houses belonging to Mr. Kirkman was forced in, and the Democratic wigwam at that borough torn to pieces. Over fifty houses in Chester, North and South Chester, and Upland were unroofed. The tide rose

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

far above its usual height, so that the water covered the wharves, submerged the Front Street Railroad, flooded Roach's ship-yard, Lewis' Chester Dock Mills, and inundated the lower floor of the Steamboat Ho- tel. Morton, Black & Brother's planing-mill and lumber-yard suffered damage amounting to three thousand dollars, while at Mendenhall & Johnson's, Dutton & Anderson's, and J. & C. D. Pennell's lum- ber-yards the loss was large. Three canal-boats sunk at Weidner's wharf. As a stormn simply it was the most furious one ever recorded as happening in this county.

Earthquakes .- The first earthquake which is re- corded as having occurred in this vicinity was in October, 1727, and was so violent that in Philadelphia, New York, and Boston it " set the clocks to running down, and shook off china from the shelves,"1 and in 1732 slight shocks were noticed in this part of the country. On Dec. 7, 1738, a severe shock was felt at night, "accompanied by a remarkable rumbling noise; people waked in their beds, the doors flew open, bricks fell from the chimneys, the consternation was serious, but, happily, no great damage ensued."? On Nov. 18, 1755, a severe shock was felt for eight hundred miles on the Atlantic coast, including this locality.8 On the night of March 22, 1763, a smart shock was felt, and on Sunday, Oct. 13, 1763, an earth- quake, accompanied by a loud roaring noise, alarmed the good people of Philadelphia and surrounding country, and the congregations in churches and meeting-houses, fearing that the buildings would fall upon them, dismissed themselves without tarrying for the benediction. In an old volume on which is in- dorsed "Peter Mendenhall, his almanac for the year 1772," still in the ownership of his descendants in Chester County, under date of April 25, 1772, he re- cords this interesting item : " At or near eight o'clock in the morning the roaring of an earthquake was heard, succeeded by a shake which made the house to tremble. A second ensued soon after the first had ceased, which was more violent." Peter Mendenhall then resided on a farm in Delaware County. On Jan. 8, 1817, an earthquake occurred which tossed vessels about the river and raised the water one foot. On Sunday evening, June 17, 1871, about ten o'clock, the shock of an earthquake was distinctly felt in Delaware County, and on Monday morning, October 9th of the same year, at 8.40 o'clock, a severe shock was felt from Perryville, Md., to Philadelphia. The dwellings in the southern part of the county shook and trembled to their foundations, causing the inmates to run in alarm out of their houses. A rumbling sound as of the reverberation after the discharge of a cannon occurred during the shock. The quivering of the earth was more noticeable in the western part of this

1 Watson's Annale, vol. 12: p. 413; Smith's " History of New Jersey," p. 427.

" Smith's " History of Now Jersey."

3 Martin's " History of Chester," p. 163.

county and in Chester County. Bayard Taylor, who was at Cedarcroft, his residence, at Kennett Square, in a letter to the New York Tribune thus describes the shock in that locality :

" The first symptoms were a low, rumbling sound, which rapidly in- creased to a loud, jerring noise, as if a dozeu iron safee were rolling over the floors. The house shook from top to bottom, and at the end of teu or fifteen seconds both the noise and vibration were eo violeut ae to alarm all the inmates. I had frequently experienced heavy earthquake shocks in other countries, but in no instances were they accompanied with such a loud and long-continued reverberation. For about fifteen seconds longer the shock gradually diminished, but the jarriog noise was heard, seemingly in the distance, after the vibration ceased to be felt. The men at work in the field stated that the sound was first heard to the northward, that it apparently passed under their feet at the mo- ment of greatest vibration, and then moved off southward. The birds all flew from their perches in the trees and hedges, and darted back and forth in evident terror. The morning had been very sultry and over- cast, but the sky cleared and a fresh wind arose immediately after- wards. The wooden dwellings in the village were so shaken thet the people all rushed into the streets. Some crockery was broken, I be- lieve, but no damage was done to walls or chimneye. There was a light shock about midnight the following night. The first seemed to me to be nearly as violent as those succeeding the great earthquake which destroyed Corinth in 1858. It ie thirty or forty years since eny shock has been felt in this neighborhood."

On June 6, 1869, during a rainfall at Chester, oc- curred a shower of shells. Specimens of the shells were collected, and became the subject of consider- ation by the members of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.+ The shells proved to be a new species of Astarte, a genus that is essentially marine and found in every sea. The delicate char- acter of the specimens indicate a Southern habitat,- most probably the coast of Florida,-and as the storm came in that direction it is believed that they came from there, and possibly were lifted into the clouds by a water-spout. The specimens which were gath- ered by the late Hon. Y. S. Walter, and presented to Mr. John Ford, a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences, in remembrance of the peculiar circum- stances in which they were discovered to the scien- tific world received the name Astarte Nubigena, or the cloud-born Astarte.

CHAPTER XV.

THE TEN-HOUR MOVEMENT.5

ONE of the most important movements, and, in the results which have flowed from it, of great moment to the people of Delaware County, the State of Penn- sylvania, and, more or less, to the country at large, was first put into practical effect in the eastern por- tion of this State, and mainly through the efforts of a comparatively few individuals in the county of Dela- ware.

Much has been said and much controversy elicited

+ American Journal of Conchology (new series), vol. v. p. 118.

5 Contributed by James Webb.

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THE TEN HOUR MOVEMENT.

as to the policy of attempting to regulate merely social or business questions by the aid or power of law. A great deal may be said on both sides, much of it probably to little or no good purpose. But the regulation of the time during which labor may be carried on in large manufacturing establishments has worked so well, and been productive of so vast an amount of unmixed good to at this time a full gener- ation of factory operatives ; the benefits and blessings derived from it by old and young, by both employer and employé during more than a third of a century, establish the beneficial effects of the policy beyond doubt or cavil. For many years in Englaud after the introduction of labor-saving machinery and the con- sequent aggregation of large numbers of persous of all ages and of both sexes in manufacturing establish- ments, it became necessary for the successful prose- cution of the business that some certain regulations be adopted to that end. Much of the machinery and many of the processes are of that character that can be operated with much greater success and far more advantageously by children and young persons than by adults. Indeed, if children were entirely banished from such establishments, it is a question whether many articles now made both for use and ornament would not have to be abandoned altogether, to the manifest disadvantage of the whole community. As time went on, and as manufacturing by machinery instead of mere manual labor became a success, it was altogether in human nature to endeavor to make as much out of it during a given time as possible ; and as farming the soil and what is generally known as the mechanical trades were the chief employments of the people, and as each individual was his own "boss," it necessarily followed that every one was free to work as his necessities or his inclinations impelled him, or to lay off and rest when physical or other causes induced him to do so. Not so in the new system of combined labor in factories. The single individual must give way to the aggregate. Rules had to be made. The machinery must be started at a certain agreed-upon time, and must all stop to- gether. There had to be order and uniformity, or the thing would not work. In this, the new system, precedent was followed. The old custom on the farm and in the shop was adhered to, to begin as soon in the morning and work as late at night as they could see. Of course, in the beginning, when the insti- tutions were small and not yet fully organized or developed, there would be breaks from one cause or another, and the ill effects of the system would not be felt. It was only as it progressed, and the num- bers engaged therein increased, and the necessity of all being employed at one time for the general good, that it became monotonous. Then was felt the depressing influence on the human mind and body of this then recognized custom. It has been described as worse than the British treadmill discipline, established for the punishment of crime, or the system of slavery as

then existing in our own Southern States, the only difference being that the one was free to leave it and learn something new to enable him to live,-better if he could, or worse if he had to; the other had not that option. In England, where the system was first established, it made much slower progress than in the United States at a later period. But it was there that the depressing influence of the daily routine on the minds and bodies of those subject to it began to make itself heard in complaints both loud and deep. Unfortunately, at that time the masses of the people in England were without political power or influence. But a few humane and intelligent gentlemen of educa- tion, outside of their ranks, took up their cause, purely from motives of humanity. Notably among these was the late Richard Oastler, Esq., afterwards known among his humble adherents, from his zeal in their cause, as "the Old King." Some time atter this their complaints reached the Houses of Parliament, when the late Lord Ashley took up the matter, and pressed it with such vigor and earnestness that it resulted iu the passage of a law making eleven hours a day's work in all factories, and establishing Good Friday an additional legal holiday. A few years after this was followed by an amended law, reducing the time to be worked to ten hours a day, which remained in successful operation from that time to this. About the years 1846-47 the subject began to be earnestly discussed 1 in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia and Man- ayunk moved in the matter, and correspondence was had with Delaware County for organization there to obtain, if possible, the passage of a law establish- ing ten hours as a legal day's work in this State. The first general meeting of operatives appertaining to that end was held at the Seven Stars Hotel, now Village Green, in a hall generously loaned for that purpose by the late John Garrett.

At this meeting an organization was effected, and a committee of two from each mill in the county ap- pointed as a central body. The committee met at the house of Mark Clegg, on the road leading from the Red Bridge to the Union Methodist Episcopal Church, opposite Crook's (now Bancroft's) lower mill, in Ne- ther Providence, where they continued to meet weekly until the completion of their labors, which resulted in the passage of a law by the Legislature making ten hours a legal day's labor in all cotton, woolen, flax, paper, and glass manufactories in this commonwealth. Such is a brief epitome of this im- portant work ; its influence for good is, and has been, felt, not only in our own State, but measurably in every State where manufacturing exists, or is likely to

1 Ten years before the date mentioned in the text, ou Feb. 20, 1836, a meeting of operatives employed io cottoo-mille on Chester Creek was held at the Seven Stars Tavern, of which meeting Lewie Cornog was president and Joho Haynes secretary. The object of the meeting was to oppose "the long-hour system enforced by employers oo hadde in cotton-mills against their will." In May, 1836, all the operatives on Cheeter Creek struck, demanding higher wages or lees hours of labor.

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

exist, throughout our broad domain. But while this is a general history of this excellent and most highly important law, there are many incidents connected therewith, and the chief actors engaged in the work of bringing it about, that should not, in the interest of the present generation as well as those which shall succeed it, be lost entirely in oblivion. It is not to be expected that a measure, even of much less im- portance than this, entirely in the interests of labor, but at that time supposed to be in antagonism to capital, should be brought to completion in so short a time without opposition. The antagonismn to it was persistent and strong. We impugn no man's motives. It was undertaken in the interests of humanity, and the result has proved the justice of the cause.

At the above meeting, in addition to the appoint- ment of the committee alluded to and other routine business, a most inspiriting address, written by the late John Wilde, was adopted, and ordered to be printed. It was also inserted in the Upland Union and the Delaware County Republican, and signed by Thomas Ashworth as president, and Joseph Holt as secretary. The address was extensively circulated, and followed by a series of meetings at different points contiguous to the various mills and factories in the county. At these meetings speeches were made and other legitimate means used to concentrate pub- lic opinion to the importance of endeavoring to ob- tain a law to restrict this then great and growing evil.

In the Delaware County Republican of Nov. 19, 1847, appears the following editorial : "The press is taking hold of the ten-hour system now about being peti- tioned for by the factory operatives in good earnest. . . . Let those who oppose it just drop into a factory and work among the dirt and grease for fourteen hours each day for a twelvemonth, and tell us at the expira- tion of that time their opinion of the matter."

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History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Part 28

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1150

Author: Ashmead, Henry Graham, 1838-1920
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1150