2-889-570 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Scene of the Late Boiler Explosion, Lily-Lane Mill, Halifax, [in Yorkshire], 1850. 'The boiler, with one huge lift, raised the whole of the four floors above it to a considerable height; when the entire mass of worsted-spinning frames and other machinery, along with the women and children who were unfortunately in the room at the time, were precipitated to the ground beneath, and buried in the mass of ruins...A little girl...and three others, were in one of the upper rooms, escaped in safety; having, as soon as they heard the shock, taken refuge in the privy, from which they were extricated by means of a ladder...several children, who had been playing in the boiler-house the previous morning, had been driven out...by Mr. Samuel Firth [the owner] - bidding them "go out of that place before the boiler burst"...the total number of persons whose lives have been sacrificed by this terrible accident amounts to ten'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.