Several buildings at this location, owned by George McBride, functioned as a cotton drying mill. Here bales of cotton were sorted and then dried on racks before further processing. The number of workers varied but usually not more than thirty or forty at one time. On March 2, 1870, the day of a deadly fire that began in the sorting room, there were only nine employees, six of them were women. All of the women lost their lives. Their names as reported in the press were Mrs. Robert Martin, Chelsea; Mrs. Peter Martin, Mrs. Thomas Hurley, Mrs. P. Kennedy, all of Neponset, Mrs. Peter Conniff, of Glover’s Corner, and Mrs. Patrick Dunn, no residence given. They worked in the upper story of their building and probably all perished from suffocation. The fire had spread rapidly due to the dryness of the wooden structure. The tragedy received widespread press coverage in such far-flung locations as New York City, Leavenworth, Kansas, and Prince Edward Island (see news clipping above). Those who perished in the fire were described as middle-aged women who left husbands and children behind. The hastily called inquest determined that they died “by fire,” the origins of which were unknown. In the immediate aftermath, press accounts noted the charred condition of the remains.
