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The Granite Mill Fire 
The Granite Mill Fire 
Was in Fall River City When the people was burned and killed, In a cotton manufactory Called as the Granite Mill. At seven o'clock the firebells rang But oh, it was too late, The flames they were fast spreading And at a rapid rate. 
They were men and women there And children too, I'm told, Who might have been saved from out of the flames If the truth was only known. But oh, the villains that locked thc doors And told them to keep still, It was the bosses and overseers That burning Granite Mill. 
The first scene was a touching one From a maid so young in years, She was standing by a window and
 Her eyes were filled with tears. She cried, " Oh, save me! Save me! " She called her mother's name, 
But her mother could not save her And she fell back in the flame. 
The next scene was a horrible one Just as it caught my eye. They were leaping from a window From up so very high, And the only means of their escape Was sliding down a rope, And just as they were half way down The burning strands they broke. 
Christ, Christ, what a horrible mess, They were mangled, burned and killed, Six stories high, and falling from The burning Granite Mill. But I hope their spirits has fled 
 To a better place far still, Up high, up high, up in the sky Above the Granite Mill. 
From Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia, Creighton 
Collected from Tom Henneberry, who learned this song in the 1890s, says it describes a fire in Fall River, New York, of about that time. The locking-in aspect is reminiscent of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire in New York City. RG 
DT #675 Laws G13 oct96