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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

What was #Lowell like in 1891? Apparently we had 59 clergymen, 70 lawyers, & 9 undertakers. Hungry? There were 33 bakeries & 27 restaurants! Bored? How about 11 bands of music, 2 banjo/violin makers, & 4 dancing academies. Thanks & credit to Center for Lowell History: libguides.uml.edu/archives

a clip titled "Miscellaneous Statistics" with a long list of the number of various things in the city of Lowell in 1891, excerpted in the post. Source is the 1891 Manufactures of Lowell (see next picture).

Original at Center for Lowell History: https://libguides.uml.edu/archives
With thanks to the fantastic archivists there!

Scan of the bright yellow cover of a book:
Vox Populi Series
Annual Statistics
of
Manufactures in Lowell
and
Neighboring Towns
January, 1891
Price 5 c, by mail 6 c

Original at Center for Lowell History: https://libguides.uml.edu/archives
With thanks to the fantastic archivists there!

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Not really happy that stores are already pushing Halloween in August, but we decided to take advantage of the opportunity at this dog-friendly big box store to start working on getting our puppy prepared for Spooky Season decorations. Percy seems OK with (even interested in?) this giant skeleton.

A white dog with black ears and spots looks up at a very large skeleton with glowing eyes that is holding a bowl

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

LOVE this. Sure, Boston had a hippo, but here in Lowell, we had someone offering a MAMMOTH TAPE WORM on display.

paper with words
"EXHIBITION!
Mammoth Tape WOrm!
Forty Feet Long!
Just taken from
Mr Louis Bean,
Lowell, Mass by
Drs Lyon & Stearns
Can be seen at the American House"

from the collection of the Center for Lowell History
dated July 20th 1872

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Spent yesterday enjoying the diary that mill girl Susan Moore Wetherbee kept from 1836 to 1841. She notes that her family includes father, mother, 8 children, grandmother and "two boarders" (though she names three). The diary is in the collection of #Lowell National Historical Park. A treasure!

photo of the marbled cover of an old book.
Courtesy of National Park Service, Lowell National Historical Park; The Diary of SUSAN MOORE WETHERBEE 1836 – 1841.

photo of an entry that reads:
January 1-36
Our Family consists of Parents and
Children eight in number- Grandmother - and
two boarders - vis Mr Lasure & Mr Windgate
likewise Mr Cater Lesure

Courtesy of National Park Service, Lowell National Historical Park; The Diary of SUSAN MOORE WETHERBEE 1836 – 1841.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

July 4th options: 1. Is it 1882? Check out the Balloon on Boston Common! 2. Is it 1840 - 1856? Visit the Lowell Museum, first opened on July 4th 1840. Mill Girl Susan Brown visited on July 4th 1843. 3. Are you Nathaniel Hawthorne? Happy Birthday! Go eat gingerbread & see a monkey, as per your diary.

Black and white stereoscope featuring men and women in formal dress on Boston common and a giant balloon in the middle.
https://antiquephotographicscollections.com/category/ballooning/keyword-ballooning/massachusetts-balloons/

Advertisement for the Lowell Museum, with lots more information here: https://libguides.uml.edu/early_lowell/Lowell_Museum this ad is from later, but it first opened on July 4th 1840. Susan Brown diary is here: https://libguides.uml.edu/c.php?g=542633

Hawthorne's diary entry here: https://biblioklept.org/2016/07/04/nathaniel-hawthornes-journal-entry-for-july-4th-1838/

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Thoughts on whether this letter's date is 1847 or possibly 1849? She writes "I expect to be married Tuesday morning if nothing happens to prevent." Records indicate she was married in November of 1849. So curious to know if something (and what!) happened in 1847, or if the letter is from 1849.

handwritten letter dated from Lowell Oct 27 [or maybe 29?] 1847 [or maybe 1849?]
Dear Brother
You'll excuse me as I trust....

excerpt from handwritten letter reading "I expect to be married next Tuesday morning if nothing happens to prevent..."

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Excited about this Nov 1849 letter from someone in Lowell in which they explain "I got Currer Bell's Shirley this morning -- its more voluminous than Jane Eyre, containing 296 pages." Brontë's Shirley, which features Luddite uprisings, had just been published 26 October 1849. Looking for more info!

clip of handwritten letter: "I got Currer Bell's Shirley this morning -- it's more voluminous than Jane Eyre, containing 296 pages" [note that the number is difficult to read -- I think it's 296, but welcome other interpretations]

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Archive work today: letter sent to a #Lowell mill girl: Miss Matildia Chandler, who worked on the Suffolk Corp, received a letter in Dec 1843 from family back home in Contoocookville, NH. It recounts illness, asks her to send 24 yards of calico fabric, and informs her of the deaths of many locals.

section of a handwritten letter in script addressed "Dear Matildia"

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

#Transcription + C19 #fashion help? Harriet gets some "little narrow black ribon" from an old Cap and "put it into some black [???] I had and wore it out." It maybe looks like "mits"? Context suggests a piece of clothing. Might she have re-used the ribbon for ties (?) on mittens, hence "mits"?

handwritten text, close up, with a question asked in the post about a word

full-page-width view of the section of the handwritten letter for context

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Currently transcribing this curious letter from Harriet Staples who wrote it while "standing by my work in the Mill" in Manchester (NH) in October of 1848. She confesses to a variety of sins, including stealing candy. She's distraught and begs her sister's forgiveness.

Photograph of a handwritten letter from 1848 addressed to "Ever dear Sister"

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

I worked at the Center for #Lowell History yesterday, transcribing some mill girl letters, but I know the content you really want to see: Early photos of Percy suggest he's at least partly an Australian cattle dog; he seemed unimpressed by the cow statue at the vet yesterday. He's doing great!

A white puppy with black speckles faces off with a very large statue of an oddly-painted cow.

a puppy with very large standing up ears, with his tongue licking his nose.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Important personal announcement: I'd like to introduce Percy, who joined our family last night. He is a delight. He came from Great Dog Rescue New England (gdrne.com), and we are grateful to them and to Percy's foster family.

A puppy, mostly white with black speckles. He's perfect.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

This Saturday May 9th is Doors Open #Lowell: www.doorsopenlowell.org Check out the map to see which weird buildings are going to be open. I recommend the Masonic Temple, Moody Street Feeder Gatehouse plus all the churches, plus the Tremont Yard for creepy tunnels. It's a great event

Photo from inside the Lowell Masonic Temple in a large room with a ceiling painted to look like the sky and a lot of ceremonial chairs and altars

a photo from inside the Moody Street Feeder Gatehouse featuring a very large metal gear wheel

a stained glass window from St Anne's church in Lowell featuring bright colors and flowers

A creepy enormous underground tunnel at Tremont Street under the JDCU bank. Two frightened-looking young people stand at the other end of it. Definitely horror movie vibe.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

In "May-Day Musings" Lowell Offering contributor Serena wrote that "My ramblings are limited to the walls of a factory; yet, in thought, I wander to far other fields and other forms and scenes surround me." Although "buried deep within the walls of a factory," she thought of flowers & friends.

text of "May-Day Musings":
"It has come at last, the long-anticipated day of flowers; and those, free to roam in search of nature's jewels, doubtless regret its dullness and gloom, and that the sun refuses to open, with the warmth of its beams, their bright petals. To me it matters not; yet for others' sake would I it were warm and pleasant, fit for even a May-day walk. My ramblings are limited to the walls of a factory; yet, in thought, I wander to far other fields and other forms and scenes surround me."

Full text available here: https://archive.org/details/lowelloffering00farlgoog/page/n163/mode/1up

"'Tis changed now, and the members of that scholar-band are scattered, O how widely! Even in the far-off Arkansas, one of our. number this day plucks this day the bright-hued flowers of a southern clime, while I am buried deep within the walls of a factory. Yet, though parted by distance, many, I ween, think now of that day as one of the happiest ever spent, and sigh for the presence of those friends with whom they held sweet communion in that May-day ramble. In my heart it will ever be cherished, a bright spot in memory's waste.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Anyone want to help w/ a possible 19th-century cultural reference? I think this says "Prince Donna Pepper Corn" which may just be a name the two of them have for someone they know, but I am wondering if "pepper corn" is a more widely-known jab at someone? Or if there are other similar references?

Handwritten letter excerpt with these lines:
"worn out. The subject to which your
letter refered is Greek to me. I have
not heard one word about Prince Donna
Pepper Corn since I returned, excepting,
that she had joined the Church. If"
The phrase "Prince Donna" is underlined, as is "She had joined the Church."

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

I'm a big fan of the tiles everywhere. In addition to the ones with repeating patterns, I love the story scenes. I'm dreaming of creating a little story book using only tiled scenes from the city. Top two here are my favorites so far that I think could lead to some entertaining storylines.

traditional tile illustration features a man in a tricorn hat with his arm outstretched towards a woman who holds a fan. Behind her, another woman looks on in maybe disbelief or disapproval.

a traditional tile illustration, but it's not clear what is happening. It seems that a woman in the background is holding a slipper, possibly offering to paddle the bum of a man who is bent over another woman in a confusing pose.

a repeating tile pattern of dark blue and yellow geometric-floral-ish pattern

a repeating tile pattern featuring a pink, gold, and blue flower in circles, and a geometric-flower-ish pattern

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

I'm having a wonderful and busy week in Portugal. I have five talks in five days here at the University of Minho in Braga (thanks, U Minho and Erasmus!). I had a free day today and filled it with a ton of museums, gardens, and churches. It is an incredibly beautiful and historic city.

poster for "Work in Progress Seminars" for the GAPS group at U Minho. Bridget Marshall 17 April at 11 am.

photograph of the Cathedral of Braga -- Sé de Braga -- an enormous stone building with arches, metal gates, and bells

Photo of the courtyard in Biscainhos Museum, Braga. There is a fountain in the middle, bright yellow walls and red tiled ceiling.

photo of Braga's Garden of Santa Barbara, featuring pointed arches in the foreground and an imposing castle with pointy tops behind.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

10 April 1880 the National Police Gazette reported on Sarah Hallock of Middletown, NY who received "a hair-pulling that nearly proves fatal" when her hair caught in the belts at the factory where she worked. "One more revolution would have broken her neck," but she survived.

black and white newspaper drawing featuring a woman bent over holding her head in front of a machine with belts that go up to the ceiling. Several other workers look on in horror and run towards her to help.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Loving these fashion ideas from 1886. Tag your choice. I'm "Vampire Mantle," but I think all of these are fantastic. From "Fun" magazine, a competitor to Punch.

clipping from "FUN" magazine titled "Suggestions for the ladies" featuring images of five women wearing (as per titles beneath) "The duck's feet gloves" "The cock-a-doodle-doo costume" "The fallow-deer chapeau" "The vampire mantle" and "the bovine Bonnet"
Date is February 10, 1886

second set of images of women in costumes with titles beneath: "The Piggee-Wiggee Visiting Toilette" "the Turkey Gown" "The camel hump costume" "the angry cockatoo Coiffure" "the Fretful Porcupine Dinner Robe" "the rattle-snake Tea-gown" "The puppy dog and skye-terrier toilettes for children"

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

#OTD 27 March 1869, the Sporting Times reported that a "pretty factory girl" in Manchester NH responded to a "worthless loafer" catcalling her by spitting on him, knocking off his hat w/ her parasol, and saying "I'll teach you to insult young ladies, you puppy, move off."

newspaper illustration featuring a young woman in a hat with ribbons hitting a man over the head with her parasol.

newspaper clipping:
"A Plucky Manchester Girl"
"Recently, a very pretty factory girl and employee of one of the large corporations of Manchester, N.H., had hung on her nice clothes and was sailing down Elm street with her ribbons flying, her silks fluttering in the wind, and a smile of conscious beauty irradiating her pretty face, when a brute of a fellow called out "Sis." adding some insolent remarks. The young lady did not wait for further affront, but turned on the worthless loafer, spat in his face, knocked off his hat with her parasol, and saying "I'll teach you to insult young ladies, you puppy, move off, amid the applause and cheers of the bystanders"

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Reading 1840s "flash press" for hilarious #Lowell content that ranges from "when is C.H. going to pay I.B. that five dollars he lent him" to "Bill B." was seen "with a young lady of notorious character" to a threat to "M" to stop reporting on "certain young men" or he "will get a flogging."

newspaper clipping from the Gleaner "Lowell, March 22, 1843 Lowell Wants to Know" column includes:
"When is C. H. going to pay I.B. that five dollars he lent him to go to Old Dick's Ball on the 22d of last month?"
"If Bill B. knew he was seen on the road between Lowell and Andover, one evening last week; with a young lady of notorious character"
"If that was Ike P's wife that G. D. took in to see the reformed drunkards play on Tuesday evening last"
"Where M. gets all of his information concerning certain young men of this city?"

This article is from https://www.americanantiquarian.org/american-underworld-flash-press

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

The other factory girls turn to the weaver's union and insist on striking. The union secretary "explained what unions were for, and convinced them it was no business of theirs what Lucy wore." Fred marries Lucy and "blesses the day she wore bloomers." Solid union educating here, + bikes & bloomers!

final paragraphs of the story summarized in the post. It ends "the novel strike that was brought about through Lucy's bloomers."

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

"The Factory Girl's Bloomers" appeared in Cotton Factory Times on 8 April 1898, telling the story of Lucy and her 2 suitors. Fred gets her a bicycle & encourages her to wear bloomers, scandalizing the other suitor and all the weavers at the factory who threaten to strike if Lucy isn't fired.

newspaper column featuring the title story "The Factory Girl's Bloomers"

Masthead of "The Cotton Factory Times" Manchester, Friday, April 8 1898.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Many thanks to the organizers of the #SSAG @ssag.bsky.social conference! I saw tons of great panels & loved meeting other Gothic folks. If you're still in #Salem I highly recommend you stop by the Peabody Essex Museum #PEM to see the Edmonia Lewis exhibit. It's wonderful. www.pem.org/exhibitions/...

Black and white photograph of Edmonia Lewis, a woman of Black and Indigenous (Mississauga) descent, from about 1870. She is seated at a table, looking at the camera.

Photograph of a sculpture in white marble by Edmonia Lewis of two hands clasped.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Find out more about immigration history in Lowell: libguides.uml.edu/c.php?g=1315... Read Harriet Hanson Robinson's memoir of her time as a mill girl here: libguides.uml.edu/c.php?g=5426... Read letters from Lowell mill girls to their family and friends: libguides.uml.edu/lowell_mill_...

https://libguides.uml.edu/textile_mill_images
1890s photograph of the courtyard of the Boott Mills filled with people.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Inspired by several threads sharing sources for public domain images, I looked for "factory" at the Public Domain Image Archive and was delighted to find this French illustration by Albert Robida: "Our Rivers and Atmosphere — The Multiplication of Various Pathogens, Microbes, and Bacteria" (1890).

Illustration features a jar on the left filled with river water and on the right filled with air. In the center and behind the two jars is an image of a river and trees but looming over them is a dystopian-looking series of black and grey industrial buildings with weird shapes and demonic red spots.

Our Rivers and Atmosphere — The Multiplication of Various Pathogens, Microbes, and Bacteria
Artist
Albert Robida
Date
1890

From
La vie électrique

Source: https://pdimagearchive.org/images/c7ff1d59-4527-4432-b56d-274e99ba3405/

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Can't believe it's already my last day in Belfast! Spent it in one of my favorite research spots -- Linen Hall Museum -- and then also (finally) went to Belfast City Hall to see their excellent exhibit on the history of the building and the city, and took a tour of the building. Recommend both!

Photograph: view of Linen Hall Library -- nice wooden tables with green-glass lamps, shelves of old books, and a window that looks out onto City Hall

view of the rotunda inside Belfast City Hall.

A well-worn book cover for a book called "Industries (of) Ireland: Descriptive & Biographical Facts, Figures, and Illustrations". There are various scenes of Belfast on it.

Black and white photograph from inside Belfast City hall museum. It portrays a love of children, barefoot on a cobblestone street, and generally looking not so fancy. A quote is superimposed in white in front of them: "Many Belfast Mills are slaughterhouses for women and penitentiaries for the children." attributed to James Connolly an Winifred Carney, "To the Linen Slaves of Belfast" (1913)

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

I like to think that this establishment billing itself as "practical hatters" is distinguishing itself from all the "mad hatters." (from Adair's 1860-1 Belfast Directory)

printed ad that reads
John G. McGee & Co.,
Merchant Clothiers
and
Practicall Hatters
Army & Navy Tailors & Outfitters
to all parts of the Globe,
46, 48, & 50 High Street,
Belfast

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

I found it was really glitchy last week (searching inside books sometimes wasn't working) and kept encouraging me to "try the new google books" which didn't really appear to be that different. Links I have to books (saved from Zotero) seem to work, but a search of google books now yields *nothing*.

google books search on "gothic" gives response "It looks like there aren't any 'Books' matches on this topic."

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Gave a little talk today for a colleague's class on historic images of mills & factories and was surprised again by the fact that this image is from 1881. It's a watercolor by Joseph Pennell depicting Bethlehem Steel Works in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a place I called home for a few years.

Image source here: https://www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3g05734/
This is a grey-and-sepia-toned watercolor depicting a building made up of many odd towers and elements, along with several tall smokestacks belching a lot of dark grey smoke into the grey sky. The building is reflected in the water surrounding it.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

"The Factory Girl" as she appeared in The Sunday School Hive & Juvenile Companion 1 June 1878: "factory girls, although labouring under many disadvantages, compare favourably with any other of the working classes of young women for thrift, for intelligence, and for religion."

black and white image of a pretty young woman who is holding a shawl around her that covers the top of her head. She is carrying a basket.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

19: Isabel gives birth to Ralstone's son; she's eventually happily widowed and remarried. Salome is married to Harold. A confession compelled via Salome's ring reveals the site of Harold's father's dead body, so he can be laid to rest. Happiness prevails despite the horrors of the past. The end.

Black and white illustration with caption "The old gipsy suddenly fell back, and did not move again" features two women looking on as a man dramatically falls backwards from standing.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

18: Salome goes to Avesbury to meet her mother. They are tearfully reunited. Ralstone and Isabel arrive. Dr. Monteith explains the situation & tells Ralstone to leave the country & they will take care of his wife. Salome reveals that Ralstone has hypnotized Isabel, who is distraught.

Black and white image titled "Utterly unprepared for such a meeting, Hugh Ralstone stood on the threshold, his evil face white to the lids, his hands clenched, his eyes fixed upon Salome." A group of five people -- three women, two men -- are standing around near a table. Meaningful looks are exchanged.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

17: Case against Jackson/Brindle seems bad until a gipsy man confesses to shooting at Ralstone. Salome dismisses Mirehouse; Jackson confesses he is Brindle and also an Avesbury; Salome agrees to marry him. Dr. Monteith reveals that the couple are first cousins.

black and white illustration titled "Mr Mirehouse, having finished his errand with me, will prepare now to go, said Salome, and the discomfited scripture reader did not wait for a second hint."

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

15: Ralstone is about to get married to Salome but they are interrupted by Abner. Ralstone instead marries Isabel. Dr. Monteith figures out that Isabel is poisoning Lady A. with aconite & sends her and Ralstone away. Monteith gets a letter from Lady A. saying there is “a terrible calamity.”

black and white illustration titled " 'No, I never touched the medicine' Isabel replied, with trembling lips and a white face." An angry man in the foreground holds up a cup and a woman in a fancy dress looks at him while another man looks on.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

14: Esau tells Isabel that their mother is dead & demands money to bury her. Ralstone learns hypnotism (!), meets with Salome, gets her into a “mesmeric slumber” & tells her that he will take her to her real mother once she marries him. Abner tells Esau that Ralstone ruined his sister & they scheme.

black and white illustration titled "Again she glanced at him, and, in spite of herself, shuddered as she met the basilisk gaze of Hugh Ralstone's glittering eyes." A man and a woman sit at a table, and the woman pulls back from the man in horror.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Part 13: Harold (pretending to be Jackson) and Salome become good friends. Dr. Monteith goes to Ralstone’s uncle to demand that he make Ralstone marry Miss Avesbury immediately. Meanwhile Isabel learns to her horror that her aunt was the Avesbury’s nurse and she switched Isabel & Salome as babies.

black and white illustration with title " 'You my mother, woman? You are raving!' said Isabel Avesbury." The image shows a fancy-dressed woman stepping back in fear of a woman lying on a bed on the floor.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Part 12: We go back in time to get Harold Brindle's story. His grandfather wanted him to go into the clergy, he refused & rain away to join the army as "John Jackson." Ralstone gets Jackson (Brindle) sent to prison for 3 years. Released, he gets a job as a clerk & plans to claim his inheritance.

black and white illustration titled "The meeting of Salome Price and Harold Brindle." A man in fancy dress and a woman in a fancy dress meet on a street. Again, this doesn't even happen in this installment -- it's in the next one!

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Part 11: Lady Avesbury, grateful to Ralstone for saving Isabel, permits their engagement. Dr. Menteith, the family’s old doctor visits. He recognizes that Isabel is not the child he delivered and he knows Ralstone is a rake. Monteith reveals the recent Preston events; Ralstone abandons Isabel.

black and white illustration titled "Private Jackson rushed from the banks and struck Ralstone a tremendous blow between the eyes." The image shows two men in uniform fighting with others in the background. Again, notably, this scene does not happen in this section of the story -- it's in the next one.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Part 10: Mr. Farnham accuses Salome of stealing a ring; he is actually Ralstone, who goes to jail for false accusation of Salome. Mr. Brindle dies. His will says if his grandson, Harold, returns within 3 years, he can marry Salome or she gets the whole estate. Salome goes back to work at the mill.

Black and white illustration titled "That is what you will have an opportunity of doing, Captain Balstone," said Hornby, suddenly seizing Mr. Farnham's wig." The pictured scene is in a courtroom with a woman standing in a box looking concerned, while a man removes another man's wig and a judge looks on.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Part 9: Isabel Avesbury has been kidnapped by Esau who is keeping her in a cave until she agrees to marry him. After a week, Ralstone figures it out & finds Isabel! Meanwhile, there’s a new lodger, Mr. Farnham, at Salome’s house & she doesn’t like him.

black and white illustration with title "Turning suddenly, she met the triumphant gaze of Esau Price." Image has a man in foreground with his back to the viewer, and a woman facing him. It is night-time.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Part 8: Capt Ralstone enlists a tramp, Sampson Lee, to kill Salome. Lee stalks Salome, but she reveals her ring and he confesses everything. Salome gets Lee out of the country and uses her gipsy network to scare Ralstone into leaving her alone.

Black and white image titled "Suddenly, Salome stopped at a corner beneath a lamp. She was being followed, stealthily, as it seemed to her, by a man." Image shows woman in a nice dress, under a streetlamp, looking over her shoulder at a suspicious-looking man to watches her.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Part 7: Ralstone sees a portrait and figures out that Salome is the real daughter of Lady Avesbury. Salome helps a sick tinker and he gives her a ring that marks her as "royalty" among the gipsies. Salome and Mr. Brindle compel Capt Ralstone to reveal where Mattie's child is and they are reunited.

Black and white illustration with the title "From an old purse he drew a curious-looking finger-ring, made of copper, and fashioned in the form of a snake." We see a seated old man with a cane beside him, and a well-dressed woman speaking with him.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Part 6: Esau Price (Salome's brother and Isabel's servant) rescues her from the tramp. He's in love with Isabel but she mocks him. Capt Ralstone and Isabel meet and it seems a match is made, angering Easu. A gipsy fortune-teller reveals to Isabel that in 1 year she will lose her ancestral home.

black and white illustration titled "Isabel stood motionless, filled with a superstitious feeling of mingled awe and fear". A woman in a fancy hat and dress is in the foreground, with her hand to her face; an older woman in poorer clothing stands behind her.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Part 5: Mr. Mirehouse, a minister, steals money from Mr. Brindle. Isabel Avesbury, age 18, is wealthy & headstrong. Her mother was widowed when an "old gipsy woman" killed her husband. Isabel looks more like the "gipsy" than her mother. Isabel is thrown from a horse; a tramp tries to steal her ring.

illustration titled "the shock of Isabel's fall stunned her, but she was soon roused to consciousness."

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Part 4: Brindle suspects Salome isn't a "gipsy." Mattie confesses to her involvement in Salome's capture, but she did it to get her child back. Capt Relstone and his accomplice have disappeared. Brindle reveals that his daughter, Dora, died 17 years ago, and his grandson disappeared 3 years ago.

black and white illustration titled "As Salome felt the cold, limp fingers of the young man, a thrill of instinctive dislike, amounting to repugnance, ran through her frame."
Strangely, this image does not go with this section of the story - the passage and scene happen in the next installment, when Mr. Mirehouse is introduced.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Part 3: Salome is imprisoned by the conniving Capt Ralstone, but she has her weaver's scissors with her and manages to fashion a weapon and save herself. She breaks Ralstone's arm in her escape. Salome is charged with assault! Mr. Brindle, the mill owner, gets her a defense lawyer.

Black and white illustration titled "Salome hit the captain a terrific blow on his left arm, breaking it above the elbow." Image shows a woman standing with a long weapon in her arm, defiant while a man holds his arm and a woman sits on the ground holding her heaad.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Part 2: Salome continues to kick ass, getting the sexually-harassing cut-looker fired from the mill and punching a soldier -- the horrible Captain Ralstone -- when he insults her. Ralstone made a sham marriage with weaver Martha (Mattie) Web, then abandoned her and told her their baby was dead.

black and white illustration titled "This time Salome's reply was made with her clenched fist, given with all the might of her strong arm, and the blow, hitting him on the mouth, nearly knocked him down." A woman in a dress has her arm raised up and a man in a uniform is falling backwards.

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Just found a new factory girl serial: "Salome Price, the Gipsy Factory Girl" by R. T. Casson in Illustrated Chips from 6 Oct 1894. Salome opens by triumphing in a knife fight with a man who has "bought" her as his wife, and runs off to Preston to earn her living as a weaver.

Black and white illustration titled "She seized a knife from the table, and made furious lunges at him, striking him first on the cheek, and then in the neck". The image features a woman plunging a knife into a man's chest; they are both inside a caravan.

masthead for "Illustrated Chips" notes "Begins Below -- the New Story!" and the price as a half penny

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Factory Gothic / Bridget Marshall @factorygothic.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Staying inside today due to threatening weather. Currently prepping my talk for tomorrow about two nineteenth-century industrial Gothic places: Cottonopolis (Lowell) and Linenopolis (Belfast). Wed 28 Jan at 4.15, Wolfson Room, Seamus Heaney Centre. If you're at Queens, you're very welcome to join!

image of a woman carrying a folded copy of the "Lowell offering" in one hand and a bag of money in the other. This is from a 19th-century Valentine, "The Pride of the Mills"

Painting of a smiling woman at a spinning wheel, from a 1783 image titled "Linen Manufacturing of Ireland"

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