St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1858-06-17
C9e gntelligt1'ttr.
Freshet and Loss of Life.

Accounts of the destruction cause
by the late floods continue to reach II
from all the neighboring states. From
the Rockford, ILL.,, Register we lear
that the Rock River has been great,
swollen, causing sad destruction O
life and property. Two bridges ovel
kent's Creek were swept away, and
some of the people living near it only
escaped drowning by crawling from
the windows of their dwellings,. Tai
colt & Emerson's reaper factory was
considerably damaged. A story and
a half house was seen floating down
Rock River, also quantity of dead
stock.
But the sadest calamity Of all is
that which occurred at Roscoe on the
night of the Sd inst, when a mother
and her nine children were drowned.
1t appears that the railroad in pass.
ing through the town crosses a creek
which empties into the river at that
point. The cmbankment here is very
high, probably forty feet. and the cul-
vert being entirely too small to dis
charge the water it soon accumulated
so as to form small lake. The pres
sure finally became so great that about
a hundred and fifty feet of the bank
gave way and the water rushed down
with rcsistless force, sweeping every
thing before it. Five buildings in its
course we're demolished almost in the
twinkling of an eye, and in one were
congregated family Of ten persons
nine of whom were hurried to watery
grave. This family was that of Rev.
Horatio llsley, "a Presbyterian Clergy
man., and consisted Of himself, wife
and eight children. The mother and
children were all lost, and Mr.. Ilsley
was rescued from the top of tree,
near half a mile from where the house
had stood. The bodies of four of the
children had been found when our in
formant left. The children ranged in
age from infancy to Is or 20 years.
The Oldest was a young man who had
returned from Milwaukee the Satur-
day previous. He had been employ
ed in that city as Clerk in Marshall
l. Ilsley's Bank. The house was a
good two story brick structure. Mr..
Ilsley states that the family were all
awake, and had taken refuge in the
upper story.
The Coroner's Jury returned the
following verdict after consulting upon
the evidence adduccd:
We, the Jury of Inquest held this
fifth day Of June, A. d. 1853, before
II. I. Meslcr, Coroner Of Winnebago
county and State Of Illinois, on the
bodies of Horatio Thayer llsley, aged
II years Charlotte Elizabeth llsley,
aged Is years; Susan Caroline llsley,
aged I years Charles Merrill llsley,
6 months, do find on our oaths that
the bodies here lying dead, above
named, came to their death by the
falling Of the building in which they
resided, occasioned by the force Of
large body of water, timbers and food
wood, and being caught under the
roof and between the upper floor of
said house, the two eldest bodies be-
ing bruised sufficiently to cause death,
and the two youngest caught in said
timbcrs and drowned. The cause of
said building falling was in conse-
quence Of a heavy freshet on the 3D.
day of June, 1858, the waters dam
ming up against the Railroad, half a
mile above said house, and in conse-
qucnce of the culvert being too small
to let the water pass through, and it
rose in consequence thereof, until it
broke through said embankment, and
broke up said culvert, and the water
and timbers coming down in such
body and with such force against said
house as to cause it to Immediately
fall. Said house was near the South
Kinnikinic Creek in the village of
Roscoe, and the embankment on said
Creek, one half mile above said village,
on the Be!oit Branch of the Galena &
Chicago Union Railroad. And we, the
Jurors, also find that said culvert was
out of repair, and that it was INSULT
cient to admit the passage of as large
a body of water as comes down in the
usual freshets on this Creek, and we
further find that the Galena & Chicago
Union Railroad Company are highly
culpable for this disaster.