Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1860-08-10
Great Freshet--Heayy Loss.

Ou i"St Caturoay CUT lilly OF the Hills
was visited by another Of those foods which
on occasions heretofol have been the ter.
ror of our citizens. Between eleven and
two o'clock Of tie day we had never fell
the heat more oppressive. The atmosphere
seemed ladened with heat, and the slight
air tEat stirred parched like the breath Of a
furnace. Any che who has ever traversed
the great ocean Of land called the plains,
lying west ofthe Mississippi river ard reach
ing to the Colorado of the West, can form
an idea Of the intensity of the heat by com
pairing it to one Of those still days, when
not a breath of air is stirring, the san pour
ing down his burning rays, and as far as
the eye can reach, not bush, or shrub, OF
tree to be seen, but one vast expanse of arid,
sandy, parched up earth. The sensation
we experienced on last Saturday, before the
rain began to fall, was something similar to
that felt on the plains under such circum.
stances. About two o'clock heavy cloud
had gathered in the North least, and the
rain commenced falling rapidly, with q
slight Northwestern wind. About half
past two, another immense black cloud form
ed in the Northwest, and moving in North
erly direction, met the cloud in the North
east, which had continued to grow in in
f.nc yfu nd e
seemed then to have opened, and the rain
descended in torrents, accompanied by d
sea of hail stones. The Eve or six trenches
which pass through the farms of Col. Opie
and W. W. Donaghe, Esq, soon began to
empty their muddy, turbulent waters into
Lewis Creek Immediately above the resi-
dence Of Mr.. Donaghe. The channel of
that stream was too small to carry off the
immense body Of water that rushed into it
from its dozen feeders, and from the resi-
dence of Mr.. Mayse back to the foundry of
CARRIER & Co., the bottom lands and gardens
were entirely inundated. The destruction
to the gardens between these points was
great and almost total. The impediments
to the passage CT the water along the legit-
innate channel were so great from Mr..
Mayse's down to Beverly street, that it
found its way east of the creek by making
course through the gardens Of W. Burke,
Benz. Crawford, 7. Shumatc, Geo. Harlan,
A. F. Kinney, r. G.. Bickle and others. -
In fact, after the waters had passed Mr..
Mayse's, there was complete inundation
extending from Lewis to Augusta Streets.
Fences, corn-cribs, hog pens, chicken coops,
wagons, drays, barrels, boxes, wood piles,
and rubbish Of every description, were borne
off on the bosom of the maddened element.
The damage from Mr.. Mayse's back to the
Foundry was considerable, embracing gar
dens and property, the owners of which we
are unable to mention. The damage to gar
dens and fences from Mr.. Mayse's down to
Beverly street falls principally upon Mes
rrs. Burke, Crawford, Shumate, Harlan,
Kinney, Morris and Bickle The water
rushed through the garden of Mr.. Crawford,
and into the basement of his residence with
terrible fury, tearing away everything in its
course. The volume here divided one part
seeking an outlet in Augusta street, and
the other rushing on down through the
gardens of Harlan, Shumate, Kinney, and
Bickle, and coming out into Beverly street
through the business and dwelling houses
ranging between Union Hall and Crawford
& Cochran's store, fronting about one and
a half squares.
The course of the water down Augusta
stseet is marked BY the most distressing ev-
licences Of its fury The side walks On Ell
ther side were literally plowed up. On the
west side OF the street, down TO Beverly,
Messrs. Benz. Crawford T. >Shumate, A.
+. Kinney, r. G. Bickle and a. NJ. Bruce,
grocer, are the sufferers, the damage a.
mounting to not less than $4,000 or S25O0.
On the east side the pavement is eutirrly
torn up from DR.. Waddelrs to the Grocery
Of Mr.. Hultz. The damage to private res .
licences is not much, mostly falling on Miss
Waddell and H. J. Crawford. The loss of
MIR. Hultz, grocer. on the corner of Angus
ia and Beverly, is very heavy, reaching to
as n.uch as $3.50, which falls hard upon a
very deserving gentlemen. P. n. Powell,
grocer, loses heavily. Woods & Gilkeson,
hardware merchants. have sustained severe
damage. Blake's shoe store and Clicks
saddlery also come in for a considerable
share Of the loss. On North Beverly street
the damage fell upon J. b Antoni, cog
fectioner, Mrs. K. NJ. Kelley, Miss Lucy
Snider, and Mrs. Stevenson, milliners, Mr..
Morris, Faust & Co., shoe store, D. A.
Kayser, dry goods merchant, DR.. Eichel-
barger, druggist, Crawford & Cochran, dry
goods merchants, and Mosby, Taylor &
Co., dry goods merchants. On the South
side, Geo. e. Price, hardware merchant,
loses heavily also P. II. Trout & Co.,
druggists, and J. B. Evans, tobacconist,
slightly. From Beverly down Augusta
street to the bridge across Lewis Creek the
destruction was great. The corner of tie
foundation of the store Of 0. G. Morris was
completely swept away, and an immense
gorge washed IN front of the building on
both Beverly and augusta streets His loss
in groceries, damage to- other goods and
building, is heavy. TIE pavement down
the west side of Augusta street was torn
up, and considerable damage done to the
foundations Of Bayfor's Law Office. Mrs.
Carrots residence, the new brick buifding