The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-08-29
sns, Calamity at Ho1yOke, Mass.-A
noat with Three Men Carried over
the HoIyoke Dam-One Man Saves
,,s. Life by o Fearful Leap.


From the Springfield Republican, August r.
The calamity which occurred at tho
Holyokc dam on Monday, by which two
men were killed and another severely in
iured, was by far the most serious accident
that has ever occurred there during the
seventeen years since its construction. Inc
men had been at work some ten or tweiVe
days repairing the iron combing along the
wooden planked surface just at the cX-
IRENE summit of the dam, and had nearly
finished it before the accident befcl them.
The work had been prosecuted with an
unusual dcpth of water flowing over the
dam. and the men fully realized the danger
they incurred, and on Saturday o, las.
week Mr.. Hadley spoke particularly oi
the need of n speedy completion on &C
count of the rising water. On Monday
they went out for the last time, as they
expected, and too truly, as the fatal result
proved. They fastened their boat, which
was a large, tlat-bottomed punt, directly
ON the crest of the dam in about twenty
two inches of water, by an anchor attached,
about sixty feet up the stream, and pro-
cceded favorably with their labor till
shortly before IL O'Clock, when, just as
they were removing the last of the flash
boards and preparing to go ashore, they
made the appalling discovery that their
hold on the river bottom had given way,
and that they must go over the dam, down
the fearful thirty-fcet leap, among the
rocks and sccthing waters at its foot. Mr..
Brown had the presence of mind to spring
for the stern of the boat. The others, who
we're in the bow, clutched the sides con-
vulsively for safety. Not word was
spoken by either of the three men, and not
more than minute elapsed before the
boat went over. As the forward part oi
the boat went down the fall, Mr.. Brown
iumped for life, and cleared the sheet OF
water. Mr.. Brown says that his last sight
of his two companions was of their bodies
thrown headlong several feet in the air,
and the next moment he fell senScleSs on
the rocks, and was unconscious till
nearly an hour afterwards, when he was
rescued from ledge some thirty rods be-
low.
The Leap of the boat was witnessed from
Frink's envelope factory by Mr.. IL. n.
Pierce and another man at work near by.
They immediately gave the alarm, and as
soon as possible a boat was procured ana
manned by Joseph Ely and Mosely Smith,
who proceeded to the ledge where Mr..
Brown was lying, and brought him to the
shore. They then returned and secured
the body of Mr.. lIadley, which had lodged
some fifteen rods further down. Ills neck
had probably been instantly broken by the
first fall upon the rocks, and there were no
evidences of death by drowning. No signs
of the third body were discovered, and
searching party were exploring the river
in vain for it yesterday. -.
Mr.. Browns injuries, though severe, will
not be likely to be of serious ill-conse-
olence. Both wrists were broken, and he
received q severe confusion on the head.
lie went over the dam at ten minutes be-
fore II o'clock, and it was tifty-fve minutes
after before he was rescued. To the spec
tators on shore there seemed no difference
i'm the two men--one living and the other
dcad-as they were rolled along down the
rocks by the current. -,
1t is singular coincidence that several
wears since three Irishmen went over the
dam in boat, and were all rescued, alter
several hours labor, by Mr.. Hadley and
Mr.. Ely, the latter of whom was the man
to remove Mr.. IIadley's dead body from
the rocks on Monday.