The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1866-10-20

week, the Western portion of our county was
visited by q terrible rain storm which has been
most disastrous in its effects upon the property
along the Patapsco river, Gwynn's Falls, Rock
CreekNand other streams, as well as resulting
in the loss of several lives, in one instance an
entire family being swept away This family
was named Do0ley, and consisted OF father,
mother and four children. They resided on
the Franklin road, above the second toll gate.
The body of the father was found on Friday, on
Michael Hurley's place, below the Frederick
road, terribly cut and disfgured by the timber
and drift wood. The bodies of three of the
children, two of whom were boys, aged respec-
lively about 10 and IL years. and a girl aged 6,
were found found near the Spring Gardens, the
two former stark naked, whilst the little girl
retained some portions of her clothing. Anoth-
or family named Levoy, consisting of mother,
son and daughter, were swept away by the sur
ging waters and drowned. A young man named
Alexander Long was swept away with the
bridge at Leicester, and his body was recovered
fully ten miles down the stream
| The amount of property destroyed is i'm
mense. We can give but partial list of the
sufferers by this disastrous flood. si A.9
On Gwynn's Falls, the iron bridge on the
Frederick road, the wire bridge on the Frank
lin road and the Gainesville passenger railroad
bridge were all swept away. Messrs. Hurley
and Kephart, on this stream, suffered severely.
The first gentleman lost his ice house, fences,
farming implements; &c.; Mr.. Kephart lost his
ice house, farming implements, large amount
of timber and four valuable horses. Clabaugh's
distillery, on the Washington road, was entire
ly destroyed. The dam of the Franklin mill
was carried away, as also the county bridge
and frame house belonging to Mr. Winpenny.
At the Ashland MILL the frame drying house
and wool-drying platform and the Ashland
bridge were destroyed. These are but instan-
ces of the immense destruction of property on
4 ecfr &c HID IN hot
cinity left standing, while fences, stacks of hay
and out-houses We're swept completely away.
| Among the sufferers, in addition to those mem
| toned, are Messrs Steele, Beaumont, Col. Hugh
Gelston, Hon. Reverdy Johnson, DR.. Lynch and
| others.ot ; 8aeJ
|, On the Patapsco river, the storm was yet
more disastrous, A number OF dams and brldgr
es upon the river have been swept off. The OK
tensive dam at Elysville, upon which repairs
were in progress, was carried of, and the wreck
of this structure caused the destruction OF the
bridge upon the Frederick turnpike road, at
| Ellicott's Mills. These wrecks, with the water
| swollen to prodigious extent, caused the def
| struction Of the heavy stone arch bridge at IL
| chester, thirteen miles from Baltimore, upon
the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. For 80 years
| this bridge has resisted all former floods with
out any damage. The water at Ellieotts Mills
was two feet higher than during the memora-
bic freshet of 1917, and the loss ofproperty and
| consequent suffering has been immense The
| large dam of the Union Manufacturing Compa-
ny, with part gifts mill race, stabling, &c, to-
| gether with the bridge connecting with the B.
| 4 0. r. r. We're carried off, as were also the
| dam of Gray's Patapsco Factory, and that OF
| the Granite Factory, above Ellicotts Mills
| The dam of the Thistle Factory was cOnsldera-
| bly, damaged whilst the mill race the Patap-
| SEQ -four mills received great injury. The Al
| berton Mill, at Elysville, is also reported de-
stroyed. The stoppage of these factories and
| mills will throw out of en- ployment, 1T Is sup
\ posed, not less than 1900 persons. Oh the
| Baltimore county side Of The village, below
| the bridge, four dwelling houses, Garaw's MAJ
| chine shop, and about one half of Leishear's
store and dwelling have been washed away, Mr..
! Leishear losing not less than 10000 dollars. :
| The four houses belonged to Mr.. Dennis Multi
| gan, one Of them occupied by Mrs. Armstrong
| widow the late sheriff, who lost all her furni-
| ture, clothing, and some $500 in money. Mrs
I Koehle residing in another of the houses, last
everything. The flood occurred between 2 and
| l o'clock at night, and many persons were com
| PEELED to fly from their homes with only their
| night clothes on. DR.. Themes b. Owings IS re-
| ported to have suffered loss Of about $4,000
and DR.. VIM. E. Hodges sustained the loss OF
| all his furniture, clothing, &c. A large num-
| Der Of others suffered considerable losses, some
being in few moments stripped Of their all
| Mr.. Gerard Morrsahen, contractor for rebuild
| ing the Granite factory, lately destroyed by
| FIRE, had just obtained quantity of lumber,
/ valued at 81, 900, all of which was swept away.
On the Howard county side. Messrs. Gambrill
4 Bradley, store-keepers, lost abont $1,000
| worth of goods, and Mr.. VIM. 7. Collier about
$500 worth. -a
| The Avalon works, on the PatapscO, above
the Relay House. suffered severely. On the
| Washington road, also, great damage resulted
| from the flood. The storm seems to have been
far more severe in that section than in the up-
per portion of the county. While the streams
crossed by the Northern Central and Philadel-
| phia railroads were considerably swollen, yet
| they were not unusually So and but little dam
age was done. On the Western Maryland Rail
1 Road, few small bridges were swept away,
| but not enough to seriously affect the business
| of the road.
| Since the above was in type we have recei-
| we'd from q correspondent at Ellicotts Mills the
| following account of the food at that point:
| The late freshet on the Patapsco has proved
to be the greatest and most disastrous ever
known on that stream, the great August food
| of 1917 not being an exception. In that flood
mark was made on the wall of the Patapseo
| flour mill when the water reached its highest
point; in this freshet the water rose ire feet
above that point
The manufacturing villages, from Alberton,
| twenty miles from Baltimore, to the Washing
ton bridge present one continued scene of des-
truction and ruin, dams, bridges, houses and
stables being carried away, and county roads,
for long distances, almost irreparably destroy
ed. The Abortion factory had theirdam, head
gates and bridge over the stream carried away
the Union Manufacturing Company lost their
dam, stable, wagoner's house and rail road
bridge, which was a fine structure. Thestable,
a large stone building, with ten tons of hay,
was completely swept away, not oven q trace
of its foundations remaining the wagoners
house was also substantial stone structure
| five horses were in the stables three of them
were saved. The Granite factory, next below
| the Union, lost their dam and foundry the
| foundry was a large stone building, butthe flu
rious current swept it entirely away. $50
worth of lumber and large quantity of build
| ing material being used in the reconstruction
| of the factory (Which was lately destroyed by
| fire) was swept away. The turnpike bridge at
| Ellicott's Mills was carried away, and here the
destruction of property was fearful. Five heu-
ses, two of them frame and three stone, were
swept entirely away, the occupants barely es-
Gaping with their lives, in their night clothes
The flood occurring in the night made the scene
| the more terrific. Lishear's store, fine brick
building and the largest store in Baltimore CO.,
was almost entirely destroyed. a large iron
safe, containing Mr.. Lishear's books and valu-
able papers, besides money, was carried away
| with the ruins The people living along the
stream in that vicinity lost all their household
effects, the flood coming on them so sudder ly
that it required their utmost endeavors to save
their lives. At Gray's factory a portion of the
dam was carried away, along with their fine
bridge. The destruction of roads and walls
and small bridges here was immense. AZ the
Thistle factory, part of the dam was carried
away and the yard of the factory very much
injured. The county bridge at Leicester, just
below, was carried away, and the splendid rail
road bridge next to it totally destroyed At
Avalon Iron Works the destruction Of property
was immense. Their dam, several houses and
one of their large nail factories were carried
away, making the place complete picture of
desolation. Every county and private bridge
on the stream, for a distance of thirty five
miles above Baltimore, was destroyed. The