The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-10-10

ne4 tuS uSucsS tufe Has ssssNuII Esks
Ito written or traditional evidence. since the
l country was settled. IL tradit .onai cyl,
dence Is to be relied OH, the freshet OF ~. ~
was from toto 10 feet higher than the !, ta'g :
one (lSI0). What is the tradition! II
had time, and could write better Lhani no y.
I do. I could give YOU many wei-auLhe,h ~.
| Gated traditions about the freshet OF Il, 3ut
being old, nearly IS years, ana uiseaseu'
write with great difficulty; therefore, :
shall contine myself TO put TWO OF w, ,srer -
sn,an miles above Richmond, formerly
owned hy me, and now by. Mr.. Jesse VIII
iiams' rs I have been told by persons who
rnew n before It'll, was rlcn ailuvni
;sI.na nf about 100 acres. That freshet SUBJ
merged the whole island many feet, leaving
/ denosit Of pure said from 8 to b feet In
| depth on .hfee-fourths of all the surface OF
| the island. $50,
freshet covered but portion Of the Island d
Courthouse, on the old stage road to Char.
slottesville, In the valley Of Lickinghole
creek, there now, suppose, stands tree
on the roadside marked to indicate the
height of the freshet of It'll. I have seen
the mark frequently In the last Forty years,
and it Is SO high UP on the body Of the tree
that man sitting on an ordinary horse
can't reach it with his hand. All the old
inhabitants Of Goochland county recognize
this as an authentic indication Of the height
of the freshet Of 1TT1. Walter D. LeaRe,
Esq, Of Goochland, who was born and
raised within mile of the tree referred TO-,
will bear me out in this statement. Many
other traditions could give equally as con-
0'N - : w. RICHARD RE1Ns,
Richmond, Oct. 8, 1870.
Dir, RgtSs does not claim superiority for
any of his floods over that of Saturday,
which Mr.. PLEAsANTs has found to have
risen twenty-four feet. We wish the flood
of III had been thus measured. Mr.. REtNs;
after stating the relation of several floods in
the present century towards one another,
claims superiority of the flood of III over
that Of Saturday, mainly on the ground that
it only partly overlooked FARRAR's, or
RErNs's, or WILL1AMs's island, while the
flood of II overlooked the whole Of it
"many feet" How Useful measuring
rule would have been here in IL! A word
about the islands Mr.. REINs says the flood
deposited on the island, which had been
previously rich, q covering of sand five to
six feet deep. He knows what he says, be.
cause he had sunk the spade into it, much
of that sand of that island being used in
late years for building in this city. And yet
the Williamsburg Gazette, of May 80, I'LL,
stated that the s,tper.imposed sand upon that
island was ten or t,celce feet deepi Thus we
see how things may be exaggerated. The
.st occo,+aa fhuf tho coil ha6
been first washed away, as if the current
that washed away the soil of an island
would Immediately deposit twelve feet Of
sand upon it. We cite these things to show
how great food may be misrepresented.
1t is too grand and fearful thing to be
abused in this way.
Lastly comes rollicking joker, who had
just risen probably from the festive board
when he ventured into these interesting
chronicles, and that more interesting in
Quiry touching the age Of this writer. We
never muzzle an assailant, so let him speak
for himself:
The "DIspATcH AYD The FsEsgsT.-
Our esteemed and venerable senior editor
Of the Dispatch has informed us that the
late freshet was the highest known in James
river since the first settlement of the State.
We are not exactly informed whether this
is affirmed by him az of his own personal
knowledge, preuicated upon his cor
poral existence for that length of time.
Upon this point there seems to be little
indefniteness on the part of our neighbor.
But with view Of having the history OF
past floods accurate, we give this morning
the statement of our venerable and worthy
townsman Thomas H. Drew, Esq, in re-
gard to freshet which occurred in 1795.
Mr.. Drew was born in 1855, and, unless we
are much mistaken, he is older by few
years than the senior editor Of the Dispatch.
MIR. Drew says his wife in 1875 was seve-
raj years old, and lived at the time Oh Main
street where Simpsons hardware store now
IS. She remembered distinctly, OH the oc-
casion Of the flood of 1895, seeing boats with
men in them passing to and fro through the
passages of what was then BoWler'S Tavern,
located where the ST. Charles Hotel now
stands.
There has been little or no filling up OF
the site of Bowler's Tavern since that time,
and it follows necessarily that the water was
| from one to two feet higher in 1875 than it
was in the recentfood.
What has our venerable neighbor to say
| now? He will find 1t very hard to lnyalldate
| the testimony in question, for Mr.. Drew's
| memory is extraordinary. Let us hear from
our friend of the Dispatch.
Where were you then LIVING? How old
were you in 1895? Did you see the flood at
all of which Mr.. Drew speaks? If you
were in cSse, where were you? Speak out ;
| this important matter will admit of no
equiyocation. Don't be afraid to tell US
1 how old you are age is always respectable
| We sometimes think you make erroneous
| impressions in regard to your age for the
purpose of giving additional weight and
dignity to your statements. We now have
YOU on the record, and we are determined
to know how old you are, and whether YOU
really did come over from England witt
Captain Smith, as you sometimes would
make us believe.
We have produced an old and unim
peachable witness nearly eighty-siX years
of age, and we want to know whether yor
are prepared to controVcrt his clear state
ment by affirming yourself older than ou1
witness. Il.
Now, this gentleman, who, we suspect
is turning gray, and would indulge films
at age in revenge, is like the Yorkshire boy
who asked for some salt in the hope tha
| somebody would give him an egg. So Mr.
DREw's recollections are not what he il
after but he wants to pepper cold age ,
little. +.
| About bis report of Mr.. DREw's reeol