Connecticut western news., 1874-05-22
Appalling Disaster.

tue uan. ne lefG hls breakfaSt table tC
 inspect the Assure and before he ha6
 reached the dam Hume two feet in diam
 eter, which was constantly widening, had
 been washed out. Seeing that the dam
 could hold but minute or two he saddled
 a horse and started to warn the residents oi
 the valley of their danger. It was then 6
 A. M., and the dozen factories that line the
 valley had just begun work. Cheney had
 scarcely mounted his horse before the
 whole dam gave way and the water began
 race with him. Two miles below the
 dam Spelman's button factory, the first
 building in the valley, was reached. The
 terrible roar of the waters confirmed Che
 ney's warning and the operatives scattered.
 Some reached the hillsides, while others
 were caught up by the rushing waters. The
 torrent tore up every tree and bush Tn it's
 course, and as it rolled down the valley
 men who saw it likened the spectacle to a
 low cloud of dense dust in the advance of
 tornado. Trees and driftwood obscured
 the waters. Spelman's button factory did
 not stand moment. It raised up on the
 crest of the waves and then collapsed as
 though made of cardboard. A dozsn
 houses lined the valley and the inmates
 were forgotten in the general alarm. The
 waters lapped them up. Entire families
 were destroycdin moment A saw mill
 formed the next obstacle, but it did not de-
 lay the onward rush of the water a second
 A large frame woolen mill, with heavy granite foundations, was the only building for the first three miles that stood up against the torrent. It was sheltered in a cove, and did not catch the full force of the current. From Williamsburg to Skin nersyille the valley was beautiful lawn, dotted with dwellings and shaded by giant elms and naples. A few of the trees stood, but every house ,was demolished, every bush uprooted. Fifty-three persons lost their lives in three minutes after Che ney's alarm was given. The silk mill at Skinnersville, a wooden building three sto- ries high. in which eighty persons were working, lay next in the track of the tor rent. The superintendent hardly credited Cheneys story of the danger, and it was not until the sound of the approaching wa ter was heard. even above the noise of the spindles, that he ordered the employees to quit work. They barely had time to reach the high land. Three were overtaken by the rushing waters and drowned. One of these had started toward his dwelling, but reached the house only in time to perish with his family. The house of Wm. Skin ner stands but little higher than the valley lands. He and hls family were unable to escape to higher ground, and for an hour heard the crash of timber against the house, which swayed and rocked as though about to be crushed. One wing fell. but the water had so far subsided that the main building stood firm.
 The flood was next precipitated upon Haydensville, nearly half the inhabitants Of which lived in the cottages in the low est land of the valley. Hayden, Gere & to. s brass works stood at the head of the settlement. The main building is of brick, put wooden wing stood in the most ex- posed position. The flood of drift wood struck the wing and demolished it, but the brick building resisted the pressure for a while. Then an accumulation of drift wood was damned against it, and the mid ale of the structure collapsed, leaving two corners standing. The roof was intact. and the machinery sustained the flooring. aayden's tobacco factory, the extensive cotton mills and the gas works speedily The flood kept on its way to Leeds, where the first of the Nonotuck 'ilk company's mills is situated. That is built so solidly that the torrent scarcely shook it, but button factory, cotton mills, saw mills and dwelling houses were swept away. Even the cellars were oblit- srated, and the foundations leyelled. The valley widens little at that point, and the force of the torrent was somewhat lessened IS it struck Warmers brick cotton mill. A was in closet attached to the He had not been told of the ianger, and his first warning was the mock of the drift wood as it demolished he body of the building. Strange to say he chimney and the closet stood, and when the water subsided the man was re- eased, but little the worse for his perilous imprisonment. The force of the flood was broken by the widening of the valley be- ow Leeds, and from that point to where Mill river empties into the Connecticut the 'nly damage done was the flooding of ields and the destruction of bridges.
 From the reservoir to Leeds IS about tight miles. The water of reservoir a hundred acres in extent and fifteen feet ieep was forced through gorge nowhere wider than the reservoir for distance of i've miles in less than thirty minutes. The ate of travel of the first wave was not less han twenty miles an hour: The result vas the destruction of fifty dwelling houses wenty factories and mills, and hundred nd fifty human corpses were buried under he debris. A thousand working people , lave been rendered either wholly destitute 'r have been deprived of all means of , arnlng Livelihood. .
 'AH, so FA1R.-A Nashville paper de ( cribss the 'only young man in Fayettes- lille as follows: He was young. he was