Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-05-19
Approximations about Other Res
ervoirs.

NEwHAvEN, Conn.,, May I'LL 24inch
pipe In the dam of the great Ashheld reser-
yoir, above Williamsburg, Mass, has been
leaking for weeks, and some people had
shaken their heads and said the dam must
be attended to or it might break. il did
break. Yesterday morning the masonry
around this outlet gave way, and then all
In minute, as if piece had been bitten
out of the dam, great wall of water SEEM
ed to spring up into the air and leap out
side the sink below. The standing joke
of Mill river valley, '.Look out, the dam is
broken,n was prcyed no joke at last.
The torrent was upon Williamsburg
in ten minutes, and Seht Its spray
above trees sixty feet high. 1t
crushed one house like paper and killed
a woman and her two children; then an
other, and another, swept away the woolen
mills, and rushed on at the rate Of twenty
miles an hour. As it came raging down
the valley, it dug up the houses and swal-
lowed them in an instant, leaving no trace.
Tree butts and great stones came down
with the food. The mountain Of water,
roaring like thunderstorm of hail, reach
ed Skinnerville and lifted the silk mills up
on its shoulders before Shedding them in
to bits. At Haydenville it sweptaway the
factory in moment. At Leeds it came
down wall of water faced by an abattis of
timber, trees, and iron boilers, which
struck the village in the full front. At
first no water was visible, but a seeming
wall of driftwood, about thirty feet high
and several hundred feet in width, was
seen sweeping down the valley at the rate
of twenty miles an hour.
An Awful Sight.
There was an hour and a half of flood,
and then ebh; and at noon those who had
escaped came back in crowds to see the
ruins. 1t is an awful sight. Houses are
twisted like crTmpled paper. Trees are
stripped of their bark and limbs, even
where their roots have chung to the soil.
The beautiful valley is a waste of mud and
muddy water, laden with distorted and
strange shapes. Great boilers have been
carried hundreds of yards and left crushed
together and buried. A man was picked
from a tree upon which he had ridden six
miles on the torrent, cheering and waving
his coat. The poor fellows mind was gone.
No less than eight cases of insanity follow
ed among those who have lost relatives and
| friends by this terrible calamity, and three
were committed to the asylum in North
ampton. Everything was ground fine.
When the flood was past, the timbers
were in toothpicks and scraps of iron, bricks
and great stones nearly became boulders,
and here and there corpse or piece o.
corpse. All the windings of the valley
were filled with the debris, a terrible
picture of waste and death in the most
beautiful valley of Massachusetts,.
Saving the Dead
| The gracious work of saving the dead
from this burial, began at noon at Skinner
vile. The first bodies were picked up
| dug out from the mud, or taken with diff
| ficulty from the overloaded ruins. Al
through the valley till night, and then mel
with lanterns, seeking their dead, stOoC
| guard. At Haydenville forty bodies werl
| gathered by night, and at Leeds forty-five
/ There had been. in the afternoon, gangs o
| plunderers promptly turned to workers BY
no stinted threats TO brain them with tn,
| first stone. There were fewer dead a
Florence and Northampton. There wer'
one hundred and forty in ell, though man,
more are certainly buried in the mud AM
rubbish that fill the valley with black heap
from Williamsburg to Northampton.
Has Done fits work Terribly.
| A man on horseback gave warnin,
through the upper half of the valley, bu
some would not hear, and some turned 4
their houses and to the great factories 70
safety. One man at Haydenville factor
saved his life by sticking to the house, bu
he was a marvellous exception. He raj
into a closet that stood against the grea
chimney of the factory, and when the fac
tory was crushed the chimney stood, an,
his closet stuck to it like a lantern agains
the wall, with him waving his arm for he'll
out of breach he had made in its walls
but a man and girl who ran out at tn
roar Of the water to run back for
haven of safety, went down under tn
building. At Williamsburg, factory an,
twenty-seven houses were blotted out; a
Haydenville, a factory, a gas-house, cot
ton mill, a bank, and one hundre,
dwellings; at Leeds, a button factory, AM
twenty-five buildings; at Skinnerville
every house is gone except Mr.. Skinner
own. Such houses as are here set dow
are entirely vanished and distributed il
shreds, not piece over six feet loug, owe
miles Of country. The Licking waite
river, as they call it, has been sea, it il
now a trinkling stream lost in miles o
mud. The lake hemmed in by the defec
tive masonry up among the Goshen hill
has done its work terribly.
Estimates Of the Dead.
SPRINGFIELD, MASS, May It'll,
latest figures of the loss of life by tn,
Williamsburg reservoir make the tota
number 149, divided as follows between tn
four places:
Williamsburg. ................. %
SkinnerSille. ....................
| Leeds. .................... =. 4
| 1taluenVllle.. .........o s
Of those at Williamsburg forty-four wer
women and children; at Skinnerville two
at Haydensville twenty-four, and at Iced
thirty-nine. These figures only represen
persons whose loss is positively known
though the bodies of all are no: yet recoy
cred. Bodies are constantly found, and IL
some eases those of persons who were no
supposed to be lost; so that it seems per
fectly fair to say that the total loss of lif'
will exceed $50, if indeed it does not NOR,
nearly approach 200.
Losses Aggregating Two Millions.
1t is utterly impossible as yet to give de
tailed estimates of losses, aside from tn
buildings destroyed and damaged; bridge.
| e-AASN away. AOduS oh'
hundreds of acres of meadow lands rem
dered almost valueless. The total los
must far exceed one million dollars, AM
will probably come nearer to two millions
Bridges Swept Away.
The damage to the town of williamsburg
by the loss of bridges, great destruction 0
roads, and the complete ruin of the bes
meadow lands, is at present incalculable
but 1t is such as seriously to cripple tn
town. Three iron bridges were carried
away; in the village of williamsburg on
wooden and two on bridges; in the vii
lage OF Leeds one bridge was taken of, an
in the village of Florence one iron and tw'
wooden bridges were swept away.
Cause of she Catastrophe.
IL appears thai serious doubts as to tn
safety OF the reservoir have been entertain
ed ever since it was built, nine years age
though less the last year or two than in il
early history. The gate-keeper has severa
times expressed fears to his employers, call
ing special attention once to the poin