The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1874-05-21
Not Less Than $50, and Possibly
More, Already Found
Drowned.
Graphic Account of the Incidents
and Appearance of the
Flood.
Detailed Estimate OF the Loss OF
Property.
THE LATEST ADVICE.

~ oseehNSu W W OACoAs ~ ube
break yesterday morning, The masonry
around the outlet gave way, and then all il
. minute, as if = piece had been bitten out o
the dam, great wall of water seemed Il
spring up into the air, and leap out unto IL,
sink below.
The standing joke of Mill River Valley
LOOK OUT, THE DAM Is BROKEN"
was proved no joke at last. The torrent va
upon Williamsburg in ten. minutes an:
sent iis spray above trees 60 fee
high. 1t crunched one house like paper
and killed woman and her two children
tlen another, and another. 1t swept away
the WOODEN mills, and rushed on at the rat,
Of twenty miles an hour. A it came rsginf
down the valley, it dug up houses and swal
10 we'd them in an instant, leaving no trace
AMI tree-buts and great stones came dow
with tie food. The mountain of water
roaring like a thunder storm of hail, reach
. | Skinns rville and lifted the elk mill
upon IFS shoulder before shredding theu
into bits
AT HAYDENsviLLE
il swept away the factory in a moment. Al
L ,eds it came down a wall of water faced BY
N abattis of ,imbers, trees and iroi boilers
which struck the village in full front.
There was an hour and a half OF flood
and then ebb. and at noon, those who hae
escaped came back in crowds to see the ruin
1: was an awful sight. Houses were crum
pied like twisted paper, trees stripped o
their bark and limbs. even when their roots
chung to the coil.
The beautiful valley ia vase 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.
INCIDENTS OF THE CALAMITY.
A man was picked up from q 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 followed, among those who
have los; relatives and friends by the terri
bic calamity, and three we're Committed 10
an insane asylum in Northampton;
Everything was ground fine, and when
the flood was past the timbers we're in tooth
picks; scraps Of iron, brick and great stones
had become bouiders, and here and there
vas found corpse, or piece of corpse.
All the windings of the valley were filled
the debrir, making terrible picture of waste
and death in the most beautiful valley Of
Massachusetts,.
RECOVERING THE BODIES.
The gracious work of ravins the dead for
burial began at noon at Skinnerville. The
first bodies were picked up. dug out from
mud, or taken with difficulty from overload.
Ell rueis. All through the valley the work
went On till night, and the men with Ian
terms, seeking their dead. stood guard. At
Hsvdsnville forty bodies we're gathered bv
night; at Leeds, forty-fve. There had been
during the afternoon, gangs Of plunderer who
were promptly turned to workers by no
stinted threst,; the PEOPLE were ready u
brain them with the first stone. There were
fewer dead at Florence and Northamptou.
There have fesn found 40 in all, and many
more are cer,sinly buried in the mud and
rubbish that fiji the valley from Willian,s-
burg to Northampton.
THE WARMING.
A man on horseback gave warning in the
upper half of the valley, but some would
not hear, aud some turned to their houses
the great factories for safety. One msn NJ
Haydenville saven his life BY sticking to his
house, but he was a marvellous exception.
He ran into closet that stood
against the great chimney of the factory.
and, when the factory was crushed, the
chimney stood, and his closet stuck to il like
a lantern against a wall. with him moving
his arms for help out Of a breach he made
in Its brickwork; but a man and girl, who
ran out at the roar OF the waters, to rnn
back for haven Of safeiy, vent down under
the building.
NUMBER OF BUILDINGS DESTROYED.
At Williamsburg a factory and twenty.
nine houses were blotted out; at Hayden
vile, factory, gas-house, a Cotton-mill, q
bank. and 100 DWELLING; a. Leeds, . button
actosy and 235 building.; at SprineviIIe
every house ia gone except Mr. SINNERS
OWN. Such houses a. are here set down as
gone" are utterly vanished and distributed |
IN shreds, not piece over six feet long,
over miles of country. The Licking Water |
RIVER" az they call it, has been . sea, and |
. now trickling stream lost in miles of |
mud. The lake hemmed up by defective
masonry among the Goshen Hills, has done
Is work terribly.
Ner York Herald Special.
Sprin. field, Mas, May l6.-It was not
ar from o'clock when the first symptoms
# the break we're discovered BY the watch
nan in charge of the dam. These consisted
# n small leak through the lower emhapk.
nent in the direction of Williamsburg. AT
rst the ws'chmsn thought little or nothing
4 the circumstance, but at length the gap
eean to widen and he very properly became
larmei, and FASTENED to notify the inhabi.
ants in the village below. He started on q ,
IN for Williamsburg, which was less than +,
70 miles defiant, but long ba!ore he had got | i
here the whole emh:nkment gave way and
be etream of terror, death and destruction
az there ahead Of him, he had to take
pfuge on Deiehboring hill to save his own
lie, and thus became an agonixed and help
- witness of a calamity which he had done
II in his humble power to avert. /,
THE RUSH OF THE WATERS
nd the fear and consternation which ensued | 4
mong the terrified citizens were most heart 3
.nding to witneP. The food came without I
le slightest warning, save heavy rumblipR
Of unlike thunder, or the sound Of hesvy
ain passing over q covered railroad hridee.
lmoet in moment the torrents swept sue
,asively through the villages of Skinner
lie, Williamsburg. Hsydenville, and
eeds, the three first named hamlets being
,out three quarters Of . mile apart, and the
tier about two miles below Haydenville.
THE APPERASCE OF THE FLOOD. q
To those Who saw the terrible volume sp-
coaching. it looked in the distance Is Il
1ible Ere vas sweeping across the country d
be spray, or foam. had the arpearancs Of
Avy, black snoke, and the deception vas o
complete that in the villsgs Of Hayden Q
lie the 6rebills we're ringing for 4 les
inutes before the devastating dood struck
The loss Of the Industrial enterprise in TIE .,
ciaity may Be nfely reckosed q Los - =
IN million and half dollsu, and nasy
he manufsclseio dsstroyes, viii psohshly
Yer be replaced. In fact, ~! o: shs VII =
ree inund.ted may hc did 70 Be literally l.
.1poyed All tbs lArea factoeiss end vsgy :.
ny mall onss aEs completely wiped oal =
eIiAence.