The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-05-26
THE SAVED AND LOST.
heroic MIIKMAN-GIvING THE ALARM
THE TEMPORARY MnRauEs


THE TEMPORARY MoRGUEs.
One of the most interesting Incidents
connected with the Massachusetts catastro-
phe is the ride of the milkman, Collins
Graves, as detailed by the Springfield Re
publican: From the reservoir the stream
threaded its way almost directly south to
the village, two and half miles away,
hedged in on either side by high hills, one
ofthem, High ridge, being one of the lofty
peaks of Western Massachusetts,, and hence
survey station. When the village is
reached, the river, uniting with the Goshen
stream. swerves a little to the east and hugs
the hill, and here along its banks are most
OF the mills OF Williamsburg village, while
the houses fill the valley up to its side. So
on Saturday morning lay the aooded dis
trict of the town-all the rich meadow land
down the pleasant street glowing green I'M
der the freshening rsin-when George
Cheney fastened down TO warn the inhabi-
! itants of the breaking dam; he went first to
see o. g. Spellman, and, after little time
wasted in convincing him of the impending
danger, he crossed to the livery stable OF j.
w. Belcher, where he met Collins Graves,
the milkman, on his morning round. "If
the dam I;.,o is breaking" said Graves.
mentary story, "the folks must
know it," and, flashing his fleet
horse into run he dashed away toward
Haydenville, shouting: 1.-The reservoir is
right here; run, It's all yeu can dot" Itwas
now quarter of s, and. Meanwhile Belcher
and Cheney had rung the bell of the Con-
gregationsl church to further warn the vii
lage folk. On went horse and driver, spread
ing the alarm. Graves shouting all the way ::
he made directly for the manufacturing
establishments, for, said he, "the people
could hear it, but the roar of the factories
would drown any warning for the opera
tives." At Skinnerville the pair were five
minutes ahead of the coming torrent; but at
Haydenville they had but two minutes in
which to spread the alarm. Here the famous
ride, which will be sung in story and told to
the credit of Collins Graves around the fire.
sides of Williamsburg forever as the saliva
ton ofmany hundred lives ended at the hotel !.
the horse and rider were both exhausted, and
here another herald took up the tidings-
Graves could hear the thunder of the coming
flood, but, not fully sppreciating its extent,
he turned to go back toward williamsburg
At the "Dug-way" at HaydenviIle the dis
aster which ne had predicted burst upon his
sight, and he had
JUST TIME TO TURN OFF
into q bank near Captain Kingsley's when it
crashed past him; indeed, he was not 20
econds too soon, and, as 1t was, he had
almost departed of reaching place of safety,
and had even thought of abandoning his
tried steed to its fate. Graves, by the way
is a Williamsburg boy, and has got
pleasant home on the Hill, out of all danger
of floods. Nothing could exceed the painful
excitement of that search for the dead,
unless it were the still horror of the extempor-
lied morgues that were all along the road Of
the calamity. In northampton. the few that
reached there were taken to the town hall
from the Florence meadows they were taken
to a carpenters shop on the bill east Of the
river, at Leeds to the barn in the rear of Ross
store, at Haydenville to the chapel of the
church, at Williamsburg to the town hall.
To behold the scenes presented in these tenn
porary harborages of the victims
made the stoutest heart quail, and the
faintest nerves shudder and almost give way
with sickening repulsion. There lay on the
rude boards often without a shred of cloth
ing left, or, if clad, with every garment
frayed to mere shreds, men and women in
horrible invariableness of agony; tie only
mature face noticed as peaceful was that OF
Annie Cogan, who seemed as If taking q
happy sleep when the body was first taken
out of the sands. There lay children-many
little children-their little, beloved faces
beaten and bruised, and yet now and then
one as sweet and placid as when its good
night kiss was given. Many veteran SOL
der, who had been hardened to death in bat
tie. and cared little for the sight ofdead men,
found this spectacle of the innocent little
dead ones more than he could bear, and
many a strong man found his eye moisten-
ing with unwonted tears. No one was
ashamed of tears, there and thus; one would
have been less than human to hold them
back. .f