The Republican journal., 1874-05-21

the verandah Of the Hayden mansion,
while another boiler was churned full of
mountain trees. On swept the current,
carving Oft Elmgraves store, also Eames'
store. several houses with there occupants.
part Of LOOMS Hotel. Thomas HAYDEN
X e. ; tobacco factory, and two iron
bridge
There WAS terrible loss Of lite at Leeds,
the next village encountered by the flood.
The first lntlnati0n received there of inn
!endlng disaster was terrific roaring as
OF a tran. Of ears passing over bridge.
III M instant down came the torrent. At
first no water was visible but wall Of
DRIFT wood, thirty feet high and several
hundred feet wide, was seen sweeping
down the valley at the rate of twenty
miles an hour.
The Hood first carried off the dam and
a portion Of the works Of the Montague
Silk Company, and then struck the COM
panv's boarding house near the upper
store. Here Cap Vaughn, the depot mas
ter, and three women lost their lives. The
last seen of Vaughn he Jumped from the
l. into the main part Of the ground-story
OF the building as it parted and went down
with the flood The water here was as
high as the floor OF the upper story The
bridge and lower dam went next, and the
flood then struck Main street, leaving on
u three houses standing. Here was the
greatest loss of life, Women and chill
dren rushed out Of doors only to be swal-
lowed up in the fearful flood. Only two
| minutes notice was given to the hands in
| the silk mill bur nearly all escaped, though
eight or ten met Heath on the street. Only
| the chimney of the mill remains of all the
building. The wooden mill was seen to
lift up in the centre and then crash together
like an egg she'll, and in a moment the
brick wall crumbled as if built of dust.
The boiler was carried nearly ten rods.
! MNrou smith, one of the employees, rushed
| into a Water-closet IN the second story OF
the riek mill The closet was close be
side the chimney and did not 60 with the
mill. Smith pounded a hole through the
brick wall with his fist, and was soon seen
wildly waving his hands to his friends
lie was afterwards saved
\ FATAL MISTAKE
Ralph lsham and q young girl We're
standing near the door when young man
rushed in, and giving the girl his hand,
called on her to run. Isham said, Come
Into the mill and shul the door The girl
ran As he asked and lsham went back and
was seen no more alive lie has been only
| three months III town, coming thither from
Brooklyn. He was lhirty-three years old,
/ and was formerly employed in the Brook
| lyn Custom House Fennessy's lower store
at Leeds is gone The clerk, Chas Brady,
was carried down the stream. lie caught
Il tree and Went over Hook DAM bidding
his agonizcd friends good-by as he passed
his home He was afterwards found alive
and insane in the Florence meadows, but
he has since recovered
a large number Of dead bodies were
found there. AS fast as they were taken
out Of the water they We're carried to VIM
Warmers carpenter shop, on the Florence
road, for identification. The scene here
was perfectly heartrending.
On the floor, in irregular order, lay
eighteen eorpses Of all ages, from the child
two Years Old to the woman of seventy
Near the door, with a fearful cash in the
forehead. was the body of Ralph Isham
b0ok-leeper OF the Critchelow Button
Mill over III the corner was the widow
Fitzgerald, while all around were black
ened corpses with their clothes half torn
OFT, and in some instances terribly man
gled The financial loss is scarcely less
than million dollars, and may even ex-
cecd that \. 7. Critchlow and his son-in-
law George Warner, lose 800, O00 the
Nonotuck silk Company, So, 700; w +.
Quigley, $40, 900 IN house. barn and stock.
MI Langley supposed his family lost as
he saw t3en rusE back into the house after
the flood came, but he afterwards found
them all safe in the second story OF the l.,
twenty rods down stream Had they re-
NAMED i'll the front part all would have
been lost
Fifteen bridges are gone, twelve facto-
ries and twenty-five dwellings were swept
away, and 400 people are left homeless.
The loss Of life probably exceeds 100, fifty
being drowned At Leeds alone Hundreds
OF horses and cattle We're drowned, and
thousands Of acres of land covered with
debris.
The town Of Northampton loses about
$4,000 in bridges and roads. The loss of
Williamsburg and IIaydenville cannot be
estimated n vet