The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-05-19
WHOIE VILLAGES SUBMERGED.
MILLIONS OF PROPERTY oBLIT
- % ssH GRATED.
rHE STORY OF THE CALAMITY.

ua1cKLINo OF WATER THROUGH THE DAM
GIVING, THE ALARM SOUND ILKh
70 THUNDER f1t~r- ~
sPRIserrkLp, Mass. May 16.-A special
dispatch to the New York Herald states
that It was not far from7 o'clock when the
first symptoms,of the break were discovered
bv the Waterman in charge Of the dam.
these consisted of q small leak through the
lower embankment in the direction of VIII
lismsburg. At first the wstehman
thought little or nothing OF II,
and he very properly became alarmed and
FASTENED to inform the inhabitants In the
villages below. He started on run for
Williamsburg, which was less than two
miles distant, but long before he had got
rbere the whole embankment gave way and
the stream of terror, death and destruction
was there ahead of him. He had TO take
refuge on a neighbOring hill to save his own
lite and thus became the agonized and help-
less witness of a calamity which he had
done all in his power TO avert. The
rush of the waters and the fear and
CONSERVATION which ensued among the ter
rified citizens was most heartrending to
witness. The flood came without mo-
ment's warning, save heavy rumbliug like
thunder or the sonnd of a heavy train pass
ing over covered railroad bridge. Almost
in moment the tornado swept successfully
through the villages of Skinnerville, Will
liamsbnrg Vaudeville and Leeds, the
three first named bamlets being about three
quarters of mile apart and the latter TWO
miles below Hsydenville. To those who
Jaw the terrible volume approaching IL
looked in the distance as II terrible fire
was sweeping across the country. The spray
or foam had the appearance of heavy black
smoke, and the deception was so complies
that in the village of Haydenville the ire
bells were ringing for a few minutss be-
49, he etati
The loss to the industrial enterprises in the
vicinity may be safely reckoned at not less
than a million and halt of dollars, and
many of the manufactures destroyed will
probably
NEVER BIZ REPLACED.
In fact, all the villages inundated may DO
said to be literally destroyed. All the large
factories, and very many small ones, are
completely wiped ont of existence. Large
brick and stoae milk orumbled like so many
pf3s6 q md, sand SMALL Eoedsn dwellings
were Nc more 70 the raging torrent than 20
MANY toy steam boats would be in tho rag
ing waters of Niagara river. The scene was
most horrible and frightful, and made
even the strongest men 90 frantic
with tear. Women tainted in the
streets .s and were sn 6Sfne away b., BY
inundation that many lost their presence OF
mind and rushed wildly from points of
safety into death itself. Others who re-
NAMED TO save loved and dear ones were
themselves lost. One painful case was that
of DIR. f. y. Johnson, of Williamsburg, who
seized his two children, and in company
with his wife started for high prominence
just outside the village. He became ex-
hausted, and stopped for a moment
to rest. The flood came be-
fore he could get away, and all
were lost, his wife prefering TO share death
herself rather than abandon the ones she so
dearly loved. There are numerous cases
where whole families were swept away.
When the Herald reporter left the scene OF
the terrible disaster tonight, there were
hundreds of weeping men, women and
children going frantically up and down the
wake of the flood, seeking for the remains
of missing relatives and friends. The
o water had greatly receded and by to morrow
p 1t will nearly disappear altogether. In fact
it was only about twenty minutes from the
first inundation before there was q percep |.
Il BILE and rapid fall which has cont aued ever
- since. Among the principal manufacturing
establishments swept away in Williamsburg
is o. G. Spillman's button factory, Adams
Hitchcock's grain mill, large tannery
and III. l.. James wooden mill, in which
nearly half of the operatives were lost
VIVID PICTURE.
THE VALLEY AFTER THE FLooD-A TERRIBLY
SCENE = INCIDENTS AND MARVELLOUS Els
CAPES.
NEW HAVEN, CONN. May ia twenty
four-inch pipe in the dam of the greet Ash
field reservoir a bove WILLIAMSBURG, Mass
= had been leaking for weeks, and some peopl
had shaken their heads and said tba
the dam must be attended to O
it might break. 1t did break yesterda,
morning. The masonry around thi
outlet gave way and then all int minute, a
if piece had been bitten out of the dam,
great wall of water seemed to spring mp int,
the air and leap out into the sink below
The standing joke of Mill river valley
Lookout, the dam is brokenr has proved
no joke, at last. The current was upor
Williamsburg In 10 minutes, and sent it
spray above trees 90 feet high. 1t crushed
one house like paper. and killet
woman and her two children, then an
other and another. 1t swept the wooler
mills and rushed on at the rate of 20 miles an
hour. As it came raging down the valley i
dug up houses and swallowed them in ar
instant leaving no trace. Tree butts anC
great stones came down with the flood. Tb,
mountain of water, roaring like a thunder
storm of hail, reached Skinnersville ant
lifted the silk mills upon its shout
ders before shredding them into bits
AT Haydenvine it swept away tn,
factory in moment. At Leeds it cam,
down wall Ofwster, faced by an abattis O
timbers. trees and iron boilers, which strucl
the village in full front. There was an hour
and half of flood and then ebb, and at moor
those who had escaped came back in crowds
to see the ruin. 1t is an awful sight. Houses
are twisted like crumpled paper, trees
are stripped of their bark and limbs ever
where their roots have chung to thu
soil. The beautiful valley is waste o
mud and muddy water, laden with distorted
and strange shapes. Great boilers have beer
carried hundreds of yards and left crushed
together and buried. A man was picked NJ
from tall tree upon which he had riddeI
six miles on the torrent, cheering ane
waving his coat. The poor fellows mine
was gone. No less than eight cases of in
sanity have followed among those who hav,
lost relatives and friends by this terrible ca
lsmity, and these were committed to TIT