The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-05-26


reservoir four or Eve years ago. He noticed
that considerable water oozed from the base
of the dam all along It's length, evidently
caused by the heavy pressure on the other
side and he called Governor Hayden's atten-
ton to it. uttering words of warning, and
telling him that if the dam didgo off il
would sweep everything on its way into the
Connecticut river. Indeed the more iHtelli-
gent people down the valley, Mr.. Briggs
says, have lived with the shadow of this dis
aster hunting them for years. Governor
Haydan, himself was particularly nervous
about it, and any casual conversation con-
corning the reservoir was nearly always ac-
compauied with some allusion of present
ment. Some one, while since, asked Mr.
Skinner. "What do you have for excite
ment up here now-a-days?" "Well, he
said, Eve occasionally have a freshet;
reservoir has broken loose" The sweeping
away OF four generations in one family was
among the uncommon incidents of the
flood at Leeds, as follows: Mrs. DuRles, a
woman of nearly 50 years of age: her
daughter. Mrs. Robert Fitzgerald, aged As
and four young children of the same woman
and, finally, the
TWO LITTLE CHILDREN
of John Clancy, grandchildren of Mrs
Fitzgerald and great-grandchildren Of Mrs.
Dunlea. Mrs. Clancy, by the way, died a
year ago of consumption, so that Clancy is
now bereft Of his whole family. Asmarvel-.
Gus an experience as any vsunted, was that
of the women of selectman Quingley's FAM
lily, who were cleaning up their break
fast-table when the water burst
in at the cellardoor. Mrs. Quigley.
her two handsome, sprightly daughters,
and schoolma,am visiting them, rushed
upstairs to the second story of the
l. part on which they were, and thence
watched the tremendous spectacle. They
had hardly reached their harborage when the
front part of the house was wrenched off as
swiftly and easily as one would tear a paper,
and the floor gaped wide beneath them with
the fierce strain. They saw the great brick
mill tremble and collapse Ikea child's house
of blocks, and the chapel rise and sail like a
boat around the point just below, there
strike and tall to pieces. They saw a neigh
Dor floating past on roof, extended theiI
hands from window, and aided him to es-
cape to their refuge. What emotions they
felt in that hour of waiting they can never
very clearly tell, except that they thought
the next moment they, too. would go. They
did not talk very much, nor did they sing,
and their prayers were not uttered aloud it
was season of mute expectancy and not so
much resignation as stunned and deadened
acceptance of fate. The fate, however,
tore away the heavy main portion of
the houses, and dashed into splinters their
great barns with all the contents, spared
their slighter structure and left them safe
When, shortly after. they were at work in
the mud heaped confusion of their house,
the girls were almost Historically gay with
the reaction from the fearful strain upon
their nerves. Mr.. Quigley, from the bank,
a few rods off, watched the
DESTRUCTION OF HIS HOME
and property and the environment OF his
family in an agony of anxiety impossible for
those who read this to appreciate. The
death of the entire Birmingham family. con-
sisting of Henry Birmingham, his wife and
three daughters-Msry aged Is, Tillie IA, and
Carrie S-will create a wide gap in the
social life of Williamsburg. The circum-
stances connected with their case are
painful in the extreme. Mary was a
teacher in one of the Northampton schools,
and as was her custom, had come home to
s~end Saturday and Sunday. When the
alarm of the approaching flood was sounded,
she was at work assisting her mother in her
household duties. Her sister Lille had but
inst got up. while Carrie, the pet
of the household was still asleep in
her bed. Mr.. Birmingham, who was SUPER
intendent of the James Wooden Mill, had
approaching wave until it had neared
his residence, situated but a short dis
lance above the factory. Had he remained
in the building his life would have been
saved, but with the fierce determination
characteristic of the man, he made dash
for his house, intent on saving his family If
possible, but as he neared the doorway the
torrent was upon him, swooping away the
house with its inmates. George Roberts, a
bright lad of l5 the only surviving member
of the family of Alexander Roberts, en-
gineer on the New Haven 81 Northampton
railroad was carried some dis
lance with the rest of the family in their
house, and, when that broke, chung
to some debris, and was carried with the tor
rent nearly a mile, when he was rescued by
James Forsythe. The facts connected with
his escape which Ire can clearly recall are
that he floated very near to the embankment,
but before he could make a landing he was
carried into the current. When finally
taken from the water he was stupified by
but soon recovered, and is now in
his usual health. He has been kindly cared
for in the family OF Thomas Nash, where he
will remain for the present.
HOW 1T BEGAN.
THE GATE-KEEPER-A RIDE OF WARMING
INcREDULlTY OF THE DOOMED PEOPLE.
From two pages which the Springfield
Republican devotes to the calamity this
account Of the beginning is extracted: A
little below the reservoir on the western
bank. but out of range of the flood, stands a
small, dismal-looking dwelling, is