Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1874-05-28

through the upper half of the valley, but
some would not hear, and some turned to
their houses and to the great factories for
safety. One man at Haydenville factory
saved his life by sticking to the house,
hat he was 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 it like
lantern against wall, with him moving
his arms for help out of breach he made
in its brickwork but man and girl,
who ran out at the roar OF the waters, TO
run back for haven ofsafety, went down
under the building.
At Williamsburg factory and twenty
seven houses were blotted out; at Hay
denville, a factory, gas-house, a cotton
mill, bank and 100 dwellings: al Leecs
button factory and % buildings; at
Skinnerville every house is gone except
Mr.. SINNERS own. Such houses as 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"
as they call it, has been sea, and is now
trickling stream lost in miles of mud.
The lake, hemmed up by defective masonry
among the Goshen hills, has done its
work terribly.
SPRrNGPrELD, Mass, May Is.
The food came without the slightest
warning save heavy rumbling, not un-
like thunder or the sound of heavy
train passing over covered railroad
bridge. Almost In moment the torrents
swept successfully through the villages
of Skinnerville, Williamsburg, Hayden
vile and Leeds, the three firstnamed
hamlets being about ,three-quarters of
mile apart, and the latter about two miles
below Haydenville.
To those who saw the terrible volume
approaching 1t looked in the distance as
if terrible fire was sweeping across the
country. The spray or foam had the ap-
pearance of heavy black smoke, and the
deception was SO complete that in the
village of Haydenville the fre-bells were
ringing for few minutes before the
devastating flood struck the town.
The loss to the industrial enterprise in
the vicinity may be safely reckoned at
not less than million and a half of dol
lars, and many of the manufactures de.
stroyed will probably never be replaced;
in fact, all of the villages inundated may
be said to be literally destroyed. All the
large factories and very many small ones
are completely wiped out of existence.
Large brick and stone mills crumbled
like so many piles of sand, and small
wooden dwellings were no more to the
surging current than so many toy steam
boats would be in the surging waters of
Niagara River. The scene was most hor-
rible and frightful, and made even the
strongest men go frantic with fear.
Women tainted in the streets and were
borne away by the relentless current. So
sudden was the inundation that many lost
their presence of mind and rushed wildly
from points of safety into very death
itself. Others who remained to save
loved and dear ones were themselves lost.
One painful case was that of DIR. u. N.
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 before he could get
away, and all were lost, his wife prefer
ring to share his death rather than aban-
don the ones she so dearly loved There
are numerous cases where whole families
were swept away.
NhSh Wiz aOi{0AtSf AStt tiS otObO "a W.
rible disaster tonight there were hundreds
of weeping men, women and children
going frantically up and down in the
wake of the flood, seeking for missing
relatives and friends The water bad
greatly receded, and by tomorrow it will
nearly disappear altogether. In fsct, 1t
was only about twenty minutes from the
first inundation before there was a per-
ceptible and rapid TALL, which has con-
| tinued ever since.
| The latest figures of the loss of life
make total OF IA, divided IS follows
between the three places: Williamsburg,
6eS Leeds, 40; Haydenville, IS. These
figures only represent persons whose loss
Is positively known, thougt the bodies OF
all ere not yet recovered. Bodies are
constantly being found, and in some
cases those of persons Who were not sup
posed to be lost, SO thstit seems perfectly
safe to say that the total loss of life will
exceed $50, it, indeed, it does not more
nearly approach 200.