The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-06-04
THE MILL RIVER DISASTER.
Incidents OF the Calamity as Describe Il
by an Eye Witness.
THE FLOOD.

Incidents OF the Calamity as Described
by an Eye Witness.
THE FLOOD.
The reservoir broke at fifty minutes
past six on Saturday morning. At
seven there was column of dust and
mist-a great rumble, and the bank
showed down the stream. In a moment
the whole reservoir of water, forty feet
deep and mile long, came seething,
boiling down the gulch. 1t came like
the rapids of Niagara, scattering where
it touched, and destroying everything
in its way. The valley of Mill Stream
is only gulch with deep sides. 1t was
covered with houses and shops. Every
inch OF level ground for ten miles from
Williamsburg to Northampton was built
upon. There was no chance for the
water to spread out. 1t came pent up,
laundering, kissing through the gulch.
In front of it was cloud of mist, ris-
ing like cherubim. On the top of
the flood were houses, trees, timber,
and the debris of the whole valley.
1t looked like o ledge of moving
rocks. Mammoth trees bowed down
before it, or snapped like reed shaken
in the wind. There was no time for
preparation-no time for reflection.
The water came and swallowed up.
The people on the low places were
no more, and the people on the high
places wrung their hands.
In ten minutes it was passed, and in
half hour Mill stream was in its chan
mel again. The people came down
from trees, and from high banks only
to find their families and friends dead
and gone, and their houses desolated.
tiful cottage with vines and trees, and
fountains, and playing children, now
was q heap TO stones-perhaps the bed
of creek.
A HARD CASE.
Mr.. Broulette came into the
Florence Hotel this afternoon. He is
a poor shoemaker, whose family worked
in Warner's button factory at Leeds.
"Have you found your baby?" asked
a bystander
"No, have not found the baby, but
I have found my wife and three chill
dren. We are looking for the baby
now," replied Broulette with sigh.
"How old were your children ?" I
asked.
"One was nineteen, one seventeen,
one sixteen, and then came the baby
all drowned !" and then he buried his
face in his hands, but no tears came
into his eyes. They had dry, hard
look, as if his grief was bordering on
insanity.
"My poor man," I said, "you have
been up all night. You are tired and
hungry: Conn, into the hotel and get
He looked up strangely moment,
then burst into tears. 1t was the first
sympathy that he had received, and a
kind word melted his heart. Every
body were too busy taking care of their
own loved ones to help tho poor shoe
maker.
On several occasions to-day I have
seen men laying ont their own wives or
children, and often searching for them
in the piles of debris which line the
river bank.
The disaster is so startling that it
becomes sensation. People do not
cry. Grief is inadequate. They stare
vacantly, run their hands through their
hair, and hold them over their aching
eyes.
THE REV. J. P. KIMBALL.
Meeting the Rev. J. P. Kimball in
the morgue, where lay about twenty
bodies, asked him to describe the
food. "It was this way" said Mr..
Kimball : "I heard confused roar
and stepped out of the house. Some
one tapped the church bell, and then ]
saw a big bank of timber and foam
and spray coming down the valley. ]
heard voices cry, Run for your life |!
muir. Then the flood covered up the
village, 1 saw a few people in cham
Der windows-.saw houses tumble over
in the food-saw the brick bank fall
down and float away, and then the
water went down."
Chow long did it last ?" asked.
"Oh, about fifteen minutes. In hal
an hour the food was down, and in an
hour the river was in its old channel.
"Did you see any especial acts o.
heroism ?"
"No. There was no chance for hero
ism. There was no accidents. 1t was
all one accident. A struggle to gel
away then water all around ther
death. No man had time to think o.
wife or children. There was no refec
tion."
"Will you preach to-day?" I asked
"No, L cannot preach. My cburcl
is morgue. Twenty dead bodies Jit
stretched out On the benches. God il
preaching the sermon to-day"
A SUDDEN STAMPEDE.
To illustrate the suddenness of the
flood in Williamsburg, 1 tell an Incl
dent about Mr.. William Brown ant
Mr.. Dom Dean, who were drawing
lumber across the valley:
"As we reached the middle" sait
/ Brown, "I saw big bank of smok,
about twenty feet high. I thought i
looked queer. Then heard roar, ant
my horses became frightened and stop
ped. Then 1 saw trees and house
tumbling over, and shouted:
"For Gods sake, Donn, cut thos
traces-cut 'em quick !"
"Donn cut 'em and in minute W
were on their backs and off to the higl
ground. AS we turned back hous
tumbled over on to my wagon, and
. suppose it is in the Connecticut rive
now." In moment more Mr.. Brow
, was carrying the dead bodies of hi
/ neighbors into the morgue.
THE DEAD.
1t is strange how badly the dead ar
| disfgured. Almost every face is bruise
J black and blue in innumerable place:
, This was done by the timber and drift
wood Tn MANY instapcaa even the bar