The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1874-05-22
II TERRIBLE CALAMITY.

sACHUs HUsETTs-EvERYTHINo CARRIED BE-
FORE THR FLOOD-FOUR TOWNS ALMOST
SWEPT OUT OF EXIsTENCE-NRARLY TWO
HUNDRED LIVES LOsT-ABoUT TWO MIL
I LION DOLLARS WORTH OF PROPERTY
DEsTRoYED-PEoPLE RENDERED. INSANE
BY FRIGHT.
| NORTHAMPTON, Mass, May 16.-Not far
! from eight o. clock this morning the peace
/ fui residents of Williamsburg were startled
/ by the appearance of horse dashing mad
| iy through the streets, while his rider
shouted to the people to escape for their
| lives, for the reservoir had given way and
the waters were coming down upon them.
! Scarcely pretending the dreadful It'd
/ ings, but with the instinct of self preserva-
! ton strong within them, the people began
to rush from their homes, while the foam
flecked animalthat had SO gallantly brought
| the messenger sunk to the ground, utterly
! exhausted. Another horse was quickly
| cured, and the messenger was borne to
other villages, but the alarm was so sud
den that all did not hear it, aud scores
were
CAUGHT BY THE SWIFT ROLLING WATERS,
and aged grand danes, innocent children
! and strong men were alike overwhelmed
by the flood or crushed beneath the fall
ing walls of their houses. Up among the
hills of Goshen there was large reservoir
of about one hundred and four acres in ex-
tent, where the various mill operators OF
Williamsburg, Skinnerville, Haydenville
and Leeds were wont to store their sum-
mer supply of water. People living in
the vicinity of the dam say that it has
been leaking more or less for several weeks,
and it is believed that having thus gradu.
ally undermined the dam, the waLer ac-
quired strong headway, and suddenly the
dam gave way and the immense body of
water poured out in its strength, carrying
| everything before it. The torrent rushed
! upon
THE DOOMED VILLAGES
| with loud roar, apparently large ad-
Yancing billOw of underbrush and debris
issuing rapidly through the deep gorges
to the heighth of forty feet, and again
spreading out a wide expanse of seeJhing
angry waves as it reached the more open
country. Reaching the beautiful village
of Williamsburg " some two and a half
miles distant, it struck a small button fac
tory, sweeping 1t out of existence. Next
a saw and grist mill was attacked and
melted, not vestige remaining. Houses,
barns and shops followed like grass before
a scythe, and men, women and children
were caught and borne away, struggling
and shrieking in vain. On the waves
swept to SkinnerSville, two miles distant,
silk factory being hurled down, a huge
iron boiler being carried nearly half a mile
=
about one mile further on, the bank build
ing, a three-story brick structure, was
swept away, scarcely one brick being left
upon another, the money in tho vault shar-
ing the same fate.
THE NEXT VICTIM.
The small village of Leeds, between one
and two miles distant, was the next place
to suffer, and the scenes AT Williamsburg
and Haydenville were hero repeated. A
short distance below Leeds were two
bridges, one of iron and one of stone, both
nearly fifty feet above the bed of the
stream. They were both swept away, the
former being carried bodily and a consid-
cradle distance down the stream. Here
the greatest destruction appears to have
stopped, although all along the river, until
it emptied into the Connecticut, a short
distance below Northampton, tho banks
are covered with all manner of debris tim
Der, trees pianos, tables, chairs ard other
furniture.
1t is estimated that nearly one hundred
buildings were destroyed, and the total
loss is from one million to million and a
half of dollars, although, Of course, it is
impossible to accurately estimate the dam
age.
THE sADDEST FEATURE
Of the whole affair is the great loss of life.
At first it was thought that not more than
forty fifty lives were lost, but a more
careful canvass of the villages visited gives
the total number Of missing persons at
nearly 120, as follows At Williamsburg
40, at Leeds 80, and at HaydenvilIe "a
There have been between fifty and sixty
dead bodies already recovered.
NARROW ESCAPES.
There were many narrow escapes A
butcher named Michael Hernigan was
caught, horse, wagon and all, and carried
along until he managed to get into the
top of a tree, and thus escaped. Thos. Fin
messy was carried some two miles, floating
on some timbers, until he finally eecaped |
Ira Dunning was in like manner carried
over half a mile. Chas. Brady, after rid
ing In imminent peril for a mile, oscar ped
to a .ree. DIR. johnson warned his wife
in season to permit her to escape in safety,
but in trying to save his three children he |
was caught by the flood, and they all four
persisted in sight of the agonized wife and
mother. The bodies recovered were terri !
bly, mangled, and many Of them were
STRIPPED OF EVERY PARTICLE OF CLOTH |
ING,
but most of them were identified by |
friends, and the scene of the disaster has |
been visited by hundreds of people this af-
ternUon.
THE SCENE OF THE DISASTER.
BOSTON, May 16.-The villages which
burg, Haydenville, Leeds and Florence, |
and are situated on Mill river, which is a
tributary to the Connecticut river, running
into the latter at Northamp pton. In the |
village of Williamsburg Mill river divides |
into two branches, one of which has its |
rise in Goshen and the other at about the |
edge OF Conway.
THE RESERVOIRS.
Two large reservoirs are situated on the !
Goshen branch and one on the Conway !
branch, containing total depth of not |
less than six feet. The reservoir dams
were regarded as substantially construct
ed' being built by skillful engineers, in the |
most approved modern method, and large |
sums OF money were expended last year in |
putting them in what was supposed to be |
perfect order. The oldest dam is at least |
twenty-five years of age, and is on the
Goshen branch. 1t was most carefully re- |
built within the last two years. Above |
this WAS new dan: built last wear. The |
dam on the Conway branch is six or seven |
years old.
THE MILLS on THE STREAM
reckoninO from WilIi2