The river press., 1881-02-09

two feet more, the loss to this firm would
have been very great, as nothing could have
Withstood the force OF the mass Of ice and
water which would have been hurled against
the building, and warehouse and contents
would have been swept away in a moment.
Following up the river, to see the nature
of the ice-how Of the preceding eight hours,
huge cakes of ice, but no damage was visible
to speak Of until the ferry was reached.
The small ferry-boat owned by Lynch &
Flynn was carried away by the first move
ment Of the ice and crushed into kindling
wood, for not vestge Of it remains. The
large boat Of Smith g Castner was thrown
up on the levee, and left uDinjured, owing to
the fact that the dead man" pulled out,
throwing all the tension of the cable on the
end to which the boat was attached, pulling
it ashore, leaving it lying endwise on the le-
| vee
Ice is thrown all the way along on both
banks of the river up to the lower point of
the Island, where the effect of the gorge was
unmistakeable. Here large masses OF ice
were thrown up in every conceivable shape,
and indicated mighty struggle in the break
ing.
On the Island where IS the residence Of
Mr. Roosevelt we found the occupant calmly
viewing the situation, feeding his chickens,
and taking the matter Of his temporary isola-
lation quite as matter Of course, and SEEM
| ipr 4o oniou hiu pohnuon rrnc0n 1iLa ayic
tence. He expects to be able to cross by to-
morrow, but the boiling mass of water and
ice separating him from the main land did
not appear this morning to give much en-
couragement. The pack of ice along the
edge of his Island showed his escape to be
a very narrow one
About the first of the excitement, while
crowd was hurrying to the river, near Wet
zel's store, rumbling roar was heard from
the head Of the street. Everything was inky
blackness, the people were in just the mood
for panic, and as the cry rang out 'Here it
comes - scattering occurred in which some
ground and lofty tumbling was witnessed.
One young gentleman struck his toe against
a piece of board frozen in the ground, and
extended himself at full length. This, CON-
bined with the nearing noise, completed the
scare, and, picking himself up, with never a
look to the right or to the left, he vanished in
the blackness of the night, and it is reported
this morning that he has not been seen yet
The crowd, after retreating some distance,
stopped to await further development; the
rumbling came nearer and nearer, and at last,
just as another break was imminent, wagon
rounded the corner drawn by pair Of de-
jected looking cayuses, the driver sitting as
calmly and sleepily on his seat as an old
farmer on his way to town with a load Of
butter and "aigs."
The firm of l. G.. Baker & Co. had num-
ber of wagons on the river bank. While the |
excitement was at its height, and wher fears
were entertained that the huge masses Of ice
would be thrown on the banks, and destroy |
everything that chanced to be exposed, two |
Of the clerks, with the sheriff and constable, |
started to get the wagons back. The tongue |
Of one Of them lay near hole which had |
been cut in the ice, and which was about |
two feet deep and level with water, and one
Of the clerks, in attempting to attach q chain
to the tongue, stepped into the hole. John
got out pretty lively, wet to the knees, but
said nothing to the others, who had not seen
it. Then AL. came with an ak to get the
tongue loose, and, stumbling, fell over the
tongue, into the hole, emerging therefrom
with the idea strongly impressed ON his mind
that the water in that particular hole was at
least four feet deep. What became of the
ak report saith not. The sheriff was the
next one who tackled that wagon tongue,
and he went for it with characteristic energy,
but quickly retired with the water running
down his boot legs. The constable, all this
time, had been behind the wagon, prepared
to throw all his weight in the scale when the
pushing part came in, but, finding that things
didn't seem to be working right in front,
came around to see what the matter was
Grasping the situation and the tongue
at the same time, he discovered the
hole-in fact, he received very palpable evi-
dence of its existence-and when he tried TO
get Out LIZ lell DaCk III IL Ills lull ltHgCn. Dut
he finally scrambled out, and afterwards
sought his domicile to try the effect of dry
shirt on his feelings. What became Of the
wagon and the hole, our reporter has not yet
learned
There is general feeling Of congratulation
to-day among all citizens that the thing passed
off without accident or damage to speak Of,
and the whole affair looks almost ludicious,