Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-04-21

oie olu, was the Only survivor of the fami-
y: I'VE all ran together into the kitchen. !"
saiu ne. rather thought the building ould
stand. In moment we heard the lower mar,
crash. and in another the building parted in
the middle" The food came in and ALI were
washed into the torrent White. his wife ard
daughters, Alice and Ida, aged 9 and II
were all killed The bodies of all but one
OF the daughters were found from Quarter 10
matt mile below, buried, Nth heads crushed
and limbs broken
Simeon DOwd's house was turned arnnnd
on It's foundation but not DESTROYED. As the
nood came Dowd was just going into his hen
mouse The door slammed behind him and
hen coop and Dowd went down and has not
been found. The building occupied bv P
Moran as store and postoffice was thrown
nearly on end and DESTROYED. Couch & Oak
leys mlllwright shops were next utterly de-
stroyed, and the machinery and roof of the
structure were mingled with the debris far
below.
Several rods below Foot's mill. which was
destroyed. was row of tenements occupied
oy poor families. The tenement next the
stream was occupied by Theodore King. his
wife, son Charles and wife and grandchild
TWO wears old. The family rushed out when
tue nood roared down upon them, but were
100 late to escape. Theodore and wife and
Mrs Charles King were swept off. Charles
and the baby escaped. Two women were
Killed. John McLaughlin's machine shop.
were the next Oh the route, and were utterly
wrecked and the machinery ruined; loss,
$4,000
Harrison Garfeld's mill for making fine
paper was next. 1t was completely under
mined. The machinery was spelled and Sl0,-
700 worth ruined. All about this part of
the course of the stream the houses were sur
rounded and there were many narrow escapes
ne distance from the pond to where the tor
rent spent itself is about four miles and it is
a four miles of ruined houses and industries
The selectmen OF Phelps estimate the loss to
the town on the roads and bridges from ten
to twenty thousand. Tho citizens of Lee are
offering contributions to the selectmen to aid
the sufferers and Cyrus w. Field has tele.
graphed to draw on him for $1,000
LEE, MASS, April 20.
AS near as can be ascertained Mud Pond
dam gave away at half past five this morning.
1t had shown signs of weakening for some
time. Parties responsible or owning the
privilege of Its water supply have been noti-
tied but nothing was done. This awful ca
lamlty is the result of someone's careless
ness. The channel quilted by the torrent is
IL oh w W -OO lett Wlut ana WIlle the evil
dences of its terrific power are plainest as the
pond is approached the most serious loss of
life and property occurred three miles from
the lake in East Lee village. The water
reaches the stream on which the manufactur-
les are built by a brook through woods and
thinly settled farm land and there was not
much life or any property to be lost until the
village was reached. Here it wrenched Edwin
Sturgis' barn, swept away the bridge span
ming the brook, which is but small as it runs
naturally from the small pond, and then
rushed down the channel of the stream of
which the dwellings and manufactures are
located. COnch and Oakley's millwright
shops, John Dowd's manufactory of paper
machinery and Whites carriage shops are
all destroyed Whites family consisted of
himself and wife, 45 and 80 years old re-
spectivelv. daughter Ida and baby They were
in bed when the flood struck their house and
were all killed by the crash of the building
and also sunk in the waters The bodies.
except that of the baby, have been found.
Theodore King and wife and Charles King
rushed from the house to escape and were
carried off by the food and drowned Had
they stayed in the house they would have
been saved as the house was not DESTROYED
Simeon Down, 60 years old, is known to
have been drowned, but his remains have not
yet been found.
Further dawn the stream Jno. McLaugh-
Inns machine shops suffered, and still further
down Harrison Garfeld's "torest" and far
mer decker and Sabin mills, making fine pa
pers, ruined. Jno. Veran's paper mill was
also gutted in the basement.
These disasters throw a great many hands
out of employment The property loss is
fully S200,000. while the expenses of roads
and other costs that must fall on the town
must be $50, 900 more. Chas. King, before
reported dead, is badly injured but the ply
sicians think he will recover.