The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-05-05
TERRIBLE DISASTER
A Mill Dam Gives Way in a Mas
sachusetts Village.
A Number Of Persons Killed, and
Houses Swept Away.

A terrible disaster befell the post village Of
East Lee, two miles east of Lee, Mass, the
other morning. At sunrise a flood burst
upon the inhabitants which wrecked three
! fourths Of the dwellings and mills in the
place, took the lives of seven or more people,
and did damage roughly estimated at $780,
600. The town is situated on a brook,
the outlet of Mud Pond, which
supplies several paper mills with
their running power, dams being built all
along the stream for four miles, This pond
has an area of about $50 acres, and was very
deep. The dam which held the water back
was thirty feet high and twenty-five feet
wide It was built nine years ago, and Of
late has been considered unsafe, but nothing
was done to strengthen it, and the people con-
tinued erecting touses upon the banks Of tho
stream.
The other morning, few minutes after 5
o'clock, a tremendous roaring was heard by
the early risers in Lee They at once sur.
missed the cause, and the ringing of the church
bells and the blowing of whistles aroused
the whole town. It was supposed that Goose
Pond, a larger body of water. than Mud
Pond, had broken away, in which event the
town of Lee would have been in danger. This
alarm in Lee awoke the people in East Lee,
andthey knowing from which source to expect
danger and hearing the crashing and roaring
Of waters and rocks, although three
or four miles away. rushed from
their homes-some half-clad, others al
most naked, all fleeing for their lives. They
were none too soon. The great mass of water
ing everything before it, digging trenches in
the sides, the roads, the meadows, and strew-
ing rocks, trees, houses. everything conceiv-
able in the wild rush. The path Of the tor
rent varied from fifty feet to two hundred,
and where the head waters became con-
fined to the narrow limits the destruction
was terrible.
From the dam the bursting water poured
into large swamp of fifteen acres, from the
point the descent is steep and winding. The
brook turns like snake in the ravine on
its way to the village three miles away,
and it was here that the roar
ing commenced. On entering the town
the first obstacle encountered was
heavy iron and wooden bridge. Spectators
who saw the wave as it advanced and struck
this bridge say that it was about twenty feet
high and sixty wide. It completely envel-
oped the bridge and carried it away: Just
below was the mill Of John Dowd, which was
wrecked completely. The dam was washed
away and with this added weight the water
rolled on.
A rod further and the house of Simeon
Dowd was net. Mr. Dowd. seventy years of
age ani rather infirm, had gone out a mo-
ment before to feed his chickens. He stepped
but ten feet back Of his house, but the water
caught him and swept him into eternity.
His wife stood paralyzed at the sight
The saddest incident of the day, however,
was the killing of A. N: White, aged fifty
nine. his wife, aged fo:ty:,fve, and their
daughter Ida, aged nine, and the baby, four
months old. They occupied house re-
Gently purchased with hard-earned savings
and were happy family. When the fearful
avalanche of water struck the house White
aud his family had not risen. Their
home was swept away without a
moments warning. and not trace Of it,
even of the foundation stones, remains. The
naked body of the man was found lodged in
the crotch of tree two miles from his home.
The body of his wife was forced by the swift
current through the window Of Garfeld's
paper mill, a mile below her home, and there
so firmly lodged in the machinery that four
men had half hours work to extricate it.
Both children were drowned.
Mrs Theodore King, a widow, about forty
four years Of age, was carried from her room
and drowned. Mrs. Charles King, of
Housatonic, relative, who was visiting at
the house, was also carried away by the food,
and her body was recovered from a mass Of
debris. Further down the stream
John McLaughlin's machine shops
suffered wreck, and still lower
down Forrest & Farmers and Decker g.
Sabins paper mills were wrecked, all the
basement machinery being swept out by the
food. and, though weighing tons, were car:
ried along as if they were cork and landed
twenty feet up on bank. Couch & Oak
ley's millwright shops were also destroyed.
Harrison G. Garfeld's and Veranc & Gil
more's paper mills were badly damaged.