Morning journal and courier., 1886-04-21
News by Telegraph
 FROM ALL QUARTERS. A DAM LEAPS ITS BOUNDS And Spreads Death And
 Destruction.
 EAST LEE IN A RAGING FLOOD, Buildings FIoated Off Like
 Chips. THE FLOOD OVER AT MONTREAL, POwderIy Before The House Committee.
THE FLOOD OVER AT MONTREAL
A m1LLDAm BREAKS LOOSE

l FlOOd-HOuses and Mills Carried
 Away Like so Many Chfps-An Awful
 Scene of Death and Disaster.
 LEE, Mass, April 2O.-The little hamlet of
 East Lee, two miles east of this thriving
 town, was visited this morning by catas- | trophe which will ever remain a dark chap
 ter in it's history, for flood burst upon the
 inhabitants at sunrise which wrecked three
 fourths of the dwellings and mills in the place, took the lives of eleven or more of its
 people and did damage roughly estimated at $100, ,O00. The town is situated on brook 1 the outlet of Mud Pond which supplies sev- l eral paper mills with their running power
 dams being built all along the stream for | four miles, The main pond has an area of
 about one hundred and fifty acres and was
 very deep. The dam which held the water
 back was thirty feet high and twenty-five | wide. It built nine years ago and | safe, bat things were allowed
 to go along easily, one reason being because | the dam was not near any house and conse- 1 quently not under special observation, and | people are to-day surprised to find out how
 little they knew of it or its dangers. They went along in their peaceful way erecting their houses upon the banks of the stream
 which was eventually to be path of death, l and so the days passed.
 This morning a few minutes after o'clock
 8 tremendous roaring was heard by early | risers in Lee. They at once surmised the ! cause and the ringing of the church bells and the blowing of whistles aroused the whole town. Immediately 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 l This alarm in Lee awoke the people in East Lee and they hearing the crashing and roaring of waters and rocks, although three or four miles away, rushed from their homes some half clad, others almost naked but all flying for their ives-and they were none too soon. The great mass of water came pouring down the narrow brook gorge, sweeping everything before it, gullying the sides of the roads, the meadows and strewing in it's wild rush. The path of the torrent varied from fifty to two hundred feet in width and where the waters became confined to narrow limits the destruction was terrible A detailed account of the loss of property is impossible, for the scene of the disaster baf- fes description. Great elm trees are uprooted
 and lie rods from the place where they grew.
 A mill wheel twenty feet ill diameter lies
 out in an open lot three hundred feet from the bank of the
 brook and two miles from it's
 Hume. Many telegraph poles are broken in
 two. A huge engine and boiler weighing several tons resting twenty feet up the bank is another evidence of the power of the rag
 ing torrent. From the dam the bursting waters flew into a large swamp of fifteen acres from the end of which led the outlet brook. At this point the descent is abrupt and winding. The brook turns like snake ill the ravine on its way to the village three miles away, and it was here that the roaring commenced. Onentering the town the first obstacle encountered was a heavy iron and wood bridge. Spectators who saw the wave as it advanced and struck this bridge say that it about twenty feet high and sixty wide. It completely enveloped 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 waters rushed on. A rod further on stood the house of Simeon Dowd. l MT. Dowd, man of seventy and rather in firm, had gone out moment before to feed his chickens. He stepped but ten feet back of his house, but the water caught him and swept him to eternity His wife stood paralyzed by the sight, but was unable to
 lift finger. Up to noon his body had not been recovered; it is undoubtedly buried in the debris which for miles covers the banks of the stream, and searching parties en- gagged in looking for it. MT. Dowd leaves a
 wife and son. His house was turned upon its side, but the other inmates escaped seri- ous injury.
 The saddest incident of the day was the fate of A. N. White, aged fifty, his wife, aged forty-f five, their daughter Ida, aged nine, and the baby of four months. They occupied house recently purchased with hard-earned savings and were happy, contented family, respected by all who knew them. When the fearful avalanche of water struck the house White and his family had not risen. Their home was swept away without moments warning and not trace of it, even of the foundation stones, remains. The naked body of the man found lodged in the crotch of tree two miles from home. He was badly bruised, but died from drowning The body of his wife forced by the swift current through the window of GarGeld's paper mill, a mile below her home, and then so firmly lodged in the machine " that four men had half hours work to extricata it. The skull was crushed, both arms broken in several places, the legs broken and cut in shreds and the eyes mu- tilated It was a fearful spectacle and strong men wept. Ida White pretty child and much loved by the neighbors, met her death by drowning, but was badly bruised The body of the infant has not yet been re- covered.
 Mrs. Theodore King, a widow about forty four years of age; was carried from her room and drowned. She leaves two daughters. 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 mass of debris. Mrs. Mo- Cormck, an invalid woman, was carried out of the house on mattress. Just as they left the door the waters burst upon them and for moment the men holding the mattress, the woman and the baby clasped st her breast were hurled along. Fortunately only the edge of the torrent struck the party and ! lor, r7a1 hfrph1 on a sheltering bank. During it's awful course the torrent utterly wrecked half dozen dwellings, undermined Harrison Gar | fields paper mill, swept away John Whites carriage shops and badly damaged Deeker's, | John Verran's and Gemore's paper mills and l John M. Laughlan's machine shops.
 l Miss Sturgess, whose fathers residence l overlooked the frightful rush of the waters, | describes the scene as simply appalling, the very atmosphere seeming to be filled with | flying boulders, trees, housetops and
 all in a whirl of muddy foaming | able to witness this without becoming
 part actor in the fearful scene. Her fath- | CTS barns wereltaken by the stream, but the
 house escaped uninjured. Fortunately most
 of the inhabitants of the valley had sufficient | warning of the approaching disaster and fled | to the slopes along which the torrent was pouring. The flood passed East Lee and l went down the valley, destroying gardens,
 lawns, fences and moving smaller buildings, 1 but had not power to utterly wreck large ! houses. AS soon as it's force was spent the people went up the valley toward the pond
 and found the ruin worse as they approach
 ed the starting point of the torrent. The | scene is one of wild desolation and destruc-
 tion. The bodies recovered and identified
 thus far are: A. N. White and wife and two
 young daughters, Theodore King and wife, | the wife of Mr. Kings son Charles. Other
 persons living in the track of the flood are
 missing Mr. White was a veteran and
 member of Rockwell post, G. A. R.. of
 Pittsburg, which will see to his burial and
 that of his family. Charles King, reported
 dead this afternoon. is badly injured, but the physicians think he will recover. The
 calamity is clearly the result of carelessness
 on the part of the owners of the water pow
 CT, who had been notified of the dams weak
 ness It throws great many people out of
 employment and paralyzes East Lees indus
 tries. Besides the property loss of s200, 900
 it will cost the town at least $20, 900 to re- pair roads and pay costs