The Portland daily press., 1886-02-15
FURIOUS FLOODS.
A Scene Of DeSOlatiOn in the ROXbury
District, Boston.
Two Square Miles Of Its Territory
Under Water.
MANY Families Driven from Their
Homes.
An Infant Drowned in Its Crib by the
Mothers Bedside.
Extensive Damage by Floods in Other
Sections Of the Country.

Extensive Damage by Floods in Other
Sections Of the Country.
Boston, Feb. 13.-Rain and desolation
are apparent on every hand in Roxbury dis
trict in this CITY, All the low lands bounded
on the east by Cabot street and Shawmut
avenue extending as far north as Sterling
street, and on the west by high land back of
Parker street, are nnder water-in some in
stances four or five feet deep, and where
Stony Brook strikes the rubber factory the
water rushed along at a rate of four miles an
hour. Along Culvert street the water was
over the first floor, and residents who had
not vacated were encamped on the second
floors. Communication with many houses
was impossible except by means of boats
and RATS. The moulding shop Of B. f.
Anthony was flooded and much valuable
| machinery ruined, The Whittier machine
shops could be reached only by RATS, and all
work was suspended, the water being at
| least two feet deep in the boiler room. The
| damage will be heavy, as much of the ma
chinery in course of construction and valu-
able tools will be rendered worthless. Many
| small wooden tenements in this locality oc-
| cupied by mechanics are completely wrecked,
| together with their contents.
In Madison Park district the damage will
reach into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
| The buildings here consist of valuable marble
and brick front edifces, including two apart
,o,,+h IF xubioh fhn ircf or
| Hotel, will be completely wrecked. 1t is
not unlikely that several of the finest build
ings will be permanently injured. Madison
| Park, which was only laid out last summer
| at large expense, is now lake of dirty
water two feet deep. The Highland Rink is
| damaged to the extent of many thousands of
| dollars, and innumerable cellars are flooded.
| 1t will be impossible to estimate the damage
| for several days.
The Assabet river at Hudson has over
| flowed, carrying away large number Of
| bridges and doing large amount of damage
to other property. Work in the factories is
suspended. All travel on the Central Mas
sachusetts railroad has been suspended on
account of serious washouts.
| The early inward train ON the Central
| MdSSdCuuSGblo lOdu3 iGdNlIlS w dt O.OU
a. M, met with an accident near the Clematis
| Brook station in that city this morning,
| which narrowly escaped resulting in
| the loss Of many lives. The train
| was made up of the locomotive
/ Cloud, combination car and pas
| senger car, and was in charge of Conductor
/ Clark. just after leaving the Clematis
| Brook station, as the train was ploughing
| through the water in the fog and dark, the
| engineer felt his engine begin to settle be-
| meath him as it was crossing the bridge
| which spans the brook at this point, and he
had just time to push the throttle hard in,
| call to his fireman, and with him jump from
the cab into the water, when the locomotive
| went over and down the slight embankment
| into about six feet of water. Both men were
| compelled to swim to the Fitchburg tracks in
order to get out. The tender went down
| with the engine and the front truck of the
baggage car was derailed, and the end of the
car went partly down the bank. The pas
| senger car, however, did not leave the
| track and the four passengers in it were not
| in the least injured, Though they were badly
| shaken up. The fireman was injured slight
| ly, but the engineer escaped without a
| scratch.
Since Ii o'clock on Thursday night 5.62
inches of rain have fallen in this city. The
flood in the Roxbury district has not per-
4
likely that if the storm does not resume, the
| water will be carried off during tonight.
| Residents of the flooded district have been
| navigating the streets in boats and on RATS
| today while detachments of police are ac-
| lively at work relieving the wants of the
| people driven to the second stories of their
| houses, and who were unable to secure
transportation to and from provision stores.
| 1t is believed that many large buildings
| have been undermined and permanently in
| jured and that when the water subsidies
| some of them will collapse. Numerous
small tenement houses occupied by factory
| operatives have been totally wrecked, occu-
| pants in many instances losing all of their
possessions.
The flooded district comprises large tract
| of filled land that consisted formerly of deep
hollows, which during recent years have
been filled in with earth taken from excava-
| tions. This earth has become loosened up
by the flood, leaving the foundations of
| many buildings very insecure and it is in
| such localities that great damage is expected
| to follow the subsidence of the waters.
| Nearly all the railroads leading out of the
city are in bad condition owing to wash
outs and demolition of bridges
Indeed, as matter of fact, many people
| went to bed and to sleep without any idea of
| what was coming, and in not few instances
| were awakened by the police coming in their
| boats to bedroom windows and rescuing
them when the water was well up on the
| bedposts.
There is much suffering among the poorer
classes. The oyerseers of the poor have
| established headquarters on fremont street,
| near the southern extremity of the flooded
| district, and are supplying the wants of the
imprisoned inmates of tenement houses as
| rapidly as possible by conveying food to
them in dories and on RATS. Many families
have been taken from their houses to places
of safety, while those who remain are as a
rule camped on the upper floors Of their
dwellings.
| r
| as known An infant was drowned IN its
cradle at an early hour this morning, while
the mother, who was asleep on the bed near
by, was totally ignorant of the inundation.
BosroN, Feb. 14-12.14 a. m.-The Rox-
bury flood has receded considerably during
the afternoon and evening. fremont street
is now comparatively dry. At Culvert street,
the point first crossed by the flood the street
is still under water.
While the water has disappeared to a con-
siderable extent along the easterly side of
fremont street, the huge volumes that have
poured across that street have rapidly filled
the low lands lying to the westward until
many acres in that quarter are now Hooded.
This new tract comprises the land In the
rear of the Institute Fair building, the BoS-
ton base ball ground and in the vicinity of
Parker street. The damage here must be
considerable.
The condition of the Easements, which
contain four to eight feet of water, makes it
utterly lIlpOSSlDlt 10 OUUdlu dCCuIdt6 lll1Ollll-
alton about the condition of the foundations,
and there are probably great many struc-
lures that are badly undermined, and serious
consequences are feared when the water
eventually subsidies, as its sustaining force is
believed to support a large number of build
ings.
The estimate of the loss to the Betting Co.
is $250000
BosToN. Feb. 1.-THE territory, east of
fremont street, and between that thorough
fare and Shawmut Avenue is still buried be-
meath from four to eight feet of water. The
Pennsylvania steel works and all that por-
tion of the town lying along the railroad
was under four feet of water and the dam
age is very great. At Middletown a channel
fifty feet wide was washed through one OF
the large Islands.