Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-04-29
BURST IT'S BOUNDS.

| a Rotten Dam Above East Lee, Mass,
Breaks Away, Carrying Fearful Havoc
In the Track of the Released Torrent--A
Dozen Lives Lost and the Business of the
Little Hamlet Ruined.
LEE, Mass, April 21.-The little ham.
let of East Lee, two miles east of this
place, was visited yesterday morning by
| q catastrophe which will ever remain a
dark chapter in it's history A 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 estimated at 100000.
The town is situated on a brook, the
outlet of Mud pond, which supplies sew
eral paper mills with 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 feet wide.
| Yesterday morning, few minutes after
| five O'Clock, tremendous roaring was
heard by early risers at Lee. They at
once surmised the cause, and the ringing
of the church bells and blowing of whis-
ties aroused the whole town Immediately.
| 1t was supposed that Goose pond, a large
body of water, had broken away, in which
event the town of Lee would have been in
danger.
This alarm in Lee awoke people in East
| Lee, and they, hearing the crashing and
roaring of the water and rock, although
three or four miles away, rushed from their
| homes, some half-clad, others almost
naked, but all flying for their lives, and
| they were none too soon. The great
mass of water came pouring down
the narrow way outlying the sides Of the
! roads and the meadows, and strewing
rocks. trees, houses and every thing con-
ceivable in it's wild rush. The path of
the torrent varied from fifty to two hun
dred feet in width and when the waters
became confined to narrow limits the de-
| StructiOn was terrible.
| On entering the town the first obstacle
encountered was heavy iron and wood
en- bridge. Spectators who saw the wave
! as it entered and struck the bridge say
| it was about twenty feet high and sixty
| feet wide. It completely enveloped the
| bridge and carried it away.
Just below was the mill of John Dowd,
which was completely wrecked. The
| dam was washed away, and with added
| weight the waters rushed on.
| A rod further stood the house OF
Simeon Dowd Mr.. Dowd, seventy
years old and rather infirm, had gone out
a moment before to feed his chickens.
He stopped but ten feet back of his
| house, but the water caught him and
| swept him into eternity. His wife stood
| paralyzed at the sight, but unable to as
sist him. Up to noon his body had not
been recovered. Mr.. Dowd leaves wife
and son. His house was turned on its
side, but the other inmates escaped seri-
Gus I'M ury.
| The saddest incident of the day was
| the fate of A. N. White, aged fifty; his
wife, aged forty five; their daughter, aged
nine, and and the baby, nine months
| old. They occupied house
recently purchased with hard earned
| savings, and were a happy, contented
| family, respected by all who knew them.
When the fearful avalanche of water
struck the house, Mr.. White and his
| family had not risen. Their home was
swept away without a moments warn
ing, and not trace, not even the founda-
ton 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 Garfield's
| paper mill, a mile below her home, and
then so firmly lodged in the machinery
| that four men had half hours work to
extricate it. The skull was crushed,
| both arms broken in several places, the
legs broken and cut in shreds, and the
eyes mutilated. 1t was a fearful specta.
Gle, and strong men wept at the sight.
Ida, pretty child and much loved by
the neighbors, met her death by drown
| ing, but was badly bruised. The body of
the infant has not yet been recovered.
Mrs. Theo. King, about forty-fou,
years Old, was carried from her room and
| drowned. She leaves two daughters.
Mrs. Charles King, of Housatonia, q
| relative, who was visiting at the house,
was also carried away by the food, and
| her body was recovered from mass
| of debris.
Mrs. McCormic, an invalid, was carried
out of the house on a mattress. just
| as they left the door, the waters burst
on them, and for moment the two men
holding the mattress, the woman and
her baby clasped at her breast were
| whirled along. Fortunately only the
edge of the torrent struck the party,
and in another second they were landed
| high upon she 5ering bank.
| During it's awful course, the torrent
utterly wrecked half dozen dwellings,
undermined GarhelQ'S paper Inlll, sweep
away John Whites carriage shops, and
badly damaged Deckers, Verrano Gil.
more's paper mills and McLaughlin's ma
| chine shops.
The food passed East Lee and went
down the valley destroying gardens,
lawns, fences and moving smaller build
| ings, but had not power to utterly wreck
| large buildings.
The bodies recovered and identified sc
far are: A. N. White, wife and two
| daughters; Theodore King and wife, and
the wife of Mr.. Kings son, Charles. 9th
err persons living in the track OF the flood
are missing.
| Mr.. White was a veteran, and men,
| Der OF Rockford G. A. r. of Pittsheld,
which will see to his burial and that OF
his family. Charles King, reported dead,
, is badly injured, but his physicians think
! he will recover.
| The calamity is clearly the result OF
carelessness on the part of the owners OF
| the ater-power, who had been notified
| of the dams weakness. It throws great
many men out of employment and para
lyses East Lees industry. Besides the
property loss of 5000, 900, it will cost the
town at least $4,000 to repair roads and
| pay costs.
| Death Sentences Committed.