New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-01-10
TIE pOC1NTJCO HfRROR.

Every consumer of Croton will rejoice to
learn that there is not the least truth in the
grotesque stories published by some of the
evening papers yesterday that the aqueduct had
been chOked up with great masses OF mules
and Italians, not TO mention dulnp-carts, wheel
barrows, picks, shovels and peaceful West
chester farmers. All this mischief was re-
ported to be due to the bursting of its bounds
by the Pocantico River. Now the Pocantico
is not one of the mighty streams of the globe.
1t will never rank with the Amazon. the Missis-
sppi, the Nile or the Congo. 1t purls meekly
along through few country back
yards in the Croton basin, and in
its most ambitious moments never
aspres to food anything more extensive than
a wash-tub. Yet this unassuming little streak
of dampness was depicted in the fantastic
descriptions OF some of our esteemed evening
radiators of intelligence as sweeping madly
over an enormous area in the southern part of
The Empire State, bearing upon its incbriated
bosom large part of the livestock between
Long Island Sound End the Hudson River.
and, with roar like the thunders of Niagara,
pouring into the bowels of the new aqueduct
great piles Of wreckage to which the re-
Gently renowned raft of the somewhat famous
James d. Leary was but tiny spcck. 1t was
asserted that the aqucduct was so damaged by
tue torrent that it would require rebuilding.
and it was intimated that unlimited labor and
boundlcss expense would be required to COM
plete during The next few years the gigantic
task OF cxtricating from the strangled tunnel
the cOrpses of countless mules and Italians
who had been swept away from the pursuit of
honest toll in various square miles OF the Croton
valley to meet at last in one moist, soilcd and
unattractivc tomb.
The reader of the imaginative extras"
which were whirlcd from throbbing presses
and scattered swiftly all over town yesterday
afternoon, looked up from the stupendous tale
of horror with a gasp of apprehension, expect
ing to see the towering deluge of the Pocantlco
come crashing down Manhattan Island from
the Westchcster hills. But as the afternoon
wore away and there were no signs of any
unusual wetncss above Madison Square. the
terror of the community was sensibly dimln-
ished. After time the people who, at the
first note of alarm, had taken refuge On the
top floors Of the Navarro flats and other noun
famous elevations in various parts of the town,
stole timidly downward. When at the end of
their long and arduous descent they found that
the streets were not impossible, they took
courage and IL feeling of renewed confidence
filtered slowly throughout the metropolis The
painful anxiety and uncertainty about the ulti-
mate effects Of the reported rising
Of the PocanticO will not however,
altogether disappear until people find that dur
ing the next few weeks the Croton is without
any flavor of saturated mule or soaked Italian,
and that no dump-carts, wheel-barrows or
shovels come pouring out into wash-basins
and bath tubs when the water is turned on in
the morning.
| AT last accounts the Chappaqua correspondent
of " The World" who appears to be responsible
for starting this panic, had set out for the scene
of the disaster, of which he had thoughtfully
sent full details before he had had chance to
discover anything. The latest news from this
enterprsing and intrepid explorer will be
looked for with mixed feelings. But If he
should not be heard from during the next
few months it is not likely that a relief expe-
dition will be sent out, as was done for DIR.
Livingston. General Gordon and Emin Bey
As a rival of Rider Haggard he may merit
certain measure of fleeting notoriety but as a
permanent wcll-spring of information about
The Pocantico River and the new aqueduct he
would be obviously open to objection.