Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1889-06-15
Shepherdstown Register.

ShepherdstOwn Register.
Last Sunday. as the river was fall
ing tremendous carp Topped
into the road leading to the Cement
Mill. Before he could get back
into deep water he was seen by
Mr.. Orrie Waters, who jumped upon
him and held him fast. The fish
weighed l4l pounds.
FLOOD NEws.-The little village of
Bridgeport, just opposite Shepherds
town, suffered greatly from the flood
The first buildings to go were the sta
BILE and other out-buildings of MI.
Levi Porter, the lock-tender. Then a
canal-boat came around the bend and
smashed against his house, which
was part frame and part brick wall.
1t remained there all day, finally
breaking in two in the evening. The
water was in the top story of the brick
house, damaging the building and
running the furniture. Then the frame
dwelling of the Widow Jones hoated
off; Mr.. Porter's small frame store
the bridge across the canal; two hay
houses; the two large carpentershops
belonging to the G. & o. Canal Com
pany; the corn cribs, hog-pens, etc.,
belonging to Mr.. George Knode; Mr..
l.. w. Poffenberger's store at the ca
nal-loc indeed the village was COM
pletcly cleaned out, every thing with.
in reach of the waters being swept
away. The hills overlooking the river
at Shepherdstown were filled with
people all day Saturday and Sunday.
1t was wonderfully fascinating
sight to watch the rush of the waters,
their gradual rising, the steady work
of destruction, and above all the in
Vulnerable objects of interest that
fioated down the stream. AS span
after span of the bridge was swept
away, and as building after building
moved out from Bridgeport, feeling
of intense excitement pervaded the
crowd. 1t was a striking and mag
nificent sight, though sad one. The
fiotsam and jetsam that came down
the river comprised almost every va
ricty of household goods, merchan-
disc, parts of wrecked buildings, rail-
road property, etc. In the morning
the watchers were deeply touched to
see little cradle floating down the
mad current, surrounded by the deb
ris of some wrecked home. Shortly
after this, dancing on the water like
thing of life, merrily skipping from
wave to wave, WaS-a coffin. Bed
steads and bureaus, tables and chairs,
tubs and buckets, now demijohn,
next a barrel Of whiskey showing the
revenue stamp on the end, baled hay
and straw, telegraph poles, sections of
railroad bridges, small buildings,
fences-everything that could float
PASSED like the cOlors of the kaleido-
scope. Thousands upon thousands of
little pulp logs foated down; hum
dreds upon hundreds of barrels of
empty and others filled, swept on
from morning till night. In the even
ing the chairs from the wrecked fac
tory at Williamsport began to come
first in single file, then by tWos and
threes. and then for time they pass
ed in punches, blue and red and green
and yellow, their bright colors fash
ing in the sunlight. Little chairs for
little children, easy chairs and rock
ers-all went tantalizingly on, though
many a watcher would have liked to
have caught couple, Fully dozen
of roof in the afternoon. They SEEM
ed to realize their hard fate, and look
ed very woe-be-gone.
Mr.. Chapline, the bridge-keeper,
stuck to his post to thei last. He
had to be almost forced away. The
water tore around and through the
house, reaching almost to the second
story, where his furniture was. A short
time before the bridge was washed
away a buggy in which were man
and woman was driven rapidly across
from the Maryland side. The horse
swan from the end of the bridge to
dry land. The poor woman was al.
most dead with terror, and hershrieks
were heart-rending. They took a
great risk, showing that they wanted
to cross very badly. Farmers who
had crops on the river bottoms lost
heavily. Over forty acres of splendid
wheat, almost ready for the harvest,
was literally ruined for Mr.. VIM. H.
Billmyer. Mr.. Taylor Unseld lost
20 acres of wheat; Mr.. Miller, on the
w. NJ. Shepherd farm, Is acres of
corn; Mr.. Thomas Turner Is acres of
wheat Mr.. George W. Osbourn and
Mrs. Bowers lost grass and wheat.
AT Mercerville-Henry S. Eavy's
two warehouses, valued at $4,000,
were taken from their foundations !;
in these were "a 800 worth of wheat
and corn belonging to Boyer & Beard,
all of which are lost; Sheriff Gatrell
lost from this point 1000 worth Of
property in saw-mill, canal-boats,
mules, etc. The Nancy Bowers prop
erty was completely cleaned out.
Henry G. Burgan lost his dwelling
house at Dam No. 4. The pulp mill
at Dam No. 5 is safe, but lost 15o tons
of pulp and 800 cords of wood. The
LIGHTHOUSE of the head of five.mile
level was moved some distance down
the river, and the brick house at John
sons lock was badly damaged. 1t is
reported that small house on Mr.. B.
f. Harrison's farm, above Dam No.
4, has disappeared entirely, with an
old negro woman who lived in it.
WHERE THE DRIFT LODGED.
About three miles below Shep-
herdstown, on the bottom lands Of
MIR. Geo. w. OSboprn and Mrs. Alice
Bowers, are several immense piles of
drift. The current there set in toward
shore, and the trees across the bottom
held the drift fast. 1t is wonderful
sight, and a fine harvest for the own
ers of the land. OF course there is
great amount of trash, but then
there's lots of valuable lumber and
other things. Great quantities of
good barrels, sections of fencing,
parts of bridges, telegraph poles,
crossties, stairways, doors, furniture,
plapks and flooring stuff, hundreds
and hundreds Of logs, parts of roofs,
bundles of shingles-there is no tell
ing what the piles do not contain. A
big portion of the Shepherdstown
bridge lies there, and several sections
of the Cumberland Valley bridge.
Mrs. Bowers got number of live