The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-02-08
JnRSEr SroRn noUND.
Bound Brook and Other Towns Imperiled-
 Fire Adds to the Danger,


 night, and the inhabitants passed a night which they are likely to remem- ber for the rest of their lives. One man was drowned and another is missing. Many of the residents were penned by the flood in the upper stories of their houses. When the fire broke out noth- ing could be done to check it and it had to burn itself out. Communication with the outside world was cut off until morning.
 The man who lost his life was Fred Miller, fisherman and peddler, fifty years old. The missing man is John Connolly.
 Miller lost his life late last night while trying to rescue man of the name Of Mulvey and his wife from drowning. Mulvey is proprietor of the Port Read ing hotel in the lower part of the town. At 9 o'clock last night Miller roWed up to the hotel to take Mulvey and his wife out. He was an expert boatman, put there was strong current running at the time. Miller took Mulvey and hls wife in the boat and it was upset when a little way from the hotel
 MT. and Mrs. Mulvey clung to a tree and were rescued later Miller clung to his boat. His dead body was found this morning and it is supposed that his boat sank Although Connolly is miss ing, his friends think he may not have been drowned
 Fire started in the lumber yard of L. Cook & Go. at Nebin and East streets at S:30 p. m. and for time it looked as if the whole town would be swept by the flames. The streets at the base of the hill where the lumber yard is locat- ed were flooded to a depth of six feet.
 It was impossible for the firemen to work on the fire. They couldn't find the fire plugs or get their apparatus through the water.
 Word was sent to Plainfield and other nearby towns, and firemen were sent to the assistance of the Bound Brook department. The flames were not check ed until they had burned all within their reach, including the lumber yard, frame Presbyterian church and the sta. ble at the lumber yard
 The. flood was the largest in the his- tory of the town. All train communi- cation was discontinued after half-past five o'clock yesterday afternoon and commuters were forced to remain in neighboring towns over night. Those who tried to drive home were forced to ford small rivers and made the journey at the risk of their lives. Trains on the New Jersey Central railroad could not get past Dunnellen, four miles east of Bound Brook.
 After the first train was laid up at Dunnellen others stopper at Plainfield, the next station to Dunnellen. The wa ter had risen in some places over the railroad tracks Finderne bridge was washed away. Sixty feet of the south branch of the New Jersey Central com pany's bridge was carried away Two small bridges on the Raritan and one at the Neshanic station were also dam- aged considerably by the flood.
 All night groups of men were at work on the bridges, and the first train to leave Bound Brook for New York pulled out of the station at o'clock this morning
 No train came from the west until af- ter 10 o'clock.
 The cause of the flood was the tre- mendous rising of the Raritan river, which flowed twenty-six feet above it's high water mark. This is the highest point to- which the Raritan river has ever risen.
 Bound Brook is surrounded by streams. These are the Raritan river, Green Brook and numerous smaller bod ies of water flowing from the Watching mountains. Bound Brook cuts the town in two. Main street, which is the prin- cipal tIoroughfare of the town, runs from east to west parallel with the rail- road tracks. The flood is confined to 100 houses, hotels and stores on Main street.
 While on the way to Bound Brook from Plainfield a flat car containing an engine struck an unfortunate resident of Bound Brook and killed him. His body was carried away by the flood.
 All of the cellars are flooded. There was a river six feet deep flowing down Main street last night. It flooded the hotels, the post office, the railroad sta- tion and the telephone office. The wa- ter was so deep that the telegraph oper- ators were forced to abandon their posts. The flood of water does not ex- tend back to the town proper, as most of the residential portion of the place is located on a hill.
 The one way to cross Main street this morning was by rowboats. There were five boats engaged in the ferry busi- ness.
 The greatest amount of damage was done to that section of the town known as the lowlands at the western ter minus of Main street. This part of the town is inhabited mostly by Italians These persons remained in the upper part of their houses, some on the roofs, all night Many who were forced up- stairs by water did not have any food until 9:30 o'clock this morning. At that hour men in boats took provisions to the imprisoned inhabitants. In the lower section of the town outhouses were overturned and demolished The water in some places rose up to the second story of the houses.
 The speed with which the water rose may be judged from the fact that twen- ty-five men were imprisoned in a fac tory on Main street. It was in the works of the Standard Gas Fixture com pany. Some one noticed that the water was rising rapidly and gave the alarm. The factory whistle sounded an alarm at once and the men in the factory tried at once to get out. Before they could