The Portland daily press., 1896-03-03

standing in the way of brid ges and bous
es in reach Of the water.
THREE KILLED AT BRUNSWICK.
George III. Wagg and Two Frenchmen
swept Down with Dam--The Narrow
Escape of the Shepard Family-Bridges
Gone-Great Damage to Ane Mills.
Brunswick, March 2.-The rain Of the
last three days has caused much damage
to property here through an unusually
large freshet. Many of the Oldest inhabi-
tants say they never saw the water so
high. There is branch of the river
which runs behind the BowdoIn paper
mill and until this morning it was
SPAWNED by three wooden bridges. These
have all gone out and the only commu-
nication with Topsham is by means of a
narrow suspension bridge at Topsham
Heights which is in considerable dam
ger.
About six O. clock this morning. dwell
ing on MEL street, belonging to Mr..
Mark Sheppard, was undermined and,
floating down the river,
CRASHED INTO THE BRIDGE
COMMONLY called Free bridge, onwihoh is
the track of the Lewiston branch of the
Maine Central, partially demolishing 1T.
The whole bridge may go. Soon after,
the three bridges on the Topsham side
broke and joined the floating mass of
wreckage. An unocoupied house near
the paper mill and one on the Brunswick
side were washed away and the boat
house of the Pejepsoot Canoe club is also
gone. The Bowdoln College boathouse is
greatly damaged, but has not yet left its
foundations. One span of the old toll
bridge known as ebay Bridge" about
four miles from here, has also been swept
away.
Tonight the
WATER is RISING RAPIDLY,
and swo other houses are sure to 60.
| The electric light station, which stands
on an island in an exposed part of the
river, is in great danger. The Snspen-
sion bridge by which it was connected
with the shore, has gone down river. No
| insurance against food could he placed
on this property, aud If the staSion goes,
as is momentarily expected, the plant
will be an entire loss. AS it is, Bruns-
wick will be
/ IN TOTAL DARKNESS
for some time to @ ONE. Houses on the
Topsham side Of thss river, thousand
feet from the bank of the river are food
ed and ONE of them are out off from
ALL communication. The machinery and
stock of the Brunswick Ferrule company
and the Fairfield Lawn Swing company
were removed early this morning to
place of safety. These mills are in an ex-
posed position, and it is feared that he
constant battering of tho huge cake s of
ice may destroy thier foundations. In
| deed, all
THE MILLS ARE IN DANGER.
The damage sustained by the Cabot oom-
pany in the loss of its fume will exceed
$4,000, while the loss to the Electric
Light company, the Pulp Mill, the
Paper Mill, the so-called ''Red Mill'' and
to Mr. Sheppard cannot be estimated.
Just above the Free BRIDGE the riv-
er overf1owed its tanks to such an extent
as to float all the wood in Marshall's
yard, and over fifty thousand cords have
gone down river. This loss
WILL EXCEED $50, 600
The elegant new iron bridge on the
main line of the Maine Central, construc-
ted at considerable expense by that COM
pany year ago, and said to be one of
the strongest on the entire line is intact,
but slight washout has occurred near
the pier on the Topsham shore and tho
huge blocks Of Ice are piled SO high
aaginst it's piers that with the oonsta MT
ly increasing volume of the water and
strength ofthe current, grave fears are
expressed for its salty. Crews have been
at work all day trengthening 1T as far
as possible.
The Shepard family had just got out
went. At this writing,
THREE DEATHS
have been reported. Mr.. Charles z.
Wagg, overseer of the weaving room of
the Cabot company's mill, was watching
two French employees whose names can
not De learned, who were at work
Strengthening the bulk head Of the COM
pany dam, when the whole structure was
torn from beneath them and all three dis
appeared in the swiftly flowing torrent.
Mr.. Wagg was well known and very
popular citizen of Brunswick, and his
untimely death is universally mourned.
Mr.. Wagg was not on duty at the time the
accident occurred, but it is said that the
two Rrenohmen were put to work at that
point by the company. No trains have
reached here except from Rockland, and
train No. A from Augusta, which did
not get here until six O'Clock tonight
The conductor of the Rockland train TO-
ports that between that point and Bruins
wick the
TRACK WAS SUBMERGED
in several places. in one place over two
feet of water being over the rails. The
trainsson this branch will probably be