New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-07-15
PRICE THREE CENTS.
DEATH IN RUSHING WATERS.
EIGHT PEOPLE SWEPT AWAY.
TWO RESERVOIRS NEAR FIsHKrLL
BURST WITH TERRIBLE EFFECT.

A LABoRERg BOARDING HOUSE osfIrERAfsD
AND BRIcKyARD WIPED OFT OF Ex-
IsrENcE-rHE TERRiBLE roRcg OF
THE wATER-rHE NEw-YoRx
cENTRAIs TRACKS WASHED
AWAY AND TRAINS
DELAYED.
dams. which supply FishkiIl Landing and Nat.
teawan with water. burst at 2:30 o'clock this
morning. The waters rushed down the noun.
tains. following the old bed OF the Mexingah
Brook The great volume Of water struck the
little settlement occupied by the laborers OF
Frank Timoney's brickyard at Dutchess juno.
tion. and then sweeping away dwelling houses,
resulted In the death Of five persons at least. and
probably OF eight. The dead and missing are:
DEAD.
sy M y H :ssa sys wife Of John o.
FERRY. Mrs. Mary. widow. aged thrty-esht yesr
FERRY. William. her young aged nine years
DELUKA. Ph!.omeia, an Italian child. six years ola
sRCKA. John Hungarian. aged twenty-eigh yeara
MISSING
cONRoY John. OF Conroy. the engineer AGED -
coNRoY. Julia. daughter Of same aged SIX years
An unknown Hungarian iaboer whose brother declares
that he drowned.
One OF the buildings was a boarding house
conducted by Patrick Murphy This building
contained Ave families Mr.. and Mrs Con"
Murphy and five children Mr. and Mrs. Patrick
Murphy and four boys; John Conroy. wife and
two chdren; Italian family. man. wife. sne
child named Deluka. and Mrs. Ann Ferry, q
widow. and her young son. None OF the Murphy
family were lost
A short distance from the Murphy boarding.
house was building occupied by about twenty.
five laborers. mostly slavs. with a few Italians.
Sruka was one Of these. Hungarian. whose
name and number are unknown. Is missing. His
body is probably in the ruins.
OF those who perlshed these bodies have been
found: Mrs. Mary Conroy. wife Of the engineer
Of Timoney's brickyard: John Sruka, Willie
Ferry and the Italian child Philomena Deluka.
Workmen are digging for the remaining
bodies in the debris. which extends for a distance
Of thousand feet on the tracks Of the Hudson
River Railroad
There were two floods. The FIRST was not dis.
astrous but alarmed the inhabitants most OF
whom left their houses. short time later the
second dam burst. pouring the flood down the
mountain, carrying with IL great mass OF
debris. parts Of buildings. etc.
NARROW ESCAPES FROM THE TORRENT.
Henry McGurgan and Michael Clark. two
brickyard hands. with several other men, were
in one of the destroyed buildings when II started
from its foundations. Several of the men 20.
capped by jumping from the windows a. the
building was carried along by the flood. Clark
remained In the floating structure until u struck
one Of the brickyard shanties. which was moveo
| from its foundation by the collision. When the
current had swept the shanty near the shors'
he jumped on the bank and escaped unharmed.
McGurgan. in attempting to reach the BANK rel
under the building which passed over him. He
clung to roots OF trees that had been uncovered
by the torrent and climbed up the bank to
place of safety. His pack was severely injured.
The engineer, John Conroy. who lost MS wite
and two children. states that they were not IN
the building when the flood came. They were
on knoll on the edge Of the flood He told
his wife to stay there with the children until
he went back To the building. But she at
tempted to find a place Of greater apparent
| safety. and. In crossing to another house. the
flood swept her and the children to their death.
1t has been ascertained that the main part OK
the torrent was distorted from its course BY
striking the larger Of the three buildings. II
left the bed Of Melzngah Brook and tore across
the brickyard. running everything In Its course
Sruka and his brother Martin. who had left
their building after the first big water" as they
called 1t. came down. returned to the building
to save some OF their effects. Martin sruka'
hearing the roar of the advancing waters OF the
second food. called to his brother and started
for high ground. His brother. however disre-
garded the warning; he did not follow. ana
perished He leaves a wife.
Con Murphy brother Of the engineer says
he slept until 80 o'clock, when he was aroused
by the people in the house, who warned him of
the approaching food He came out and found
most Of the people OF the house on the stoop
The water was then about four feet deep. The
men. wading through water up to their hips
began carving women and children to places Of
safety. The first wave Murphy says. swept the
stoop away The second carried the house down
stream piling mp mass Of wreckage.
WHAT THE RESERVOIR WAS.
Tho reservoir is situated In the Fishkill Noun.
tains about a mile east OF Fishkill. IL cohects
the surface water from the north side or south
BEACON and tn. south side OF neiShoorfn6
mountain and IL 500 feet above tide water It's
overflow reaches the Hudson by way OF small
stream known as Towanda Creek. AT the west
end Of the ra vine are the devastated brickyards.
The reservoir Is OF oval shape about 800 feet
long and .pW feet Wlue. anu ov vi -" i'e' ~"
II Is used as an auxiliary supply to the regular
waterworks system Of Matteawan ana FISH
kin Landing from the main source ot when u
is distant about four miles The largest reser'
voir OF this system is considerable lake near
North Beacon which has massive masonry ana
,s intact A second reservoir. situated much
,ower down the mountain, which was built TO
reouce tho pressure In the pipes. IL also un'
hrolen These two have no direct connection
with the Dutchess Junction reservoir. though al
three feed into the same pipes
HOW THE TROUBLE BEGAN.
The overflow began about seventy-hve fees
So, tho patehouse and washed the south