Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1897-07-22
LITTLE YOUNGSTOWN.
Collapse Of Two Large Reservoirs
in the FishkilIs.
a Large Number OF Persons Drowned ana
Several MisSfng-Somo OF the Bodies
Dug from Beneath Many Feet Of
Mud and Debris-Heroac ReseueS-

PoUaHKEKPsR, n. Y, July 1.-THE
Swo large reservoirs in the Fishkiu
mountains, which supplied water To
the towns of Matteawan and Fishkiu,
burst their walls at two o'clock yester-
day morning, and the water that was
released swept through the Duchess
valley, causing ruin and death.
Five bodies have been taken from
the wreckage left in the wake of the
food, and there are known to be two
and probably three more lying some
where beneath the pile of debris,
which is all that remains of three
houses that were swept away by the
torrent.
The names of those whose bodies have
been recovered. as officially given out
by Coroner 81. B. Bevier, of Matteawan,
are:
Mrs. John Conroy, aged 46, wife of
the engineer in Timony's brick yard;
her body was badly bruised by contact
with trees and wreckage and was COW
cred with mud.
Mrs John Ferry, aged IS years, a
widow; her body was in the worst
condition of all the victims, being
covered with mud and bruises.
William Ferry, aged nine years, son
of Mrs. Ferry; the body was in good
condition except for bruises about the
head.
John S. Ruka, a Hungarian, IS years
old.
Philamena de Leulxka, an Italian
girl. six years old; the body was I'M
mutilated.
The missing are:
John Conroy, aged two years, a son
of Engineer Conroy.
Julia Conroy. aged six years, a daugh-
ter of Engineer Conroy,
An unknown Hungarian.
There were two reservoirs in the
mountains. the lower one-half a mile
distant from the other. The upper
dam gave way, letting the volume OF
water into the lower reservoir. This
also burst, and the water rushed down
through ravine. Van Buren, and
Timony's brick yard, on the Hudson.
just below Duchess Junction, are
mile distant from the site of the lower
reservoir. Without warning the flood
reached them through the ravine and
made terrible havoc. Buildings were
torn in pieces and their occupants car
ried away in the raging flood. The
waterworks system was operated by a
private company and supplied the viii
lagos at Matteawan and Fishl5ill-on-
the-Hudson.
The Mon treal express train arrived
ut the scene about three minutes after
the accident. and was tagged, through
the efforts of NJ. Ell. Riley, an employee
of Timony's. He apprehended danger
and went down to the track. Soon
afterward he heard tremendous
roar in the mountain, and the crash
of the buildings swept away. A
freight train had just passed
that portion of the track and stopped
below, having struck a rock that had
rolled down the mountain. Riley hur-
ried down the track and told the flag
man that the roadbed was covered by
the flood and he had better flag the ex-
press, which he did. Riley fingered
around until the food had partially
subsidized. Then he saw something
white in the rubbish and, reaching
down, pulled out the body of little
Italian gIrl.
John T. Lundy, one of Timony's en-
ployes, rescued Patrick Murphy and
four little boys. He waded out to
building and carried them, one by one,
to place of safety. This was directly
after the first wave. They had no
more than got to the bank when the
house was swept away.
Murphy lost about 81, 0Q0in cash that
had been given him by 1aborers for
safe keeping.
Timony's yard had capacity of "a
600, 900 brick year, and employed 200
men.
About 1000 yards above Murphy's
boarding house, directly in the center
of the ravine, was a small settlement
of Arabs, so or 40 men, occupying half
a dozen huts. There is not a settle
ment now, but, as far as known, no
Arabs lost their lives.
On each side of the railroad track
are great piles of rubbish, tree trunks,
rocks, pieces of houses, all sorts of
household goods and clothing.
One rock, weighing ten tons at least,
lies on the site of Murphy's boarding
house.
The wave was about fifteen feet
high. It is shown by traces along its
passage, when it reached a point
about 700 feet above the buildings,
it had spread out until it was about
200 feet wide and 10 feet deep. moving
with resistless force. 1t tore out by
the roots trees that were from one to
two feet in diameter.
Engineer John Conroy, who lost his
wife and two children, states that they
We're not in the building when the
food 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
to find a place of greater
apparent safety, and, in crossing to
another house, the flood swept her and
the children to their death.