The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1897-07-22
'DIEDN RUSHING WATERS.
Two Reservoirs Near FishkiIl, N. Y,
Burst With Terrible Effect.
WAS A MINIATURE JOHNST0WN.
The Mountain Dams Gave Way and H.
100000 Gallons of Water Descended
Upon q Hamlet-Houses Swept Away
and Smashed to Kindling Wood
Fatalities Caused by the Torrent.

Upon a Hamlet-Houses Swept Away
and Smashed to Kindling Wood
Fatalities Caused by the Torrent.
MArrEAwAS, NY. eciaD.-Surcharsed
by the recent heavy rains the twin Mel
zingah reservoirs, situated in the first
range Of the Fishkill Mountains, mile
east Of Fishkill, burst at a. m. Wednes-
day. The torrent swept through mar
row ravine, following the course Of
Melzingah Creek, and burst with all its
fury over little settlement about Timony's
brick yards on the banks Of the Hudson
River, about mile away and
500 feet below the level OF the
broken dams. Seven persons were
drowned. The road bed of the New York
Central and Hudson River Railroad blocked
the debris until the pressure OF the water
became too great. Then 100 feet OF the
tracks were washed away, blockading
trains. The reservoirs belonged to the
Fishkill and Matteawan Water Company.
They were old-fashioned and apparently
carelessly built The damage is estimated
at S100 900.
The dead are: Mrs. John Conroy, twenty
nine years old, wife OF the engineer OF
Timony's brickyard; body recovered:
Julia Conroy, FIVE years old, daughter Of
the engineer. John Conroy, eighteen
months old, son Of the engineer. Philo-
mena De Lucca, six years old, daughter OF
Lorenzo De Lucca, laborer in Timony's
brickyard: body recovered. Mrs. Annie
Ferry, cook in P. II. Murphy's boarding
house, thirty-fve years old; body recovered.
Willie Ferr about ten years old, son OF
Mrs. Annie Ferry; body recovered. John
Zinka, laborer in the brickyard, married,
wife and one child; body recovered.
The disaster was almost counterpart OF
the Johnstown food, though, happily, on
much smaller scale. The dams that gave
way were at the head OF long, narrow,
rocky gorge. They were both built cheaply
and improperly. The upper dam gave way
before a tremendous volume of water, which
even flooded the second dam and caused an
alarming rise Of water in the village, which
stood at the foot Of the valley.
As this receded the inhabitants were
thrown of their guard, and when the second
dam fell out and l2 900 900 gallons OF water
came rushing down the deflle many OF them
were caught as they fed toward higher
ground.
The children who lost their lines were
drowned. The men and women who per
lshed were first stunned by the rocks and
timber borne along by the food and swept
20 death.
Just as the Pennsylvania Railroad bridge
at Johnstown damned up the food and
added to the destruction, so did the high
embankment of the New York Central Rail-
road hold back the wall in the village,
where II swirled around, an angry, sullen
pool, until at one time it seemed as though
the refugees who had sought safety on the
high railroad siding in the nearby brick
gard would be drowned while they prayed
for help. Then the railroad embankment
gave way and the flood passed out into the
Hudson River, leaving two acres where the
houses had been q desolated space, COW
cred with wreckage that entombed seven
human beings.
So, too, does the disaster in its aftermath
resemble the Johnstown food. There Is
the same utter desolation Of families that
have lost their loved ones and all their
worldly goods. There is the same public
resentment toward the water company that
lnfamed the public mind against the South
Fork Fishing and Cunning Club. The dam
.aused the loss of life, and the public natur-
ally looks to the dam in trying to find some
one to blame.
But the coincidence between the great
Johnstown disaster and this smaller one at
rimony's does not end here. Figuring
In the calamity at Timony's were
John Conroy, the engineer OF the
brickyard, and his family OF wife
and three children. Conroy was one
Of the survivors at Johnstown;; So was
his wife. She was rescued from the Johns
town food, while her relatives perished.
Then Conroy married her, and they moved
away from that place Of horrid recollec-
lions. In this last food Mrs. Conroy and
TWO Of her children were drowned, and John
Conroy's arm was broken.
There were two reservoirs In the noun
tain, the lower one half mile distant from
he other. The upper dam gave way, let
ling the volume OF water into the lower
reservoir. This also burst, and the water
rushed down through ravine.
The food was pent up in the narrow con-
ines and gathered resistless force before it
hurled itself upon the plain below, carrying
ieath and destruction in its path. What
houses there were in its path were picked
lp bodily from their foundations and either
dashed to pieces or whirled along in the
torrents like chips on an angry sea.
It demolished the brick works utterly.
Not q vestige Of the extensive building was
eft. 1t carried away big bridge across
The roadway and flung 1t in pieces into the
liver. It tore away hole in. the railroad
racks 100 yards wide. 1t hurled one Of the
Eorkmen's big boarding houses bodily into
The Hudson.
The people had been awakened by the
.oar Of the torrent rattling down the ra-
7ine, and realizing intuitiyely what it
meant, rushed from their beds for safety.
There was no time to lose in dressing or
saving valuables, for the food was coming
With more than race horses speed.
Some OF them got to the higher ground in
safety. Many did not. One family, Perry
,y name, in their wild flight left their baby
behind. Most OF the killed were in the
Forkmen's boarding houses.
The immediate cause of the disaster was
he very heavy rainfall for the twenty
our hours preceding the breaking of the
iams. The alleged weak condition Of
The dams has been publicly proclaimed
several times, but the officials Of the
water company that owned them declared
hat they were quite strong. Civil Engineer
fohn Robertson, Iwho lives near them and
,aw them while building. Gays they were
rery fimsy. What is left OF them now
ooks pitiably weak. There will be an Of