The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-15

lower reservoir became q considerable waterfall,
and tie brook down tho ravine became a little
torren. that roared as It ran. On Tuesday all
day the brook kept rising, and when dark
ness came the water was less than a
foot from tho customary high water mark. II
didn't worry anybody. 1t was expected that
during tho night It would rise and would per
haps get into the lower floors OF the houses
That didn't worry anybody. either. At
~ O'Clock IL had entered the houses. At 2
o'clock II was so deep that the people living In
them got worried for the first time. and then It
seemed TO DO increasing momentarily and there
was q scramble to get out. Undoubtedly at
that hour the dam OF the upper reservoir had
given way under the pressure OF the water. and
the millions Of gallons 1t had held had rushed
into the lower reservoir and were running over
the overflow and swelling the ravtne brook to
TSe dam to tho lower reservoir resisted the
strain. perhaps fifteen minutes. Then came =
s Srash u iik s., that Of Of n Sstcp yu ihomaeT; came anH I rosr ing
,,SS ~ fec. p e the ' ;hilt sa Fts, that Sisb had ID G .Sis { 9irss
LUMP aI: i H. tore reot up tho soa trsss HUGE hise 6 bon thS sa nnd
a osnt th sns f SSine down y EattSs Tic mountain side. Down
o. over Set the waterfall, carrying with II tho boulders
on IL rushed with almost Irresistible force. The
roar was like the roar OF the ocean breaking on
By a storm. The people below heard it. but
before this they had bcgun to leave their houses.
over tho post road was reached. The ravine
widened above tho bridge. The ground on
%aae sid sort o. OF in pocket gseass Sb %Ss the thSsDb5 bridge. No
longer confined by the rocky sides Of n the {rOni g
s sofr %sts sw ssGs G }ss, i Wide i i grew eSSt 10 so s1" iFG%
though its depth, decreased; For a moment the
sold banks % n wa held a,a 3 , part w OF s she pu ,l0oa' on a" tow ssea
the tbrickyard and the houses nnresisted, and
~npb a. had torn Cpt a nd tha hnndrpla nf trnpR
IL had gathered on its way. Ii broke from its
banks. 1t tore itself a channel through he earth
strip, and on out into the river ii rushed with
an awful roar. carrying before it everything in
coming down in sheets, there was no light, any.
whore; and It was little wonder that. with the
roar of the unseen waters and the crashing or
the timbers about them, the people, though sale
on high ground, should lose their wits and be-
9Th The nam nam who sil1t toId the straightcs, story yestcr-
gay of what happened in the sett!en'ent !nst
bSe n1rsv and md o during e. the The ta iloSa was and r bdard.
ing house and one Of the shantIos, and foreman
ofthe bFickyard. Murphy s,i1 that thirSs:iioSS T
including himself; his brothers family of the
name number, John Conroys family OF hye, Mrs.
Ferry and her son and two brothers, Lorenzo
Lowry and his wife and child, aud ten OF the
Hpngarians,t who lodged with John sinka in the
other shanty. :,
Murphy said that he was up and around all
the evening until about IL O'clock. Even then
he did not 20 10 bed. About / o'clock he looked
ont and saw that the water had risen
that the floors were overiiowed. The water
RIic ccss. In went e little down wh ans The hs % %etsf r sss
again, and again soon went down. and
Il hs,eI Pi Il had 70 so more down n%tt e n sS out to and ii S sSssD 4
look about the place to see Just how things
were. He took a lantern. he said, and walked
Ssst after. 2 o'clock. il was absolutely dark.
Fifteen minutes later he saw that the water be
gan to. rise again rapidly, the volume coming
aG liz H sss s on he sT hisR STRIP Ffsy q s'R Eana between tho
toward the river. AS the water rose higher and
came faster down the stream. it ov~erf1owed
Above him-tha Is. in toward the houses-there
was a crash, and then an thrush OF the water
had left its course, which swept to the northward
around the houses and the high strip OF land,
strip iSS ad sake at the sh Sri ehns'Maardf for snf It's 81 e ede h The
,i,ssr ia, Gsm st lhs S TIVE t ians. Of s E ffSF!s' s 3ns Sn
safssH f sSa1sf is i foand d"siRss 'G ali the HUM
u, way. 1t and ndrns ssarte S%' for any Mu MaS af house ssee 3
for, anywhere where there was apparent
more than knee high, but having great volume
much debris at the point where it had forked
water wat r in f.i i, gathering force. flowed toward the
brickyard, rising over more and more Of
.ns s ah,sn '' We're. w9 Ths s hhanRI' he n ss.d
was undermined and thrown down. Tn,
%eH bs.. in they j. e ssssns tS~ard pp The s seSer f 1Gass
which faced inland. and tried to climb upon thu
f fro H pS1sh,h had IDf bTo S1ifs for out he opPhe %ite br feGss e
workmen who boarded in the house furthest t.
the southwark, which was high enough up to b,
boarding house got to the fat land Of the brick
yard only to find the surging food impossible II
Murphy said he heard the shouts and the nois,
house the water was waist high aboai
got to. the house could do nothing but urge an;
55 sGs b the tb inT soos to tRa fyjb had The Sn sdhansy; spFn f
truck the house and carried away the porch
This warned everybody that the house must b.
s sasS.S ned m sna I SissD I, tthiSugh 1bs Of Td their 0 avn
children out Of the windows and out Of tn,
doorwayss high above the flood; When the las
water had not touched. Some Of them clamberet
upon, Q wooden tramway that stood beside it.
came down on the rushing water, 1t had beef
waters brought along. The destruction OF til
house and the ever increasing roar of the waite
were almost tI panic pSu Stricken Ike them ensH When the hous
reached the upper end of the tramway it crashe
s cos@pi tsi 't the faHieht ana PdF there S1 Was W uSS Wild dash ash
every man for himself, every woman for herself
and the children-well, 10 they were handy the
were looked after. John Conroy. the engineer Q
the tbrickyard. had his youngest child. His arr
Murphy house. He held the child in the unir
jpred one a moment and clutched at q tree a
the water swept him from his feet. In his e,
element he dropped the child. But he caugh
the tree and the child was caught by a Hun an
carried to safety.
Mrs. Ann. Ferry had her child. There wa
pathetic evidence of this later when the foo
subsidized and her body was found stiffened /
death. One arm was bent as 1t would have bee
In holding the boy. and the other was held up
A 30 ward oil the waters about to strike 1t. Th
body OF the boy was ten feet away. He had bee
washed from his mothers arms.
Probably in their mad rush from the safe plae
in which they were standing not one of the pc,
PIE had any idea of where they were goinl
Momentarily they were out of their heads, an
then they lost their lives. Those who were lo
were: Mrs. John Conroy and two children
Julia. aged Q years. and John, aged 10 month
Mrs. Ann Ferry and one child, William. aged |
ysars; elena Lowreyl, . years old. and job
These who succeeded in reaching other place
how they did II. Murphy said he Couldn't te