The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-07-15
DAM WAS AysouNu'
Water Company Held Irresponsible
R For Dutchess Junction \ 'orror.
Five Bodies Have Been b ecov-
l. cred From Wreckage.
The Torrent Divided and Swept Everything y
its Palh Before Il

Newburg, N. ", July 15.-Structurany |
weak and filled to overnowing by the re- |
cent rains, the twin Meizingha dams, |
which supplied Fishkill Landing and |
AIatteawan with water. broke yester- |
day morning about 2:30 o'clock. carry
Eng death to at least Ave persons. and |
possibly half a score. tying UP a branch
Of the New York Central and destroy
ting brickyards.
1t was Johnstown over again on
small scale.
Thus far five bodies have been taken
out. They are those Of:
Mrs. John Conroy, aged 80. wife OF
the engineer In Tlmony's brickyard.
Her body was badly bruised by con-
tact with trees and wreckage. and was
covered with mud.
Mrs. Mary Ferry. aged 3s, widow
Her body was taken In the worst con-
dition of all the victims, being covered
with mud and bruises.
William Ferry. aged 8, son OF Mrs.
Ferry. The body was in good condi-
tion. except for bruises about the head
John Sruka. aged %, a Hungarian.
Phlleumada Deluka. aged 6. an italian
girl.
The missing are:
John Conroy. aged 2. son of Engineer
Conroy.
Julia Conroy, aged 8, daughter of
Engineer Conroy.
An unknown Hungarian, whose
brother declares that he was drowned
Coroner Bevier made the following
statement:
when 1 reached the scene of tn
accident, I found that the brickyard
laborers, Irish, Italian and Hungarian,
although terrified by the disaster, had
started a search for the bodies, and
had already recovered the remains Of the
italian girl, Deluka, and Willie Ferry.
at once set about 40 men at work over
hauling the ruins for the others.
"Our investigation showed that i'm
mediately after the torrent Of water
had swept away the three dwellings in
which the victims and survivors lived,
II had encountered a slight elevation of
ground which caused the freshet to
fork and continue in two streams to
the railroad bank. where 1t backed up
until 1t overfiowed the railroad tracks.
The little girl was washed down by the
southern fork. which was the one that
did the greatest damage to Timony's
brickyard, and 1t was on this branch
the other bodies were discovered withir
so feet Of each other, covered with wreck
age, in a basin which was formed by the
northern fork of the flood. There
expect to find the other three bodies"
AS soon as the first excitement, at
tendant upon the awful catastrophe
had subsided the thoughts and conver
sation of the hundreds Of people who hat
gathered at the scene, and Of the resi-
dents Of the twin villages Of Fishkil
banding and Mattewan. turned to th'
question Of responsibility for the dis
aster
Sndignntion Against Owners of Dam.
Coroner BREWER refused to express al
opinion, beyond this statement:
There is great Indignation expressed
against the owners and builders Of thos
reservoirs, but cannot foretell the out
come. have subpoenaed jury. an
IT is for them to fix the responsibility.
NJ III. Hoyt, a member Of the jury, said
II believe that the Fishkill and Matte
wan Water company will be held 70
negligence. One of the dams, at leas
has been notoriously unsound ever sine
It was built, that was 10 years ago. but
has been leaking all the time. Th
dam was 1-2 feet above the water an
stones. People have been predictin
B collapse ever since have lived here.
John Robertson. a civil and mechan
ical engineer, who has lived in the lc
oality for 18 years. made an importar
statement. He lives near the gull
through which the torrent swept befor
It reached the brickyard. and his hous
came near being carried away by til
Hood.
Robertson made an examination
the two bursted dams, after which
said:
1.-THE accident was caused by the watt
not being able to hnd enough outle
1.-THE water overfiowed the centre Of II
embankmnt, tn consequence being Il
utter destruction OF the body OF Il
dam. I have been afraid of the rese
voir for years. and have been public
eondemning II for some time. The on
Jet was four times too small The wate
shed is about $4,000 acres, the Owe
flow should have been in excess Of Il
pressure upon 1t. which was about 1
pounds to the square inch.'
A visit to the reservoir shows tn
fhe overflow began about 75 feet from Il
gateway and washed out the south 81,
OF the bank for a distance OF rs fee
That weakened the walls so that
started toward the north end OF q
Eatehouse overflow, and gradually
weakened the bank and retaining wa
A lot of immense boulders were carri
down by the stream for half n mi
through the gap In the lower reservo
The wave was about Is feet high,
shown by traces along It's passas
When Il reached n point about 700 fe
above the buildings II had spread o
until Il was about 200 feet wide and
feet deep, moving with resistless fore
II tore out by the roots trees that we
from one to two feet In diameter.
curiosity OF the food is seen In the m,
titude OF little flsh left I'm the sinkhol
along the course taken by the water.
Engineer John Conroy, who lost
wife and two children. says that tn
were not In the building when the flo