The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1897-07-17
A WAVE OF DEATH.
Awful Result of Bursting Reser-
voir I'm New York.
Five Persons Lose Their Ltves-Onc
of the Victims Survivor OF the
Johnstown FIood-Much Prop
erty In Destroyed.


Poughkeepsie. N. T.. July 15.-The
two large reservoirs in the FishlSill
mountains which supplied water TO the
towns of Mattewan and Fishkill burst
their walls at two o'clock Wednesday
morning, and the water that was re.
leased swept through the Duchess val
ley, causing ruin and death. Five
bodies have been taken from the wreck
age left In the wake of the flood, and
there are known TO be two and prob
ably three more. lying somewhere be-
meath the piled debris, which is all
that remains of three houses that were
swept away by the torrent. The names
OF those whose bodies have been recov-
cred, as officially given out by Coroner
IL. Ii. Bevier. OF Mattewan. are:
Mrs. John Conroy. aged 4s. wife OF tho
engineer In Timony's brick yard: her body
was badly bruised by contact with trees
and wreckage and was covered with mud.
Mrs. Mary Ferry, aged IS years. 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 Struka. a Hungarian, 2S years old.
Philamena De Luka. an Italian girl, six
years old: the body was unmutilated.
The missing are: John Conroy. aged two
years. a son OF Engineer Conroy; Julia Con-
roy. aged six years. a daughter OF Engineer
Conroy: an unknown Hungarian. whose
brother declares that he was drowned.
The body OF Mrs. Mary Ferry was re-
covered Wednesday afternoon, dug
from mud and debris ten feet deep.
The workmen worked all day in the
ruins. Mrs. Conroy. one of the lost, be-
fore her marriage lived at Johnstown,
Pa, where the great flood occurred sew
eral years ago. She was rescued there
by John Conroy, who afterwards mar
rled her. Most of the ruins have been
searched, and IL is possible that some
bodies have been swept into the river.
The three buildings in which the la
borers had quarters were totally
wrecked. There is hardly a piece of
wood two feet long anywhere. In the
ravine there nre great rocks, some of
them weighing from five 10 ten tons
each, rolled down the mountain by the
torrent. One rock. weighing ten tons
ut least, lies on the site of Murphy's
clearinghouse.
John Il. Lundy. of Mattewan, one OF
Timoney's employees, rescued Patrick
Murphy and four little boys. He waded
out TO a building and carried them one
by one TO place of safety. This was
directly after the first wave. They had
no more than got 10 the bank before the
house was swept away. Murphy lost
nkout CT mn Il, coch that Hal kaa,, s.;,,,.,,
him by laborers for safe keeping.
The wave was about Is feet high, as
shown by traces along it's passage.
When il reached n point about 700 feet
above the buildings, it had sprend out
until it was about 200 feet wide and ten
feet deep, lnoying with resistless force.
1t tore QUO by the roots trees that were
from one 90 two feet in diameter.
Engineer John Conroy, who lost his
wife and two children. states that they
were not in the building when the flood
came. They were on knoll in the edge
of the flood. lie told his wife 10 stay
there with the children until he went
back to the building. but she attempted
to find place of greater apparent
safety, and in crossing 10 another
house. the flood swept her and the chill
dren to their death.
The reservoir the bursting OF which
caused the havoc at Duchess Junction Is
situated in the Fishkll mountains about
a mile east OF the Junction. IL collects the
surface water from the north side OF South
Beacon and the south side OF a neighborlng
mountain. and Is 500 feet above tidewater
It's overflow reaches the Hudson by way OF
a small stream known as Towanda creek.
At the west end or the rayine are the dew
astated brick yards The reservoir Is OF
oval shape and about 500 feet long and 800
feet wide and 80 or 50 feet deep. IL Is used
as an auxiliary supply to the regular water
works system OF Matteawan and hishlill
landing. from the main source OF which II
Is distant about four miles. The largest
reservoir Of this system Is n considerable
lake near North Beacon, which has mas
sive masonry and is intact. second
reservoir. situated much lower down the
mountain which was built TO reduce the
pressure into the pipes. Is also unbroken.
These two have direct connection with the
Duchess Junction reservoir, though all