The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-07-14
TORRENT OF DEATH
Metzingah Reservoir, Back
of Fishkill N. Y. Bursts
Flooding a Valley.
NUMEROUS LIVES LOST.
carelessly Constructed Dam
and Neglected Leak
Calamity Without
Warning.
BRAVE EFFORTS AT RESCUE
ssn, Waist Deep in Water, Car
xssd Women to the
High Ground.
RAILROADS SWEPT AWAY
Many Trains stslIed-sae Search
Begun for Red,es of
the Lost.
RAILROADS SWEPT AWAY
Many Trains staiIed-sae Search
Begun for sedses of
the Lost.


Meizingah dams which supply Fishkin
Landing and Matteawan with water, burst
at 2:30 this morning. The waters rushed
down the mountain, following the old bed
of the Melzingah brook. Two bridges
were swept away The great volume of
water struck the little settlement occu-
pied by the laborers of Frank Timoney's
brickyard at Duchess Junction.
There were two foods. The first was
not disastrous. but alarmed the inhabi-
tants, most of whom left their houses.
A short time later the second dam burst.
pouring the food down the mountain,
carrying with a great mass of debris,
parts of buildings, etc.
This struck the buildings in the rear OF
Tin oney's brick yard. One was board
ing house conducted by Patrick Murphy.
This building contained five fami2ies:-
Mr.. and Mrs. Con. Murphy and five chill
6ren; Mr.. and Mrs. Patrick Murphy and
four boys; John Conroy, wife and two
children; an Italian family, man, wife
and child named Lourey, and Mrs. Ann
Ferry, q widow, and her young son.
None of the Murphys were lost. The wife
and two children of John Conroy perish
ed. The Italian child, Lourey, died, and
Mrs Ann Ferry and her child Willie We're
also lost A short distance from the
Murphy boarding house was a building
occupied by about twenty-five laborers,
mostly Slavs, with a few Italians. One
of the Italians named John Zuica was
killed. "A Hungarian, whose name and
number is unknown, is missing. His re-
mains are probably in the ruins. Of those
who perished these have been found
Mrs. Mary Conroy, wife of the Engineer
of Timoney's brick yard; John Zuica,
Willie Ferry and the Italian child Selena
Lourey. The remaining bodies have not
been found. Workmen are digging for
them in the debris, which extends for
distance of a thousand feet on the tracks
of the Hudson River Railroad.
John Conroy, the engineer, whose arm
was broken, was dazed by his losses and
injuries and unable to say much about
the disaster. He directed inquirers to
Henry McGurgan and Michael Clark,t
brick yard hands, who had been in one of
the destroyed buildings.
They and several other men were in the
structure when it started from its foun-
dations. Several of the men escaped by
jumping from the windows as the build
ing was carried along by the food. Clark
remained in the floating structure until
1t struck one of the brickyard shanties,
which was moved from its foundation by
the collision. When the current had
swept the shanty near the shore he jump
ed on the band and escaped unharmed.
McGurgan in attempting to reach the
bank fell under the building, which passed
over him. He clung to roots of trees that
had been uncovered by the torrent. climb
ed up the bank TO a place of safety. His
back was severely injured.
Zuica and his brother Martini, who had
left their building after the first "big
water" as they called it, came down.
returned TO the building to save some of
their effects. Martin Zuica, hearing
the roar of the advancing waters of the
second flood, called to his brother and
started for high ground. His brother,
however, disregarded the warning and
did not follow him, and perished.
Con Murphy, brother of the engi-
neer, says he slept until 1870, when he
was aroused by the people in the house,
who warned him of the approaching
flood. He came out and found most of
the people of the house on the stoop
The water was then about four feet
deep. The men, wading through water
up to their hips, began carrying women
and children to places of safety. The
first wave, Murphy says, swept the stoop
away The second carried the house
down stream, piling up a mass Of wreck
age.
In the debris there are trees that had
been torn out by the roots. timbers and
roofs of houses, bedding. dead pigs swept
away with their pens, etc.
On one roof was seen half a dozen live
pigs. A barrel of flour converted into
paste stood on roof. On chair stand
ing on the roof near the pigs lay a water
soaked volume. When opened its title
was found to be, Thrown on the
World" by Bertha NJ. Clay.
In the side of the mountain was
great furrow which had been scooped out
by the flood as it came down the bed of
the brook.
The stream was from 50 to 200 feet
wtue, and had brought down with it
great boulders, trees, tirnbers and other
wreckage The railroad track had been
covered by sand, mud and rocks but had
ed ed. Half a IN mile up IS the mountain from
the scene of the disaster was Cascade
bride. It originally covered a gap ten or
fifteen feet wide. The torrent swept the
bridge away and enlarged the gap to a
in the earth and rocks A few rods above
Cascade bridge was NSSa second bridge
which was also torn away Near this sec
ton bridge is an almost perpendicular
Me1zingah Brook always has more or
less water which come from the reser-
coSr In a rain storm it conveys con-
sssarahle Hater t. the HrSsSS. sad last