New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-08-12
MANY COFFINS WASHED UP
GREWSoAfE RESULT OF SUNDAYS
STORM AT MADISON, n. ].

The downpour Of rain on Sunday night ct
madison. N !, caused flood that washed up
nearly hundred collins in Hillside Cemetery
md cut a channel through that historic burial
,lace fifty feet wide and from ten to fifteen
saet deep The rainfall is said by the Oldest
-esdents to have been unprecedented from
-hatham 10 Morristown washing out the tracks
# the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western
Railroad in many places, and so cutting up the
country roads that many impossible.
The rain began at about 4;30 p Sunday
and continued steadily until nearly 10 o'clock at
night when the heavens seemed to Open and for
an hour there was deluge such as the people
had never before seen. There was no wind. but
there were frequent flashes of vivid blue light
ming and loud crashes of thunder. Water ac-
cuuauIated so rapidly that the ordinary water
zavs were insufficient to carry it of, and 1t
-usbed in torrents along the streets and across
the fields and lawns, cutting deep gulles where
none were before
At the west side of the Hillside Cemetery.
near Main-st. a former brook. now a mere de-
nression in q small meadow. flowed beneath
stone culvert into a brick sewer which had been
,efs beneath the cemetery at a depth of from
eight 10 fifteen feet. This sewer was eight feet
IN diameter at its head. under the culvert, but
only about three feet at the outlet The capacity
Of this drain was not sufficient for the great
volume Of water which poured down against
the culvert and ii was damned up until 1t
oye-fowed. The upper end Of the sewer was
hurst by the pressure. and the torrent cut
channel about fifty feet wide and from ten 10
fifteen feet deep entirely through the cemetery
10 the mouth of the sewer about four hundred
feet below the culvert.
In its resistless rush nearly q hundred collins
were torn from the graves 10y the food and
Ts-e~1 led in he below
which they were swept down 10 the artificial
lake on the place Of DR.. Ward, vice president
of the Prudential Insurance Company Of
America, where they lodged against the screen
erected 70 keep out rubbish Others are be
ueved 10 lie buried in the sandbanks formed by
the rush Of the waters, and il is asserted that
some were even carried into the Passaic River
Many Of the collins were broken up by the
violence Of the food. and the bones they con-
tanned were lost
At 5 O'Clock yesterday afternoon eighty-one
ccfins with the remains in them, had been re-
covered, and Undertaken Burroughs and large
cor7s Of assistants from his establishments az
Summit and Madison. were buslly engaged
burying them in the unoalnased parts OF lhee
cemetery The Borough Board of Health had
secured q large quantity Of disnfectants ana
vas supervising the work
The ruined part OF the cemetery is compare
tiyelv new The first burial in the washed OUT
portion was made about seven years ago, ano
some OF the bodies torn from their graves hao
been buried only short time
One OF the saddest incidents Of the nooo We
The washing away Of the newly made grave Tor
q daughter Of Mr.. Neis, the village baker. ana
the grave beside il with the corpse OF anoLLeF
daughter buried about seven months ago Inc
funeral Of the seventeen-year-old girl was 70
have been held yesterday, but was Pos1poneu
pending a search for the remains OF heI SISleI,
vbi7h had not been found when The Tribune
reporter left the scene about p m j. Saihon
recovered and identified the remains OF ms
child buried three years ago. ana aIter HdNL US
81 bosv hI,ried started for Long Island with
his family. 1890 -, o~a
Navcr Albright personally visited the scene
OF the disaster early IN the morning anu OK o u
sba Posrs of Health 10 take charge Of the Gene
terv and the disiufection and burial OF me
bodies. -, e ,.,.l
need before the Revolution. The CID cenleteLg
is on Bottle Hill. and was esta bEshed Wheh liie
present village CT Madison was known as Loo. DUE
president The name was derived from "dS
SIDE fnn which had a bottle for sign