The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-06-12

floor OF the mill rose markedly ana =
CLEANED under occasional sunlight
fleSllhS on q mass of masonry that
was still half encircled by water Were
the remnants of a splendid new en-
CINE so crushed and warped as to Sug-
gest the effects of a terrible excessive.
4 smoke-stack that had bean 225 feet
high was scattered along the DIS
heveled heap. Clifton Mill No. ; had
been literally RACED to the ground.
AT . CLOCK the water was urOut
ten feet high. but caused no alarm TO
the night Waterman. At ! o'clock it
had risen considerable higher II- vas
not menacing. At : O'Clock Mack
Kirby. the chief machinist. urcon-
SciouS of danger. went into tn engine
room. Suddenly the waters seemed 10
rise and strike the building like 4 hat
tering ram. Kirby actually saw the
torrent rise higher and higher. anu he
had hardly run the length uf the
building and gaired a place "f safety
before the structure was at the me~cy
Of the current.
The river did not rise 60 feet. rs has
been reported. but It rose 40 feet and
a tide of that height was strong and
broad enough TO clutch 30 houses IN its
grasp and handle them like chips The
pOpulace of River street saw thu water
rise and instead of running to the near
by hill. they. or many of than, waited
I'LL the current nau cIepl III iii
their homes and had cut off their
escape.
standing on sharp knobs h dot
the banks Of the Pacolet river hun
dreds of people saw the inhabitants of
River street meet death. In n house
were Miss Fleta Gosa. Mrs. ". A.
Kirby. Mr.. and Mrs. Sam Swanguare,
Mr.. and Mrs. Garland Long. ana Mr..
and Mrs. John D. Owens and three
children. When they discovered that
they We're surrounded by water that
rose steadily IN the house. thy climb
ed to the roof. The house gaze Way
and was hurled out in mid-Stream
with the inhabitants still holding to
the roof. The house was dashed
against a floating pile of timber and
went Sunder Mrs. Owens and three
children were drowned at once Ovens
held in his arms the youngest child. a
baby. and tried to swim and hold the
baby'S head above water. The high
waves submerged him until, as he 1T
ed the infant's e clear of the tor
rent he saw that 1t was dead. Then.
bereft of all his family. he struggled
with the current till he was rescued
two miles below. Mrs. Kirby was
drowned just after the house went in
to the stream.
LAS an illustration of the force IF the
torrent. l have endeavored ever since
l came here to get from eye witnesses
some idea of the picture that the mills
presented just as they Succumbed to
the stream. The uniformly
suggested titanic violence. At the Con-
verse mill there was no crumollng
away. no gradual ~breakage. but the
entire structure seemed to collapse K
an egg shell. emitting a fine cloud of
dust and smoke. A second later II
floated IN tit-bits in the stream. That
immense Smoke-stack went down as
aaci1v &c If II yTpra made of n9npr Thu
floods welded q great giants hand
that did not press but StrucS, and
rushed instantly everything in its
path.
The phenomen. the cloud-burst. re-
mains a mystery so far as origin is
concerned. Residents here state that
the rain was not heavier than it al
ways is at this time in June, and
everybody is sure that at some place
close to Converse a cloud Opened and
emptied INTO the PacOlet river 20 times
as much water as it usually carries.
It IS supposed that the cloud burst close
to the Blue Ridge mountains. about 20
miles from here"