Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-05-07

tremely interesting and graphic desciip
ton of conditions during the recent great
flood through the Ohio valley.
| The writer, Benjamin f. Hershey, q
brother lawyer, grants particularly
| vivid picture of the water creeping Ut
about his home. incidents of the flood al
its height and the appalling situation re-
| sulting.
The section of the letter dealing with
the flood is as follows:
| / shall try to give you a meager ac-
count of the flood but cannot describe it
so as to give YOU an adequate concep-
that. l mail you some views which were
taken, however, after the water had
fallen and which do not show 1t at its
| highest point.
Imagine a beautiful city of 10000 in
| habtants, with practically every BUSH
ness house and thousands of residences,
many of them of the best in the city,
| submerged in from five to twenty-five
| feet of water. All the plate glass broken
and goods floating out and down the
street. Proprietors and employees penne!di
| in the stories above from Tuesday until
| Friday with nothing to do but watch the
destruction. One man told me he saw
| from large piano store the pianos float
out of the store and down the street, one
following the other. like geese. another
told me he saw trays of jewelry floating
| out of the jewelry stores and down the
1
furniture and fixtures. Many OF our
| business rooms were finished very ele-
gantly in mahogany and other tine ma
terial | noticed in some of our banks
/ the counters and furniture all piled up in
one corner that did not get out into the
| street and float away. Added TO this, each
| night the sky was lighted with fires in
different parts of the city. On one of
the main streets and practically in the
business center an entire block on each
side of the street with the exception of
Inn brtil .rh de
stroyed.
ION Monday, March 24th We were all
busy at business. went home in the eve
ming as usual with nothing out of the
ordinary having happened except an un-
usually hard rain. On Tuesday morning
| about five o'clock. Mrs. Hershey, occu-
pying front room. called my attention
| to an unusual amount of water IN the
street. 1 told her not to be frightened,
that it would amount to nothing and for
her to rest while longer. About six she
again called me, when / arose and no.
ticed the cutters and streets running
quite full of water. j then began to give
matters some attention. In less than an
hour the water was over the sidewalk;
yet had no fears of any damage other
than perhaps the water filling the eel
lar. Soon, however, boat came down I
First Street, where | lived calling to the /,
people that water would come into the
first stories. My boy. IA years old, MRS |
Hershey. myself and the servant con- |
stituted the family at home my older |
boy being away at college. We began to |
carry up stairs rugs, books and such |
light furniture as we could move. | PAID |
no attention to clocks, brlc-a-brac, etc, on |
the mantels and pictures on the walls |
Our house setting up high above the |
street | could not imagine the water m
interfering in any way with these, but |
the water kept coming and that very |
rapidly. About the last thing l did, wad-
ing about in my rubber boots, was to tie |
the portieres in knots over my head |
When the water came in over my boot
tops, | took view of the situation, con-
Guiding that all articles on the mantel, |
pieces and furniture that we had piled
but that the piano, sideboard, etc, would |
get wet feet You may imagine my
CONSERVATION, however: when the water
time over two feet an hour, all that day |
and night until after midnight
II kept watching the stage of the water |
every 80 minutes. or less. especially, AZ
ter it got about half way to the eeillng
and our ceilings were very high. ABOUT |
10 O'Clock in the evening when the water |
came to the third step from the top we
began TO carry furniture and effects TO
the third story. which we had, as II |
looked as If we might get water IN the
second story. Indeed II seemea 'he
water would not stop rising. When II
had reached the last step about mldneht |
noticed a wet strip which indicated
that it had begun to fall. This, siaaly
announced to the family which cheered
them very much. The next time | looked |
this wet strip was again covered and we
felt gloomy indeed. but about one o CLOCK
the water had really begun to fall very |
slowly. our fears We're then allayed |
somewhat except for the coilapssng OF
the building. With over Is feet OF water |
and other heavy drift floating past at |
high rate of speed. did not know how
| soon the building might be struck when
would have made our condition hopeless;
We were penned here in this way until
Friday with no fuel, few candies Tor
lighting the city in total darkness anu
nd water
as was brought to us in boats during the
day
I'VE were not alone in this situation, all
We're in the same condition. Wmle wait,
| ing for the waters to Subside we hau
/ time to lament the loss of our furniture,
piano and effects which We're priced very
highly. including our. clocks, pictures,
| brio -brac, etc. which we might nave
| saved had we thought such stage OF
water possible. ON Friday put on my
rubber boots and waded ALMOST SQUARE
to the edge of the water. Took walk
through the business center oil the CITY.
The conditions appalled, me. went
home and said to Mrs. Hershey that II
would be ingratitude for US to complain
of our loss. For more than week noun,
ing was to be done except TO secure 1000
by standing in the bread line and get
what was shipped in by kind people else
where and shovel the mud out OF the
houses and clear away piles OF drllt
lodged at our front doors. the muu III
cellars. business rooms and residences
was from six inches to two feet deep'
this was taken out and thrown IN the
streets.
II have every confidence that this city
will recover but 1t will be many months
before business will be normal again.
merchants are taking hold with energy,
thousands of men and hundreds OF teams
are busy hauling the mud and debris
away. The last few days there seems to
be some visible effect. Some OF the
streets have almost all of the mud on
but many are yet piled high on each side
not only with mud but with pianos, libra
ries and what was. fine furniture. There
lis nothing to do with our piano but
break it to pieces and send 1t to the
dump but as 1t was so highly priced by
my wife. / have not had the heart to
do it,
"Of course the city was put under mar
tial law at once. The nights were as still
| as death except a crack of a musket oc-
casionally when soldier would shoot at
some looter.
Il was doubly unfortunate: in shovel
II ing mud out of our house, hunting up
china and silverware that was mingled
! with 1t and clearing away some DRIFT, i
! ran a nail into my hand, which resulted