The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1915-01-07
FURNITURE STOCK
DAMAGED BY FLOOD
d. W. Hooker g. Co.'s Store Basement In
undated This Morning to Depth Of
Three Feet in One Part.

At the heels OF one of the coolest De-
cember "cold spells" in many years, this
section of Vermont found itself in the
grip of a real January thaw last night
and to-day. Yesterdays rapidly rising
temperature reached its height to-day
when mercury readings were So and 80
> degrees in the sun. At intervals between
the maximum and minimum OF tempera
ture in "a hours, there were several de-
velopments. Toward midnight a high
I wind accentuated the warming atmos-
phere and by dawn much of the snow ac-
cumulation on the streets had disap-
peared.
Scarcely section of the city escaped
water damage in some measure. Stage
drivers arriving in the city at all hours
during the forenoon encountered hard
ships all along the way. Trainmen who
made the trip to Williamstown over the
Central Vermont railroad early to-day
measured in some places foot of water
ON the tracks. Luckily there were no
washouts. Along Gunner and Potash
brooks domestic cellars were flooded with
water in varying depths. Postofice at.
taches at the federal building descended
| the stairs into the basement this morning
| to find six inches of water on the cement
| floor, Water in one of the the surface
sewers had backed into the basement, it
was explained. There was little damage
| BY far the heaviest losers are b. w.
| Hooker g. Co. The outpouring of water
from Washington street and any number
of intersetSing streets and avenues found
its wan into the furniture company's
basement sometime during the night and |
unreckoned damage was done. What |
may follow from the flooding OF the base |
ment cannot be told just now, but mem
bers of the firm who stated that they |
would lose 5000 as result of the in |
undation. stated that redress would be |
sought from some source. None of the
damaged stock is covered by water in
surance, as the firm members had felt |
secure in the thought that surface water
was being taken care off amply by the
city's sewage system.
Storage rooms at the rear end of the
basement were filed with water to the
depth OF nearly three feet, nor were the
rooms toward the front of the cellar
spared Much valuable furniture stored
in the front rooms had been damaged by
nearly two feet of water when employees
of the company reached the store at 7
O'Clock. In the repair department.
where were stored countless pieces of
furniture, pictures and picture frames,
the loss is irreparable The company
carries a considerable stock of caskets
and by reason of the fact that many
were standing on ends directly in the
path of the flood, the damage cannot be
estimated.
The progress of the flood could be
traced to-day from &he corner of Pros
pect street and Enterprise alley. Quite
obviously, surface sewers along lower Q
street, as well as the large
manhole near the corner Of city hall on
Prospect street, had failed to take care
1f all the water, or were not in condi-
ton to perform the functions expected OF a
HEM Hooker & Co. engaged counsel to. 5
lay and a thorough examination of the 4
ground was made Several weeks ago c
Enterprise alley was sluicewav for sur. a
lace sewage of Washington street BY the Il
Prospect street route and the furniture "
lealers were badly Inconvenience by wa s.
er flowing in their underpass and base
nent corridor.
Soon after this occurrence, il is
laimed the city street department was
sked to prevent a more serious repeti.
ion Of the inundation by clearing all OF
he manholes from the foot OF Washing
on street hill 10 the corner Of the alley.
This morning the manlole near the cor \
er at the police station was found 20
ave been encased in ice. One man ia '
ALTAR with the surface sewer system in
iarre, who, il may be also mentioned. is
city official states that the surface
ever along Church street from the Epis- 4
opal church 70 the government building
clogged with sand and gravel washed 2
own from Washington street and, there.
ore, Is IN no condition 20 carry away
.ater accumulations
Edward French, the Blanchard block :
lntor, discovered the inundation az q
clock this morning Later. members n
the firm were notified and by Z o'clock q
n augmented corps Of clerks were sal n
aging small lots Of furniture in an quar-
RS Of the basement. The work was
through the day In count
~ instances the finish on fine furniture
damaged beyond repair il il said. So
II a. could be learned, the basement an.
n the Frank McWhorter Co.'S store was
u visited BY the water.
Because Of the failure Of the street de-
lrtment 90 thaw the CulYcrts ON Potash
'ook this winter that stream sought 4
" course TODAY Beginning AZ Currier
rect Il ran down elf street. through
at 70 North and thence through Park
its natural course again