New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-06-18
Two Upstate Towns Cut
Of-Women Lost in
Sudden Torrent.
HORNELL IN PERIL;
DAMAGE HEAVY
lightning Starts $4,000 Fire
Here and Chips Building
Brick Hits Child.

something in the heavens over New
York gave way yesterday afternoon,
and Just as the belief that there was
no more rain in the sky was growing
The entire state was subjected TO del
uge that carried death and destruction.
At lcas; five persons were killed,
many others were injured, and, para
6oxically. three fires followed the prog
ress Of the storm. Streets in downtown
New York were concerted into rivers
that made walking impossible and au-
tong an increasing menace to occu-
pants and other vehicles.
Partly Cloudy To-day.
When the storm had cleared away,
however one slight ray of hope eman-
ated from the Office Of the Weather
Bureau. The forecaster promised that
10 day would be but partly cloudy"
intimating that a glimpse of the sun
might be allowed TO those TO whom il
has become a stranger during the rainy
season that reached yesterdays climax
-Four Of the five lives lost were those
Of victims Of a food on the CanisteO
River. az Hornel. y. Y. The river is
still rising. according 70 bulletins re-
teived from Hornell late last night, and
threatens 10 claim more lives before il
subsidies 20 something approaching its
FORMAL proportions.
Mrs John VI. SaXton was drowned
while motoring down a steep hill when
a small stream at the top suddenly
changed its course and swept the car
and its occupants into whirlpool.
Her son and Frank O'Neil, of the state
Highway Department, escaped, but Mrs.
Saxton's body was buried in gravel.
Peter Head and Levi Mathewson were
swept into Purdy Greek in the house in
which they dwelt near Canisteo. Heads
body has been found, but the other is
missing
Mrs. Mary Stephens, Of South CAMS
teo, was drowned and her body later
found on the Erie Railroad tracks sew
eral miles away.
The property loss in the vicinity of
Hornell alone is estimated at 100000.
This figure probably will be consider
ably larger after an opportunity to in
voice damage is permitted, as the crest
Of the wave that swept over the out
skirts Of the town was dotted with
parts Of houses, sheds and everything
movable that was in the path of the
rising food. A small dam in the river
has been completely swept away.
All communication with the towns of
Alfred and Almond. near Hornell, has
been cut off with the sweeping away
Of telephone and telegraph wires 1t
is believed that the damage in both
places was great.
Lightning Fires a Store.
The most serious of the fires caused
by the storm here was at the Schloss
Brothers furniture factory, at 637-645
West Fifty-hfth Street. The top of the
five story building was struck by light
ming early in the storm and immediate
ly burst into flames. Z. d. Schloss, a
member of the firm. and seven work
men were in the building when it was
struck, but succeeded in escaping un-
hurt. The interior of the building was
practically destroyed, with a damage
estimated at $4,000.
A few minutes later a bolt Of light
ming neatly clipped the cornice from
the corner Of d five story apartment
house at 1875 Home Street, The Bronx.
A fragment Of brick was carried across
the street and dropped upon the head
Of a fifteen-months-o child in the
arms of Mrs. Fannie Schaefer, who was
standing before her own door. The
child's life probably was saved by a
double thickness Of shawl that had
been placed over its head to protect It
from the rain.
Poles supporting an electric feed
wire running TO the Pierce Dye Works,
at Lodi. y. j., suddenly collapsed dur
ing the storm, precipitating the wire to
the street. Policemen were guarding
il, when Carl Joergemson, an electrica!
engineer, announced that he could re-
place IT, He seized it, received the en-
tire 2,400 volts of electricity through
his body and was killed.
The first serious break in the newly
constructed barge canal near Roches-
ter occurred at Port Gibson, twenty
FIVE miles east Of the city, during the
afternoon. The bank for space OF
twenty feet gave way on one side, the
earth and mason work being washed
away to the sheet piling, FIVE feet be-
low the walls.
The incessant rains of the last month
have kept the water in the canal at
It's highest point, and the waste weirs
could not carry il off when the near
cloudburst occurred over Port Gibson.
The water fell in great sheets, and the
bank finally gave way.