Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1919-02-07

quantities of broken timber and rush
ing water more than 400 feet down
the creek in the direction of the point
marked 4, and there lodged among
the broken ice cakes and debris. In
gals meanwhile had lodged at the
foot OF the wall at the point marked 3
and was there held helpless among the
broken pieces of concrete and timber,
while the water rushed over him until
Superintendent Bacon had succeeded in
closing the gate back in the canal,
admitting no more water to the wheel
pit. AS the flood subsidized Harold
Cady and Archie LaBrake let them
selves down on the derrick pulley which
is shown in the picture, and getting
ingalls, arm around the big iron hook
succeeded in extricating him from the
wreck, while Charles Cutting, who had
been working the derrick at the time
pulled the men up to safety.
In the meantime two men, named
Field and O'Neil, who were working on
the transmission wire poles, shown
on the west bank of the river, scram-
bled down and ran to the rescue of
Bird, who was houndering in the Greek.
The ice there was badly broken up by
the flood, but they succeeded in reach
ing him and getting to the other bank
1t was at first feared that both men
had been terribly injured. Doctors
S. S. Eddy and R. c. Flagg were called.
While awaiting them the men at the
plant had carried the injured men in
CIR nd Il 1ath 4 oh,
were loaned by some of the Spaniards
DR.. Eddy removed ingalls, to his Office,
but after thorough examination could
not find that he was internally injured,
or that he had suffered any broken
bones. Only one knee had received
bad bruise. He was later taken to his
home in Salisbury, where his compan-
ion. Bird has also spent the week re-
cuperating from his own injuries. The
latter was quite as fortunate, but had
a bad cut on his nose and forehead and
on one knee
As for an explanation of the accident
there is none offered other than the
wall gave way, but whether from de-
fectS in construction or from unusual
strain or what, is unknown. Aside
from the good fortune which the two
men had in escaping death, the Com
pany was lucky to have suffered only
small loss. The big 1900 horse power
water wheel of the Lafell type was I'M
damaged, and the more delicate cleo
trical apparatus of the abutting genere-
ting room was untouched except for a
little splash of water. Manager Frost
of Rutland who came here Sunday to
inspect the damage thought it would
cost only a few hundred dollars to
build a new wall, if that can be done
without necessity of reconstructing the
whole pit. To the lay observer the
wall appeared to be a remarkably
strong one, reinforced with a large
number of iron rods, such as are used
in concrete work. and the massive
blocks of cement which we're rolled
into the creek looked as though solid
enough to have withstood any normal
pressure. The main loss will be in the
delay at the plant for the clearance of
the wreckage and repair of the wheel
pit in mid-winter, unless the recent
mild weather continues, will require
time
On the day of the accident compar-
atively few people from the village
heard of it in time to visit it that
but on Sunday there was
large number of persons who visited
the scene and marvelled at the escape
ingalls, and Bird had had.