The New York Herald Newspaper, May 17, 1874, Page 7

gerdepth of water at the time it gave way was not L- RESERVOIR BURSTS, Accumulated Waters of the Mill River, Massachu- setts; Let Loose. A DEVASTATING FLOOD Death and Destruction Sweeping Through @ Populous Vailey. VILLAGES AND HAMLETS. CARRIED AWAY Factories, Mills and Dwell- ings Destroyed. A TERRIFIC TRAGEDY. . + More Than a Hundred Lives Lost. LISTS OF THE DROWNED. SPRINGFIELD, Mass., May 16, 1874. Between 100 and 200 lives lost and upwards of $1,000,000 in treasure and property swept away is the record of thé breaking away of an insecure Cam in the town of Williamsburg, in Hampshire county, early this morning, Never betore in New England ond rarely in this Country has an accident of a similar nature been attended with such sad and fatal consequences. Bven the terrible floods in Louisiana and other Sections of the Southwest, still so fresh in the | public mind, seem to sink into insignificance compared with the terrible catastrophe, which in one half nour this morning swept out of existence two or three of the most thrifty manufacturing towns in New Eng- land and cast a gloom of sadness and sorrow over the community which it will take years, if nota generation, to recover from. RECENT RAINS. During the past two days there have been a few mild showers all along the Connecticut Valley, but the aggregate of rain which {ell was not suMcient to cause any very perceptible rising in the moun- tain streams. and, therefore, the terrible disaster cannot properly be regarded as one of the con- Sequences of an nnusual flood or freshet., AN INSECURE RESERVOIR, On the contrary, and as lamentable as the fact | ‘tay be, the calamity is nothing more or less than | the fruit of an insecure and .probably an ill-con- | Btructed reservoir. It was located in the town of ‘Williamsburg, about ten miles northwest of North- A@mpton and the terminus of the New Haven | and Northampton Raliroad. The surface of the | Reservoir was about 125 acres, and the average Jess than thirty feet. It was the Joint property of the various manufacturing estaolishments in Williamsburg, Leeds, Hayden and Florence, and was used for the treasure of water durmg the spring and wet seasons, to” ve wsed for the running of the milis @asing the summer and other periods when the streams did not afford sufiicient water power. ‘The water thus gathered was from the eastern and Western branches of what is known as Mill River, which empties into the Connecticut River a few miles below Northampton. The dam itself 1s about Dine years old, has received put few, if any, re- | pairs since its construction, and common rumor in Williamsburg says it has been pronounced un- tafe as long ago as three years. SUDDENNESS OF THE BREAK, The break came very suddenly, almost before the inhabitants of the inundated villages had par- taken of their morning meal, and in some instances before they had awakened from the slamber of the night before. The morning was dark and cloudy, as ifin keeping with the melan- choly event, and the operatives in the various mills along the line of the stream were gencrally ‘wending their way to their aaily toil. WARNING CHOKED BY THE WATERS. It was not far from seven o’clock when the first symptoms of the break were discovered by the ‘watchman in charge of the dam, These consisted Ofa small leak through the lower embankment, in the direction of Williamsburg. At first the watch- Man thought little or nothing of the circumstance, | but a° length the gap began to widen and he ‘very properly became alarmed and hastened to Notify the inhabitants in the villages below. He started on arun for Williamsburg, which was less than two miles distant, but long before he had got there the whole embankment gave way and the stream of terror, death and destruction was there ahead of him. He bad to take refuge upon a@ neighboring hill to save his own life, and thus became gn agonized and helpless witness of a calamity which he had done ali in his humbie ower to avert. THE RUSH OF THE WATERS And the fear and consternation which ensued @mong the terrified citizens was most heartrend- ing to witness. The food came without the slight- est warning save a heavy rumbling not unlike thunder or the sound of a heavy train passing over a covered railroad bridge. Almost in a moment the torrents swept successively through the vil- Jages of Skinnerville, Williamsburg, Haydenville | and Leeds, OTHER ACCOUNTS. Bodies Found at Haydensville and Dug Oat of the Rubbish Along the Shore. HAYDENSVILLE, Mass,, May 16—12 o’CLock. ‘The large reservoir, about four miles north of ‘this place, burst about eight o'clock this morning, and the water came rushing down the hills, carry- ing everything before it. It struck the goutheast ern portion of Williamsburg village, about two miles north of this place, carrying away a large number of dwellings; thence to Skinnerville, where it swept away Mr. Skinner's large silk mills and his boarding and dwelling houses. von. tinuing on, it struck the large brass Manufactory Of Mensrs. Hayden, Gere & Co,, sweepthg i: away fm an instant, Large stones'and machinery were swept through the main streets at a fearful rate, NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, MAY and well built houses were instantly crusnea, not | to be at least twenty-five yearé of age and ison giving the inmates @ moment’s warning. The flood then struck tne village of Leeds, where a large number of shops, dwellings, &c., were swept SE THE 1088 OF LIFE is very heavy, whole families, in some instances, having been carried away over the dams, and were either killed or drowned. It is impossible at this time to give the number of lives lost. Twefity- three bodies, so far, have been taken out of the Tubbish on shore. HOMES AND FAMILIES SWEPT AWAY. Whole blocks of houses, filled with women and children, were swept down the stream and all the inmates of course were lost, At this hour (twelve | M.) bodies are constantly being brought in and Jaid inthe church. Most of them can be recog- nized. Names of Some of the Lost—About Sixty Persons Drowned—Factories and Dwell- ings, Operatives and Families Swept Away—Searching for Bodies. SPRINGFIELD, Mass., May 16, 1874, The reports of the disaster in consequence of the breaking away of the reservoir at Goshen, Hampshire county, this morning, come in thick and fast. The damage to property must be hun- dreds of thousands of dollars, while it is impossi- ble to estimate accurately the loss of life. SOME OF THE DROWNED. Among those drowned at Williamsburg was the wile of H, C. Frost. At Leeds, Captain Vaughn and Mrs, H. F. Quig- ley and daughter were im a house which was swept away, and they were drowned, Reports are coming in of a far greater loss of life | at Florence. The Nonotuck Silk Company’s works and the Florence Manufacturing Company’s works are damaged to the extent of $25,000, Conductor E, M. Shandler passed over the Toad early this morning, with his train trom Williamsburg for New Haven, just ahead of we flood that swept away his wife and child. Engineer Roberts, who was to start ont in the next train, lost his wife and child just below Williamsburg. \ The flood swept away Skinner’s factory, with several women operatives, who had just begun work. At Haydensville Samuel Miller lost his wife an} three children, and Hayden, Gere & Co.’s factory, including their office and the Haydensville Savings Bank, with a large amount of funds, and also B. Loomis’ Hotel were swept away. At Leeds Mr, Warner’s button factory was swept entirely away, taking the canal railroad bridge in its course. It stopped at the South street briage. The morning train from New Haven is stopped at | East Hampton. The flood ts now subsiding. THE GOSHEN RESERVOIR covered 150 acres of ground at an average depth of thirty fect. It was drawn upon mm dry times for the supply of the mills at Williamsburg, Haydens- ville and Florence. The reservoir was constructed about twelve years ago, in order to afford 4 reliable supply of water for the various factories on Mill River, which is one of the most fickle and uncertain of streams, liable alike to floods and al- most utter drouth. It was built by a company of capitalists, who were interested in the va- Mious manufactufing enterprises on the stream, and has caused thénf afp¥elitnsions of disaster several times, Last year, however, it was re- paired at a heavy expense, and since then has been supposed to be, until now, tolerably secure, although known to be leaky? Twelve houses at Leeds were swept away. Part of the silk mill is gone, LIST OF DROWNED, The following 1s @ list of the drowned at Hay. densville:— Mr. Kaplinger, shoemaker, Mr. Jacob Hill. Mrs. Jerome Hillman. Three children of Samuel Miller, Two children of E. H. Thayer. A boy named Brodeur. Mr. Hitchcock, Captain Joseph Hayden’s son, At Haydensville and Leeds the dwellings not de- stroyed are turned into CHARNEL HOUSES AND HOSPITALS. A train on the canal road has gone out to Leeds with provisions, At Haydenaville the stores of Mr. Elam Groves, Mr. Eames and Mr. C. Rice are swept away. At Williamsburg Superintendent Birmingham, Dr. Johnson, wife and children, and Epaphesidus Hubbard were drowned, Twenty-seven bodies were discovered at two o’clock, three of which are at the Northampton Iron Hall and fourteen at Florence. SEARCHING FOR CORPSES, Selectmen Starkweather and Burr have organ- ized a force of twenty men at Leeds and twenty at Northampton to search the course of the flood for bodies. HUMAN VULTURES. Florence thieves are piliering the trunks of the factory girls at Leeds. SIXTY LIVES RBPORTED Lost. LareEr.—The telegram just received from North- ampton estimates the loss of lile by the flood at sixty. At Leeds Mr. Dunning, an old man, was drowned, with several others, in the Warner button factory. Also Ralph J. Show, whose body has not yet been found; A. 0. French and family of six cnildren, Mrs. Robert Fitzgerald and children, Edward Harmon's wife and four chil- aren, The Mills in the Valley—Value of the Capital Invested in Them—Population of the Villages—The Heaviest Loss. Boston, Mass., May 16, 1874, Mr. Stephen M. Crosby, of Williamsburg, now in Boston, furnishes the following description of the localities and property visited by the over- flow:— The viliages which are affected by the disaster are Wlillamsburg. Haydensville, Leeds and Florence, and are situated on Mill River, which is a tributary of the Connecticut River, running into the latter at Northampton. In the village of Wil- ltamsburg Mill River separates into two branches, one of which has its rise in Goshen and the other at about the edge of Conway. Two large reservoirs are situated on the Goshen branch and one on the Conway branch, containing & total depth of not less than six fect. The reser- voir dams were all most substantially constructed, built by skilful engineers, in the most approved Modern method, and large sums of money have been expended during the last year in putting them in what was supposed $0 be perfect order, The oldest dam is supposed the Goshen branch, It was most caretully rebuilt within the last two years, Above this was the new dam built last year, Tube dam on the Conway branch is about six or seven years old, THE MILLS ON THE STREAM. reckoning from Williamsburg down to Northamp- ton, are as follows:— William Thayer’s tool factory, 25 men, and two button factories, together employing 40 hands, men and girls} the corset woollen mii of Henry James, Esq., employing about 50 hands; the large brass works of Hayden, Gere & Co., employing about 80 hands, and 1s ‘perhaps the largest and best ap- pointed factory of the kind in the United States. It was formerly the property of the late Lieuten- ant Governor Hayden. The cotton mili of the Hayden Mannfacturing Company, 5,000 spindles, employing about 75 or 80 hands; the Diamond To- bacco Works, employing 16 or 20 hands; the two ex- tensive silk mills of the Nonotuck Silk Company, emploging 300 hands in all; the large brick mill of the Northampton Brush Company, employing about 60 or 75 hands; the cotton mill of the Green- ville Manufacturing Company, 5,000 spindles, em- ploying 75 or 80 hands; the Northampton (formerly Bay State) Cutlery Company, employing probably 200 hands; the Clement & Hawkes Manu- facturing Company (agricultural implements), employing 50 hands; the International Screw Nail Company, employing 75 hands; and the large basket factory of the Williams Manu- facturing Company, employing about 100 hands; also the Skinner Silk Mill, employing avout fiity or sixty hands, Besides the foregoing, there are some half a dozen grist and saw milis, some of them of considerable capacity, whicn are within range of the devastation. THR MANUFACTURING CAPITAL INVESTED along Mill River and affected by this disaster, placing 1t ata low estimate, must be $5,000,000, and the immediate population affected thereby about 5,000, THE POPULATION | is almost wholly a manufacturing one, which has grown up around the dams and increased in pro- portion to the demands of industry in that locality. THE HEAVIEST LOsS by this disaster will fall upon the estate of the late ex-Governor Hayden, who died a few months since. One of the mills has recently been sold by the estate. Sunday had been set apart at Haydenville for Memorial services in memory of the late Lieute- nant Governor, when all the members of the {amily were expected to be present. FALSE REPORTS, Reports were in circulation in Boston to-day that Lieutenant Governor Talbot and wife were in Hay- denville at the time the disaster occurred, but they are untrue. Mr. Talpot left here on Thursday for Northampton on private business, accompanied by his wife, who has since returned, and Mr. Taloot is supposed to be in Northampton. Henry James, the owner of the four set woollen mills, was to have sailed from New York to-day with his family for Europe, but his departure has been intercepted by telegraph. OTHER DISASTERS, Four o’CLock P. M.—Additional despatches from the scene of the flood to-day say:—At Skin- nersville the store of Hayden, More & Co, and the MHaydenville Savings Bank bniiding, with the safe, was swept away. The safe contained $25,000 in money. Emgrane’s store, Earne’s store and several houses, Loomis’ Hotel, Hayden & Co.’s tobacco factory and two iron bridges were also swept away. At the village of Leeds 4 TERRIBLE LOSS OF LIFE occurred. wall of driftwood, thirty feet high and several hundred feet in width, was seen sweeping down the valley at the rate of thirty miles an hour. A portion of the Montague silk factory was Bwept away, with the briek boarding house of the company. : WOMEN AND CHILDREN SWEPT AWAY. Captain Vaughan, the depot master, and a large number of women and children were swept away by the torrent of water. Only the chimney 1s left standing of the silk mill. The Crutchinlow button mill and stores are all gone and only three houses are left standing. The loss is estimated at $1,000,000, A. P, Crutchinlow and son-in-law, George Warner, lose $100,000. Nonatuck Silk Company, $25,000; W. F. Quigley, $10,000, The town of Northampton bridges and roads. The loss at Williamsburg and Haydensville can- not at present be estimated. H, L, James’ woullen mill 18 stili standing, also the Hayden manufacturing cotton mill. Only two houses are left standing at Skinners- ville. Fifteen bridges, twelve factories and sev- enty-five buildings have gone, and 400 people are left homeless, The exact number of lives lost cannot be ‘ascer- tained at this writing. loses $56,000 in One Hundred and Twenty Lives Lost. Boston, Mass., May 16, 1874, A later despatch saya that 120 lives: have been lost and upwards of $1,000,000 in property and treasure swept away by the flood, THE CASUALTIES. ———e—_—__— SPRINGFIELD, Mass., May 16, 1874, AT WILLIaMssURG.—Dr. E. M. Johnson’s house was swept away. Himself, mother, wife and three children were drowned. E, Hubbard’s house is gone. Himself and sister, Mrs. Wood, and his daughter were lost. Mr. McGowan’s house was carried off. were lost. Henry Birmingham's house was swept off; him- self, wife and three children were drowned, Mrs. Birmingham's body and that of her daugn- ter Mary were recovered. Thomas Ryan’s house, and three houses belong- ing to H. L. James were carried off, Elaridge Kingsley’s house was carried off, Eldridge Kingsley, Jr.’s house was carried of, His wife and two children were lost. Edgar Chandler, conductor on the New Haven and Northampton Ratlroad. His house is gone; wife and chila drowned. D. Wright Adams’ house is gone; wife and son lost; himself and daughter were saved» Alexander Roberts, engineer on the New Haven and Northampton Railroad. His house was Swept off; wile and daughter lost; his young son George was saved. Mr. Roberts had leit on the first train for New Haven. Mrs. George Lamb was drowned, She was in Mr. Roberta’ house. , Mx. apd Mrs. Burke's house is gona, Thevand No lives At first no water was visible; but a | several children, comprising the whole family are drowned, Mr. Atkinson’s house is gone. He was drowned. His wife and children were saved. H. H, Tilton, mother and two children were drowned and their house ts gone. Adams & Hitchcock’s mill is gone. owners were drowned, Thomas Reynolds’ house is gone, His famliy were saved. Jerry Ward’s house Is gone. Mr. and Mrs. Kuight were drowned, Edwin Thayer’s house is gone.. His two children were drowned, : W. H, Adams, wife and mother were drowned; all the family but one cniid, Mr. Ward and mother were drowned. James Stevens was in H. L. James’ factory. He climbed up a tree, The tree was carried off and he was drowned. ‘The factory was saved, Spencer Bartlett and his wife were drowned. Michael Reynolds’ two houses are gone, 0..G. Spellman’s factory was carried off. Mr. Lacour, a Frenchman, was drowned. AT SKINNERVILLE.—John Cogan’s house is gone, Thaddeus Bartlett's house ts gone, and himscif drowned. Mrs. Wresley’s house is gone, 8. K. Wait’s grocery and provision store are lost. ‘The silk mill of William Skinner, and ten dwell- ing houses owned by Mr, Skinner are carried away. Mr, Skinner's elegant dwelling was saved, but badly damaged, Thomas Skinner's house Is lost. Ar HAYDENSVILLE.—The old Penshop building, used as a tenement dwelling was carried away. Luther Loomis lost his parn connected with his hotel. Robert Cartier’s carriage ana blacksmith shop ‘Was carried off, All the dwelling houses below Cotton Mill, five in number, were carried off, Samuel Millier and his three children were drowned, Jacob Hill’s house is gone and his wife drowned, Christian Kaplinger’s house is ruined and his family were saved, Dr. R. 8. Hilman’s place was swept off. Hayden, Gere & Co.’3 brass works and the Hay- densville Savings Bank were carried off. A Frenchman in the brass works was lost, James Breckenridge lost his house, Joseph Page’s house is gone. Mrs. Deacon Thomas Ives lost her house, Deacon Item Graves lost his house and goods. E. Sharp, tinware, lost his store and goods. Major Cyrus Miller lost his house, Edwin Miller lost his house, Captain Joseph Hayden lost his house. Both the years old) were drowned. Thaddeus Bartlett, house gone. Jerome Hiliman, house gone, drowned, Pierce Larken’s house and store are gone. Widow Payson’s house is lost, Mrs, Payson had His wife was just exchanged her house for afarm in Westhamp- | ton, aud left town on Wednesday. The owner of it was going to California, and now loses nearly | all his property, John Moakley and son drowned. Diamond Tobacco Works destroyed. AT Lewpg,—A. P.“titchiow has his two button \ factories carried of. The Nonotuck Silk Factory Mill was saved, but the boarding house was carried off. Captain J. F. Vaughn, Station Agent of the New Haven and Northampton Railroad, and Super- intendent of the Nonotuck Silk Factory and boarding house, was drowned, but his family were | saved. Ralph Isham, bookkeeper of the Critchlow But- ton Factory, was drowned, Andrew Fennessey was drowned. He kept a grocery store. Mrs. Robert Fitzgerald and children were drowned, Also Gamewell Davis, Patrick O'Neill, Mrs. Hur- ley, Emeline Sherwood, Mrs. Bonney and her sis- ter, Mrs, Jonathan Ryan and two children, The Silk Mills—Card from the Proprie- tary Company. To THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD:— ‘The silk milis swept away and destroyed by the | flood at Haydensville and Williamsburg, Mass., were the well known Unquornonk Silk Mills, owned and | operatea by Mr. William Skinner, of Haydenyille, | im the manufacture of sewing silk and machine , twist. A private telegram states that all the houses of his silk operatives, as well as the mill and his own dwelling, have been carried off by the flood, Yours respectiully, FRANKLIN ALLEN, Secretary, THE AFFLICTED REGION. History of Hampshire County—Its Many Transitions, and the Occurrences Within It. In his novel “Put Yourself in His Place” Charles | Reade describes, with a vividness that carries terror to the reader, an accident like the one that has overwhelmed the villages of Hampshire county, Massachusetts. A reservoir set high up on the hills ig burst, and the “unchained waters” rush in furious delight to achieve the destruction of for- mer masters. Nothing can stay them. Houses are lifted from their foundations and are made to dash themselves together. The edifices act like men in despair and wreck each other. There are @ multitude of sounds— timbers crash, men, women and children shriek in agony, and the waters roar loudly and press on- ward like, in their crushing and the earnest bru- tality of their noises, the movement and bruiting of an unrestrained mob. Mankind are awakenea— jor the scene described occurs at night—only to have their lives dashed out by the timbers that have formed their abodes, or to have the shriexs choked in their throats by the penetrating water. An agonized struggle with the quid, a final gasp and gurgle, then the man who has been the master is gone, and the element that was the slave throws its waves ana spray high into the alr, as if to complete ita resem- blance to a triamphant mob. These are the de- tails that are gathered into one scene that is described with exactness by the novelist, The ao- acriptive chapter is scarceiy equalled in Englian hiterature—it 1s like a pre-Raphaelite picture that conveys @ scene With horribie realism, It 1s easy to apply this description to the scene beheld yesterday morning at Williamsburg, Hay- densville and Leeds, Mass. Just as daylight had come, and when the people of those villages were sunk in the profoundest sieep, the confined waters overthrew their guards and rushed down upon their captors before their menacing roar had startied the villagers, There ts a sameness in the action of an element that suddenly recovers its own proper power. It roars, it howls, and, finally exhausting itself, 1% yields to the trammels of the meu whose Kin tt madly destroyed, Charles Reado has made it almost supererogatory to describe the action of furious water under such conditious a8 were assumed in his novel and realized yesterday in Massachusetts. The province ofa journalist in such & case should be only so describe effects and » to tell something of interest about the neighbor- hood of the disaster. The descriptions of the | scenes at the villages are jn other columns. Here 17, 1874.-QUINTUPLE SHEET. His wife | escaped, but his ‘ather and his young son (five | it is intended only to tell what other things have occurred in their vicinity. The valiey of the Connecticut and the numerous smaller valleys that debouch into tt on eaeh side were, in the early days of their settlement, used to irruptions more d. structive, as they were more frequent, than a sudaen rush of water. Hatfeid, Deerfield and Northfield are names connected with bloody memories of King Philip’s war, in the sev- enteenth century. Hadley is another name made memoraoie in the time of savage warfare. It was this place that the Indians attacked one smiling Sabbath morning in 1675, when the Puritans were at worship. The whites were almost par- alyzed. They saw with dread the yelling savages applying torches to their houses, and lacked reso- lution to abandon for a moment their wives and children to drive them off. Suddenly a venerable, white-haired man appeared at the church door, and, waving a sword, lured them out against the Indians, When the buttie was over and the sav- ages had been driven off the people looked for the old man who was their savior. He had gone, however, and it Was not known for many years that he was Goff, the regiciae, who for years had fied before the emissaries of Charles II., and who for several years had found a refuge near Hadley, the town which he saved from destruction. In this vicinity also is Bloody Brook, where, in 1676, the Indians sur- prised and massacred ninety of the valiant young soldiers of the sparsely settled valleys. Edward Everett has embalmed the incidents connected with that massacre iu the most perfect of oratorical eloquence. Deerfield was in the wars that preceded the Revolution a salient place of attack for both savages and the French, It was a very easy route for the latter down Lake Champlain and the val- leys through which run Otter Creek (a tributary of the lake) and Deerfield River to the Connecticut River. Thus this region, In which are now the sounds of wailing, has oiten been disturbed with din of battle and shrill yells of merciless because despairing foes, During the Revolution the region in which are situated the towns that were afflicted yesterday Was not invaded by the actual presence of war. Its stalwart men were absent, however, in the armies of tie patriots, and of those men who re- echoed the sonorous shout of Ethan Allen for the | surrender of Fort Ticonderoga in the name of the “Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress,” many were trom Hampshire and Franklin counties, Massachusetts. ' all such things were before the days of simple agriculture, in the period when the tiller of the 801) was @ force in the execution o/ the purpose | of natural selection. As he worked he kept his rifle by his side to use tt in the judicious reduction o! his enemies. Afterward came the bucolic | period of life in Hampshire county. Manuiactur- ing Was unthought of and the waters were free to do as they chose. This period continued until about | 1830, and in the meantime Hampshire county was | made by man and nature one of the most beauti- fal regions in our country. The stretch of country about Northampton—wnich was originally called Nonotuck—iruom South Hadley, Falls to Hatfleld and ten miles west of the Connecticut River—in ail ninety square miles—was bought from the aborigines for 100 fathoms of wampum and ten coats. That be- came the choicest spot in all New England. It was made into maguificent farms, parts of which were annually enriched by the overflow of the Connect- icut River. Alterward manufacturing was given an impetus, and it became necessary to make the waters a ser- | vant and consequently alurking enemy. First, sev- eral foundries were established at Williamsburg, the township in which the greatest harm was caused by yesterday’s flood, and then manufac- | tories of woollen goods were erected at that village proper and at points along | the Mill River toward Northampton. About 1830 silk raising and spinning were introduced into the vicinity. As the manufactories increased the } necessity for water power as their continual | motive became urgent. Mill River was an unde- cided, happy-go-lucky kind of stream, whose | Waters sometimes overran its banks, and more frequently substded intoa mere rill, Manufacturers could not abide by such @ stream with profit if they made no effort for its reformation. $0, as their Dumbers and capital increased, the owners of mills at the different manufacturing villages | that had sprung up along the rivers, joined | together and dammed the upper part of the stream | go that its waters should run with regularity and | without waste. This system was continued until | @bout twelve years ago, when numerous capitalists formed a joiutstock company to build the reservoir whose bursting has now spread so much disaster, | It was meant to contain the surplus waters of | the Mill Kiver, to be drawn from in times of drought, The manufacturers who built the reser- | voir were interested in the mills at Williamsburg, Haydensville, and Florence. It was known as | the Goshen Reservoir, and its effect for years was | to supply plenty of water tothe workers in the | mills by keeping them in continual operation. It cov- | ered 160 acres of ground, and had an average depth | of thirty feet. The force of such a volume of water, rushing through a sudden vent, could have been stayed by no earthly power. It is said that appre- | hensions that it was infrm nave been entercained | several times, and it ts certain that the reservoir was repaired, and, itwas thought, strengthened | last year, No more can be told here that will not be told in the despatches and letters from the stricken villages. The hamlets of Wililamsburg, Haydens- ville and Leedsville were generated and nourished by Mill River. Their people imprisoned and tram- melled their beneiactor. The boundaries they had set to its waters lost their strength, and the river rushed eagerly over them to its natural chan- nels, and ip its rapid, vengeful course it de- that allowed the waters to overthrow the reser- voir wails it 18 impossible to say truly, and tt would be ungenerous to assume a cause without | better foundations than is now had for one. | This article was begun with a reference to th¢ realistic description of a similar flood, written by Charles Reade. The flood that was meant by the novelist was the one that occurred at Sheffield, | England, on March 11, 1864, when the Bradfield | Water Reservoir burst and sent its waters co | carry death and disaster throughout the neigh- | borhood of the great manufacturing city, Shetfield, and the country for fourteen | or fifteen miles about it was then flooded. Hundreds of buildings and much prop- | erty were destroyed, as well as the lives of about | 260 persons. The parallel between that disaster and the present is exact, except in the amount of | property and the number of lives destroyed. In | this country, at Denver, Colorado, on May 19, 1864, | there also occurred @ flood which in sudaen- | ness was alike the other two mentioned, Cherry | Creek, @ stream whose channel runs alongside , Denver, had been completely dried up at that place and above it for more than five years. Sud- denly, at midnight, on the date mentioned, a mountain torrent filled and overflowed the chan- | nel of the creek, It swept away with resistiess | fury about filty dwellings and several bridges | that spanned the channel. At the same time it destroyed the lives of about thirty persons, ~ SUDDEN DEATH, Boston, Mass., May 16, 1874, Colonel Edward L. Davis died suddenly at stroyed many lives and tenements. What it was | original report adopted. WASHINGTON. Wasninatox, Ma: The House Committee pads ap. Senate Finance Bill, It ig said that, according to the tenor of the discussion in the House Vommittee on Banking and Currency, the majority of the members of the committee are opposed to the principal provisions of the Currency bill which has just passea thes Senate. fc Movements of the Indiana Editorial Delegation Washington. The Indiana Editorial Association called on the President to-day and were honorably ana cordially received. Several distinguished members of Con- gress and other oMcers of the government were present, ana also avout 250 ladies and their attend. ants. The party then visited the Capitol, the liberty of the foor of the House having been ten- dered them by Speaker Blaine, To-night the In- diantans resident in Washington gave ® card re- ception in their honor at the Masouic Temple. During their stay here, which wiil probably last until Tuesday, they will visit all the places of in- terest in the District of Coiumbia, On Tuesaday they are to go to Richmond, returning on the next night on their way northward, The Recent Rainfall—Condition of the Great Rivers. ‘The Signal OMce reports that during the past twenty-four hours the Mississippi has remained stationary at St. Paul, Le Claire, Dubuque, St. Louis, Vicksburg and New Orleans; iailen at La Crosse and Warsaw and irom Cairo to Helena, and risen slightly trom Davenport to Keokuk. The fall at Cairo has been three ieet. The Missouri has risen slightly from Omaha to Plattsmouth, fallen trom Kansas City to Brunswiek and risen two feet at Jefferson City ana eight inches at Herman. Tne Ohio has falien from Pittsburg to its mouth, the all at Paducah being forty-seven inches. The Red, Cumberland, Alleghany and Monongahela rivers bave continued falling at all stations, The rain fall in the watersheds during the same period has been in the Mississippi, 2-100 of an inch at St. Paul; 85-100 of an inch at Cairo; 10-100 of an inch at Mempots,’ and 3-100 of an inch at Vicksburg. In the Ohio, 6-100 of an inch at Pittsburg; 60100 of an inch at Cincinnati; 20-100 of an inch at Louisville, and 15-100 of an incn at Indi- anapolis. In the Cumberland, 1-100 of an inch at Nashville. Inthe Tennessee, 5-100 of an inch at Knoxville, and in the Red River, 2-100 of an inch at Shreveport. A Newly Married Congressman. To-day Speaker Blaine asked for two days? leave of absence to Representative Conger, of Michigan, and unanimous consent was given amid general laughter. This was in view of the fact that the gentleman was married to-day at the residence of Mrs, Dahigren, to Mrs. Selby, of St. Paul, Minnnesota. . THE CROPS. Prospects of Spring Wheat, Oats, Swine and Fruits—A Hopeful View. INDIANAPOLIS, [nd., May 16, 1874, The National Crop Reporter, publishes to-day estimates deduced from the reports of correspond- ents in relation tu the comparative area of spring wheat and oats this season in the several Western States, The lateness of the season having prevented the closing of the usual spring sowings by May 1, Minnesota 1s not inciuded in the estimates. For the States of Illinois, lowa, Kansas, Missouri and Wisconsin the average area sown this spring to wheat is placed at seven or eight-tenths per cent greater than in the spring of 1873, The increase is four and six-tenths per cent in Illinois, tweive and one-tenth per cent in Iowa, six and one-tenth per cent in Kansas, seven and four-tenths per cent im Missouri, three and five-tenths in Wisconsin. ‘The acreage seeded in oats this spring, in com- parison with the area sown last spring, is an in- crease in the States named, as foliows:—Iindrana, 26-10 per cent; Lowa, 9 8-10; Kansas, 8 8-10; Onio, 85-10; Wisconsin, 36-10, In Illinois there i8 an estimated Jalling off in the area of 11-10 and in Missouri 19-10 per cent. ‘The average for the seven Staves is an inceease of 5 2-10 per cent at the figures given. The increased area is about 255,000 agres oats and 427,000 acres of wheat for the States named. ! The returns 1m relation to the comparative con- dition of swine in the West, on May 1, indicates a much higher condition than at the La ene of the previous month. The average condition, May 1, in the States of Illinois, Indiana, 1owa, Kans; Missouri, Wisconsin and Ohio was 87 3-10, @ average condition being 100. No especial chap; in the prospects of tne fruit crops is noted, ti outlook being most favorable, THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE, Looking After the Bishops—A Wholesale Indorsement of Their Piety. LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 16, 1874, In the General Conference to-day the Committee on Episcopacy made a lengthy report. The com- mittee had carefully reviewed the lives of the bishops one by one for the last four years and found them blameless, and recommended€hat the Conference take some action on the same, which ‘was adopted. Bishop Doggett expressed the thanks of that body. They had passed through a severe ordeal, and to have this public quadrennial recognition ‘was @ source of gratification. The committee rec« ommendeu the adoption of the following resolu- tion :— Resolved, That we do not concur in the recommends tion to seléct two additional bishops, but that we re- quest the present bishops to distribuie’ their labors 60 as to give more tine to our territory west of the Mississipps River, especially in Texas and Caliiormia, Mr. Goodwin offered a substitute as follows :— Resolved, That this General Conference elect two addl- tional bishops during its present session. An animated discussion followed, most of the Western and Southwestern members supporting the substitute, which Was finally rejected and the In answer to a memorial relating to the matter the committee did not believe that, under any roper administration, any one preacher coud be Rope more than four yeurs in one charge, except in violation of discipline. The committee did not justify action of the kind. This awakened some discussion, but the reporce was finally adopted, A resolution instructing the Committee on Books and Periodicals to inquire into tne high price of the books of tne Publisher House which was adopted. ‘The Committee on Itinerancy recommended non- currence in the recommendation in reference to the granting of license by district instead of by the annual conferences. The report was adopted, A resolution requesting the Committee on Boun- daries to make two conferences in Missouri waa reierred to the Committee on Boundaries. THE SWING HERESY TRIAL, The Closing Arguments of the Defence and the Prosecution. bs CaroaGo, ML, May 16, 1874, In the Swing heresy trial to-day Rev. H. ©. Noyes, counsel for the accused, conciuded rga ment, and alter an unsuccessful attempt to get an adjournment of the Presbytery, Professor Patton delivered his closing speech __ for the prosecution, On Monday the Presbyter: Will reassemble and proceed to vote. As each member { allowed to explain his vote—and large proportion, if not all of them, will avail themselves oi the privilege—it is likely that the final result will be poscpoued for nearly a week. PRISON REFORM CONGRESS. Humanitarian Discussion on the Harsh- mess and Inefficiency of Our Criminal Laws. St, Louis, Mo., May 16, 1974, In the Prison Reform Congress a lengthy report Young’s Hotel this afternoon. Deceased was t fifty years of age, and leaves a wile. He vas member of the city Guard and the Ancient | and Honorable Artillery Company and other miii- | tary organizations, “FRATERNITY UNDER THE ROSSS," (From the Vicksburg Herald.) ‘The dead are Dh dreaming where they were laid in the bosom of our common mother, and nature, Kindly prodigal of her gifts, annually | prings her votive offerings to decorate the graves , of the dead heroes who fell in the discharge of | what each regarded as a high and solemn duty, Her flowers and her tears are scattered with | ) ce impartiality alike on the humble mounds | ; Which cover the gallant fellows who “wore the | ray" @8 upon the more costly and carefully nded cemeteries where “the boys in biue’’ are sleeping. {n her 1 Asked and spontaneous offerings ) there is no hypocrisy or falsehood; tn her annual munistrations of love and tenderness there is no alioy Of passion, hate, bigotry or intolerance, It is ; an el A tant ite that ee love which Passeth all understanding, and is @ decoration 1 diregt from the bend of ‘Himaelf. on the police system, prepared by Thomas D. Woolsey, Esq., the late President of Yale College, was read, alter which Judge Walker, of Detroit, read @& paper on ¢riminal jaw reform, which retated mainly to criminal proseoution in Michigan and what reforms are needed. Mr. Baldwin, of linnois, spoke of the evils resulting from the confinement of witnesses in criminal cases, and suggested 4s a rem- edy the taking of the de ations of witnesses at the earliest moment possible. Mr. Huribut, of Wisconsin, endorsed Mr. Bald- | win's: vlewn, le said Wiseonain had abolished the Grand Ju tem and was in the rogres U work of re! Dr. sols apd discussea “insanity as manifested tn criminals,” and Mr. Bovee spoke fainst capital punishment. He said the whole theory was wrong, being founded upon the old Mosaic law and tn direct conflict with every prin- ciple of Christianity and enlightenment, ee A 8UICIDE, An anknown man, dressed in Diack, jamped overboard from the one moraipg. His gs oben