The New York Herald Newspaper, May 18, 1874, Page 3

THE HAMPSHIRE HLO00D. ‘The Death-Sweep of the Tor- rent and Its Results. HORRORS OF THE CALAMITY. ‘Sorrowful Search for the Dead and Missing. FULLER LISTS OF THE DROWNED Mangled. Corpses Dragged from the Debris. ROMANTIC. AND PATHETIC INCIDENTS, Touching Recognition of Friends by Survivors. COLLIN GRAVES, THE HERO. Run for Your Lives! It’s All You Can Do!” —e A GALLANT RIDE. The Impulsé of Grief and Sympathy in the Churches. THE TRACK OF THE FLOOD. NorrHaMpTon, Mass., May 17, 1874, ‘The geography of the Mil! River Valley ts the first Step towards understanding tne awful calamity Which has befallen the people of this quiet vale. It 18 so called from Mill River, a brook which winds through it and enters the Connecticut at this place. The valley ts an exceedingly narrow one, and it..only, has pretensions to being a valley at ail because it has a range ef hills on each side. Its direction from Northampton is to the northwest, and the part swept by the flood extends about thirteen miles from this place.. The brook which passes throngh it is large enough to be called a creek, but falls short of the dignity ofariver. I have been. along the whole length of it trom Northampton to the Teservoir which caused the catastrophe, and the only impressions 1 received fram it were con- tempt for the cause of the disaster and horror at the death and devastation which sprung from the breaking loose of this insignificant brook’s smprisoned water. ‘FERSIFIO FORCE OF THE WATER, Never have I seen anything more terrible, and 0 is impossible to conceive the terrific force of the flood except from the effects, Mull River was in many parts a wailed stream, but the huge pieces of rock which formed itsembankment were com- pletely swept away. In some places the banks ook like a rocky shore, the massive stones being thrown abont 80 indiscriminately. In other places rocks and trees torn from the earth, and débris from the milis which were torn down by the flood are all there is of the river side. Even long pieces ef cloth from the cotton mills are so interwoven ‘with déoris of every kind that they seem a nat- urai part of Nature’s handiwork. The roads have disappeared with the banks, and in many places to-day vebicles passed where yesterday flowed the stream, while now the river ruos in what was for- merly the road. TUE FATAL DAM, This will give some idea of the dificulty of reaching the reservoir, fully one-half the distance to that point from Northampton being impassable ‘until this morning; but it was a point that had to be reached if the horror and devastation which followed the breaking away of the dam were to be explained. The reservoir, which covers about 125 acres, was @ great basin, surrounded by hills except at the point in the valley where the dam ‘was built. Here the valley, however, was exceed- ingly narrow, and it was easy to build a dike from hill to hill to lock up the ‘waters of the brooks. There was @ natural basin to hold a vast quantity of water, and the shrewa Yankee mill owners saw what advantage it would be to have such an excellent reserve for the dry season. All this was well enough if they had shown the same foresight in constructing their dam. Unfortunately this work was badly done, DEATH'S TRAP. A wall, only four teet at the base, tapering to about a foot at the top, and not being built on any solid foundation, was thought suficient to hold 125 acres of water, forty or flity feet deep at the dam. It was not to be expected that this wall would stand many years, and when the break came it was completely swept away, except two abutments on each side, which remain to bear witness against the foolhardiness of its construc- tion, When I saw what this boasted dam really ‘was I could scarcely trust my own eyes in the revelation of the cause of this dread{ut calamity, The dam cost but very little money and was a mere makeshift, built by the men whose lives and property were imperilled, and in the day of dis- aster their wealth went with the rushing food and mofe than 100 lives were sacrificed to an iil- placed economy. It is sald there was a leak for three days in the thin wall which was called a dam, and that the watchman stationed at the reservoir by the company was cognizant of it all the time, RACING WITH THE FLOOD. It was not until he saw tne wall actually give way that he gave the alarm, and then the speed of Ais horse was scarcely sufficient to anticipate the rush of the waters, The volume of water thus un- Joosed in an instant was tremendous, and as it ‘went rolling and roaring down the narrow valley the sight must have been a8 grand as the subse- quent destruction was awiul. BODIES RECOVERED AT WILLIAMSBURG. It is about three miles from the regervoir vo the nearest village below, the village of Williamsburg, and the flood was there almost ag soon as the messenger who heralded its coming. It was less destructtve in Williamsburg than in Haydens- ville, the next village on the stream, but here, a8. everywhere on ita course, bridges were swept away, houses overturned and even utterly destroyed and many lives lost, Thirty-six bodies were found in this village up to noon to- day, and it 1s not believed that all are recovered yet. It was hero that the food came out of the narrow gorge which had conveyed it in its course from the reservoir, and here it scattered itself m the wildest disorder, ROADS IMMERSED, For a quarter of @ mile the highway ts among the waters to-day, the line for carriages being marked by poles, 80 a8 to prevent them irom driving into dangerons places. What are now the banks, and along which & roadbed has been improvised, are almost as dangerous, at places these roads are 80 narrow that only one carriage can pass at a time, and as all day Jong two lines of carriages, one going and the otner coming, were kept up, It was slow as well as Gangerpua waveiling, The worst parvot the road NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, MAY 18, 1874.—-TRIPLE SHERT. MAP OF THE FLOOD-SWEPT REGION. is from Williamsburg depot te Williamsburg village, a distance of probably a mile and a half. BUILDINGS AND WORKS DESTROYED. Below the depot just mamed is Haydensville. Here the destruction wasin some respects the most complete. It may pe ssid that the street was itcrally swept away. Houses of every de- scription disappeared. The bolier belonging to the immense mill of Hayden & Gere was floated like @ cork into the yard of what was the dwelling Of the late Governor Hayden, Only a small part of the mill itself isstanding, The savings bank ad- joming it—one of the finest structures and among the stanchest in this part of the State— was so completely demolished that only a few of ita stone slabs remain. What is remarkable about this building ts the fact that a number of persons entered it to see the flood coming, and laughed at tne fears of those who sought safety on the high grounds above, Of course all of those who entered were crushed by the monster whose- approach curiosity had tempted them to view. BOILER AFLOAT. Alittle higher up the stream, quietly tying in the placid current, is another boiler, which waa car- ried down from the Skinner mill, This mill was an immense structure, but now nothing remains of it—scarcely so'much as the ground upon which it stood, Mr. Skinner’s fine mansion near by was also much damaged. The jower floor was s0 com- pletely gutted that the piano fell into the cellar. At Leeds, below Haydensyille, the destruction also was very great, as algo at Florence, the nearest of the three villages to Northampton, Indeed, the flood did not les go its work of destruction till it entered the Connecticut River and there, strange to say, It made so little impression that its effect ‘Was scarcely noticeable. It was only in the valley vhat the unloosed floods of Mill River were dan- gerous, and there they wrought thelr direst upon whatever chauced in their way. THE DEATH STRYGGLE, As I sald before, I never saw @ sadder sight than the scenes beheld this day, In my journey along Milli River I had not gone far beyond Florence when I saw two men approach from the marsh! with the body of a boy on two Poles between them. He was a little fellow about twelve years old, who had met deatn 8» unexpectedly and in such aterrible form that I conid not fail being deeply moved at the sight of his distorted face and the many marks the monster flood had put upon his Iffeless body. It was the first sight Lhad of the fearful death struggle which only yesterday had gone on in this valley, and it prepared me for the still sadder sights I was to gee, : STRANGE AND SAD SCENES, Before me, for part of my way up the valley, a Nght wagon was driven with a body over which a blanket was thrown, stretched on the floor of the vehicle. Again I saw that two hearses, on their ‘Way to the cemetery, were in advance of me in the line of vehicles. No mourners accompanied the hearse, and indeed there is a singular absence of all the outward signs of mourning. The men in the wagon carrying the body were as mirthfal as men well can be with the signs of death and destruction all around them. There are no crapes and scar{s of mourning, and though tne entire valley swarms with men and women there are no wet eyes, for these are mere curiosity seekers: but if there were crapes and scarts there ‘would be no places to,put them, for the houses are generally gone with the inmates. In some in- stances whole families were swept away together. THE UNKNOWN DEAD. In other cases the dead, when found, are not recognizable by the living. Near the spot where Saw the men carrying the dead body of a boy a ttle child was found yesterday completely naked, It happened in many cases that the clothing was torn from the bodies of the victims, and in nearly every case the disfigurement was very great. Sheds by the roadside became the receptacles for the dead, and the churches and public builaings sheltered tie living. Everything that could be done to relieve the sorrow and suffering was done, but that was little in comparison with the distress. THE BRUINS. The appearance of the shattered buildings still standmg was of such a diversified character as almost to bamMe description. A huge chimney sometimes indicated the site of a great mit. Some of the largest mills of the valley, as I have already said, have left no sign of their existence, Many houses and shops were completely shattered to pieces and scattered to no one knows where. Such complete devastation is not more remarkable than the partial destruction of buildings to which I just now referred. Some houses were com- pletely riddled by the flood, leaving only the frame- work, The toundations and walls of others were swept away, leaving the frame structure vory much awry. Some were half swept off, leaving the other half where it stood before; some were carried down the stream and stranded. Some were turned over on their sides, and I saw one which now stood on its roof. The wrecks are of every description, but the trame buildings were not so completely demolished as those of other materials. When a brick or stone house felt the force of the flood it was almoat certain to yield completely. Had Mr. Skinner’s elegant mansion been of brick instead of boards the whole house would have gone as his mill went. TREES SWEPT AWAY. ‘When the flood was at its highest trees, as well as houses, were swept away, and in many places the undergrowth lay crushed like flelds of rye flattened by a storm. The valley itself in many places is almost cov- ered by the flood, and wherever the flood touched there is ruin, THE POETRY OF THE FT.OOD, From the reservoir in the basin of the hills through tne narrow gorge at Williamsburg, from Willkamsburg through Haydensville, Leeds and Florence, to the Connecticut River, was the course of the flood. Ther3 is nothing of its kind in history, orin fiction even, to equalit. Charles Reade’s story of the Hillsboro’ flood falls below 1t in its terrible reality. There was.a dramatic in- tensity in the foaming mass of water which Reade’s picture would not adequately describe. Words fat! short of depicting a scene at once grand and terridle, which only the imagination can con- ceive. The disaster was like a nightmare which ended in death. The rushing floods came, sweep- ing everything before them, and ina few hours the sober brook was placid again, only the track of desolation marking the course of the angry waters, and of all the sorrows growing out of this disaszer, that which is saddest is the death of so many little children, babes whose lives were as Sweet as the babbling brook which suddenly arose ‘and swallowed them. ~ FROM RICHES TO POVERTY, The spirit reflected by the disaster from those Who Jost most by it ia another marked feature of the calamity. Many rich men who are penniless to-day laugh and almost mock atit, ‘I have lost all had” said young Hayden to me this morn- ing; “But up and at it again.” ‘There was, however, a tone Of sadness beneath the mask of confidence. Mr. William Skinner, who is President of the Reservoir Company and whose mill was so completely swept away, is reported as jestingly searching for @ single brick of his once magnificent structure. There is another side to this gentleman’s conduct, One of nis neighbors says that after the disaster he was so completely stunned that he could only mutter to himself, “I worked for what I had and now it is ali gone.” With the wealth of these few capitalists ts buried the prosperity of the valley. It was a vale made mrusical by the busy hum of industry, and when the capital which drove the machinery was swept away the industry of the people went with it, PARALYZED INDUSTRY, At least three of the villages, Williamsburg, Haydensville and Leeds, are paralyzed beyond the hope of recovery. It mattera little how muca moticy was actually lost, for its sum total is the hand which fed the inhabitants of what was yes- terday @ happy village. To-day it is desolation and to-morrow it will be worse, for it will be hope- lessness. When the dead are buried, when the extent of the bereavements is fully understood, when the scene of desolation becomes familiar, will come the reaction, and with the reaction, perhaps, despair. I saw an old man this morning, while hia neighbors were busy examining the heaps of débris along the course of the flood for the dead bodies, engaged in gathering buttons on a Biring, Equally aumlesa must be the future of ‘The map given above shows that part of Hampshire county, Massachusetts, in which is comprised the “devastated territory. The boundary jines are shoge of the several townships. The townships Sffected by the dreadin! calamity are Williamsburg and Northampton. In the iormer the Mill River ia formed at the post village of Williamsburg by the conjunctjon of three small streams, or rather brooks, On the westernmost of these was the reservoir. When the waters burst forth they took their way along the narrow valley of the Mill River, destroying a portion of Wililamsburg, the entire villages of Haydens- ville and Leeds, and doing much damage to the village of Florence. these people, unless capital flows into the valley again almost as rapidiy as it was swept away. THE RUIN WROUGHT. WILLIAMSBURG, Mass., May 17, 1874, ‘This has been a sofemn and Interesting Sabbath in this section of Western Massachusetts. Sorrow and gloom, mingled with sad scenes of death and Gesolation, are everywhere apparent, and the whole community seems Horror stricken and ap- palled at the fall realization of the terrible calam- ity which laid waste the valley of Mill River yes- terday morning. TWO HUNDRED PERSONS LOST. Indeed, the catastrophe is awful beyond the power of language adequately to express, As in- timated in the HERALD despatches of last night, the loss of life will be scarcely less than 200, and the amount of property swept away will reach at least $2,000,000 in value. The record is indeed @ horrible one, and the sadness of the event is imtensified by the agonizing fact that the calamity is the result of the conceptions of Lilliputian souls of grasping corporattons. THE FLIMSY DAM, The dam which broke away was as flimsy a structure of its kind as was ever built, Instead Of being solidly constructed where the force of the vast sheet of water was concentrated, there was only an embankment ofearth and a feevle stone overflow. One theory is that this embankment had been honeycombed by muskrats; but, be that as it may, it is nevertheless certain that the struc- ture was miserably weak, and the only wonder is that it has not given way betore. Another common: rumor is to the effect that when the dam was built there was'a strike among the workmen, and, inasmuch as the strikers were unsuccessiul, they imtentionally weakened the reservoir in completing it. CRIMINAL CARELBSSNESS. Whatever may have been the ‘cause, it seems Clear that there was a criminal carelessnesson the part of the owners of the dam in falling to seo that it was made secure. They cannot plead the | excuse of ignorance of the existing danger; for, years ago, the late Lieutenant Governor Hayden, ot Williamsburg, and other residents in the vicinity, pronounced the work unsafe, and ex- pressed the fear that it would som: day give way, and that the villages below would be inundated. How fully and sadly their feariul anticipations have been realized is now too well known, and it is to be hoped that THE CORONERS INVESTIGATION, which is to commence to-morrow, will result in de- fining the path of duty for the Grand Jury and the Judges of the criminal courts of Massachusetts, Scarcely anywhere else in New England where dams and reservoirs are brought into requisition by manufacturera would a misfortune of this kind have been attended with such disastrous conse- quences. Still, there is a sorrowlul satisfaction in contemplating the small loss of life compared with the terrible record which would have been presented if the flood had come two or three hours earlier,. when tne whole population of the inundated villages were soundly sleeping. Instead of 200, the victims would have numbered at least 6,000 or 8,000. As it is, however, the loss of 200 lives and of $2,000,000 is @ terrible blow to such manufacturing districts as these, which have been so suddenly swept away, and the aisaster, alike in its character and extent, is really without any precedent in this country. Hundreds of people have lost their all of property, their homes and their household goods, and the business men, who have been tne life of this busy and thrilty com- manity, are in many instances utterly rnined. THE BESERVOIR, THR BREAK AND THE COURSE OP DESTRUCTION, ‘Mill River, which formed the fatal reservoir, is composed of two branches, the north branch and the west branch, the former of which has its rise among the Franklin county bills, and the latter on the well known Goshen Hills. Each of these branches furnishes power for a consider- able number of manuiactaring establish- ments, and they both come together in the village of Williamsburg. The un. certainty and capriciousness of the streams them- selves, sometimes swollen by ireshets and again | reduced by the drought, led the manufacturers some forty years ago to build a reservoir upon the west branch. This reservoir was built at the very source of that branch upon the Goshen Hill, Aye miles west of the viliage of Williamsburg, and covered about 100 acres ofland. This, however, did not prove suicient for the exigencies or tne ary seasons, ANOTHER RESERVOIR. ‘The manufacturing establishments along the line of the river increased, and about ten years ‘ago another reservoir was built upon the north branch, three miles north of the village of Wil- lMamaburg, Both of these reservoirs were built by the manufacturing companies along the river be- tween Williamsburg and Northampton, under the name of the Mill River Reservoir Company, tne different companies contributing pro rata to the expense and paying annual assessments for re- pairs. The Goshen Reservoir is regarded as one of the strongest in the country; but the dam at the Williamsburg Reservoir, which was built mainly of earth and wood, has never been regarded as very safe and has been in constant need of repairs. This reservoir was built by Emery Wells, of Nortn- empton, and covered 104 acres of ground, and the average depth of the water was over twenty feet, the height of the Williamsburg Reservoir, for the latter is upon an eminence nearly as highas Mount Holyoke. THE FORCE, however, of @ volume of water of the area and depth of that confined in the Williamsburg reser- voir is simply irresistible, aud a more terrible en- gine of destruction than such a muddy, rushing torrent of water as on Saturday morning leaped down upon those busy and thriving villages along ‘Mill River, sweeping away their buildings and ctt- izens without a moment's warning of their im- pending doom, can hardly be tinagined. Scarcely swifter than this on-rushing torrent cold have been the flery stream of lava which overtoos and buried the historic cities of Pompelt and Hercu- laneum; and a more sudden transition from pros- perity and happy life to ruin and ghastly death has seldom been experienced in any part of the world, Several manufacturing establishments are sit- wated upon each branch of the Mill River before they form a junction in the village of Williamsburg, but most of the ablishments drawing power from the stream are situated below the junction. The manufactories upon the west branch of the river, several of which are in the village of Wil- hameburg above the junction of the two branches and several others which are still jurther up, between WilMamsburg and Goshen, are, of course, unaffected. THE MILLS UPON THE NORTH BRANCH nearest the Williamsburg reservoir, and, conse- sequently, the first to receive the shock of the ter- riple dood, were Spellman’s button factory, Adams & Hitcock’s grain mill and the old tannery bulld- ing, which has recently been used asa cotton warp factory. Next comes H. James?’ woollen mill, situ- ated just below the junction. These establishments were in thé village of Williamaburg, and next lower down upon the stream was Skinnersville, where was Skinner's silk factory. Then came Hay- densville, @ village founded by and named for the late Lieutenant Governor Joel Hayden. Here were located the extensive brass manufacturing estab- lishment of Hayden, Gere & Co,, the thread mills, the Hayden Manufacturing Company’s works and Thomas Hayden & Co.’s tobacco factory. The old oid pen factory was also here, but that building had latterly been used for tenements. The Hay- denville Savings Bank was locatedin the same building with the office of Hayden, Gere & Co, The last establishment on the line of the stream in the limits of Haydensville was the Haydensville Manufacturing Oompany’s mills. Next, lower down upon the stream, comes the littie village of LEEDS, four miles from Northampton, Mass., where were the Nonotuck Silk Company's mill, tne Emery Wheel Company’s mill, built by Colonel James Shep- herd, ot Northampton, fifty years ago, and formerly occupied by the Northampton Woollen Company; then came A. P. Critchiow’s large button factory, Consisting of two buildings, and this completed the establishments at Leeds. AT FLORENCE there were another mill owned and run by the Nonotuck Silk Company; the Florence Manutac- turing Company’s establishments, where brushes and mirrors were made; A. Williston’s cotton mill and Bay State cutlery works. Still lower down upon the stream and located in Northampton proper were the Vernon paper milis, the Anchor Tape and Webbing Company’s worgs, and Clapp & Pomeroy’s four mill, This four mill was the last establisoment upon the river before 1t empties into the Connect- icut, near the McIndals Lumber Company's saw mill at Oxbow, The above summary of the leading establish- ments and industries located upon this river gives some idea of the activity and industrial impor- tance of these now stricken villages, and @ refer- ence to this list and to the detatis of the destruc-: tion, which are given elsewhere, will give some appreciation of the loss and suffering caused by the disaster. THE FIRST ALARM AND TRE ESCAPES, The Wiluamsburg reservoir was constantly in charge of @ gate keeper, andearly on Saturday morning there were no indications of any troubie. A little later, however, and about seven o'clock, he discovered that the water was leaking through the dam, and with all possible speed he hastened to the village of Williamsburg below, to.give noti- fication of the impending disaster. He reached there a little in advance of the flood, and so rapidly had be driven that his horse dropped dead in his tracks, Another team went to Skinnerville and notified Mr. Skinuer, who directed the fire bells to be rong. The operatives came rushing out and Mr. Skinner shouted to them to flee tor their lives, They ran with all possible speed to the surrouna- ing hills and all escaped. The topography of the country is such that the water escaping from the reservoir was confined to & very narrow channel until it reached the meadows at Florence, which it gradually over- spreaq, and thus lost much of its force. The damage below Florence was still considerable, however, to roads and bridges, but the main force of the torrent, and the chief losses by the disaster, came further up the stream. THE HORROR AT WILLTAMSBURG. The devastation at Williamsburg was much greater than represented by the first report. This ‘was the first village into which the flood swept, and instead of merely cutting aéroas one Sobmer Qf the thickly settled portion, it poured down through the very heart of the village. Filty-three lives were lost between its northernmost portion and the depot. BUILDINGS CARRIED OF. Spellman’s button factory and sawmills were first carried off, then Hiram Hill's two tenement houses, a house of Utis Hill and twenty other dwell- ings. H. L. James’ woollen factory was saved, but the store and dye house were swept away, with $20,000 worth of wool, and also a large boarding house, The large carriage shop of Norman Graves wasjcartied away, but his dwelitng was saved. TERRIBLE DEATHS. ‘The wido w Knight, eighty years old, and Jerry Ward, who was helping her out of her house, were carried down by the current and were seen no more. The widow Snow, aged seventy-five, was carried by her son-in-law, Deacon Ti!ton, into @ tree, where she fainted. Mr. Tilton held her weight untu his strength utterly falled, when she dropped into the seething flood. Otners who were lost were Mr. and Mrs. Spen- cer Bautet, Superintendent Burnham and fam- ily, Engineer Roberts and bis’ whole family, Mrs, Cowan and daughter, James Stephenson (who climbedinto a tree which was torn up from its roots and carried down with the flood), Mr. Adams and Mr. Hitchcocks, the millers; Conductor Chandler's wife and three children; Mra, Dwight adams and daughter (who ran tpto the street for safety and wera awept away while their home re- mained); Mrs. Patrick Scully, Dr. E. N. Johason and tamily and Mr. and Mrs, Eldridge Kingsley. Mrs, Kingsley was probably one of the first vic- tims of the flood. Her remains were found furthest away from the place of her death, being identified here in Northampton yesterday. The people of Williamsburg are begging the authori. tles to open the gate of the tourth reservoir for fear that it will also break away; but as it has not been pronounced unsaie the request will not ve complied with, TOUCHING SCENRS. There were numerous touching and heartrend- ing seenes at Williamsburg. A woman and two children were seen at the window of @ house, floating down the tide, with despair on tueir faces, A moment Jater a higher wave swept thom under, AT BKINNERSVILLE. Four lives were lost at Skinnersville.—Mrs, Jerome Stiliman, whose body has not yet been re- covered; Mrs, Jacob Hills, whose remains were found this morning and who leaves aix small children; Robin, the Uttle gon of Captain Joseph Hayden, and Eli sryaut, @ man aged seventy-six. Ateloven ovclock thia morning the body of Dr, Johnson, who perished at Williamsburg, was re- covered at Skinneraville, with that of a young Woman who has not yet been identified. In all twenty-five butidings in Skinnersville were swept away, more than half of which belong to William Skinner, whose aslix factory Was totaily destroyed. As it happened, Mr. Skinner had a large amount of siik on hand and his loss was not less than $125,000, THR ESCAPE OF OVER A HUNDRED, The 125 hands at work in Skinner's factory had but three minutes’ warning of the flood, but aly escaped to the bills which surrounded the villages, Men have been excavating for the dead bodies near Mr. Skinner’s house all day, but none have been found as yet. HAYDENSVILLW'S ILL FORTUNE. ‘The severest olow to Haydenaville is the loss of the brass factory of Hayden, Gere & Co., with its adjoining oMice building, occupied also by the Hay. densville Savings Bank. The loss has been put as high as $200,000, but will not exceed half that’sum. The old or upper portion of these works still stands and notices were posted on it to-day stating that the frm would commence to rebuild to-mor- Tow and would furnish employment for all work- men. Besides the brasa factory about flteca buildings, mostly cheap tenement houses, were swept away. THE FATALITIES. The full list of the twenty-eight persons who lost thetr lives at Haydensville is as toliows:— Mrs. Morris and her daughter Johanna Williams, the bodies of both being found this morning close by the Congregational charch. Two young childreu of Edward Thayer. Christian Kaplinger. Mrs. Hogan, in the same house. Edward Moakler. Mra, Mosher and her daughter-in-law, Mra Mosher. Py Francis Brodeur, Three children of Mrs. Miller. Mrs. John Wilson and three children. Mrs. Luke Possey, her daughter and two grand- children. Mrs. Louis Messie and daughter and three grand- children, Stephen Reilly and wite, REMARKABLE FEATS OF THE FLOOD. H. M. Brewster, paymaster at Hayden, Gere & Co.’8 factory, had gone to the mill, He ran-for his life, and in g few moments alter his escape the flood was twenty feet deep in the street, and tne mul office and bank building, known as one of the finest structures in Western Massachusetts, was shaken in pieces and borne away like leaves on the swollen tide. The flood picked up & heavy boiler of the Jactory, and harried it unceremontouusiy across the street into the yatd of Lieutenant Governor Hay- den’s house as ‘though it had been a plaything. All of the sons and sons-in-law of Lieutenant Govy- ernor Hayden, including Acting Governor Talbot, came together at Haydensville on Saturday, with their families, in anticipation of the delivery of a sermon to-day by the Rev, Mr. Kimball, in memory , of the late Lietenant Governor Hayden; but the discourse was, Of course, postponed. ‘The safe of the savings bank was found in the river to-day, @ few rods below the scene of its destruction, but has not been opened, ‘The report that it contained $35,000 In money as the bank deposits at North- ampton is unfounded. AT LEEDS. The dovastation at Leeds is indescribable, Only three houses on the east side of the mver remain in their original positions. The water first struck the Nonotuck silk dam, a solid structure, aud ploughed through it asifit had been a bank of sand. The dam was bulit twenty-five years ago, and had a twenty-six foot fall in the centre. It originally cost $50,000, and was refuced a few years ago, The stone wall of the mill facing the stream | tated, was nearly swept away. Tne mill was dam- aged but slightly, but work will not be Tresumed-on it for months, thus throwing many | hands out of employment. The silk muil boarding house was totally wrecked. All the tnmates escaped, except Captain Vaughn and Miss Woodward, both of whom lost their lives by returning for some valuables. Miss Woodward was @ daughter of the old proprietor of the Wooa- ward House, at Northampton. The oid wooden mill, occupied in patt as a sawmill, was next crushed by the seething waters. This was a three and a half story building, 250 by 40. The flood 1n Its course took Sclectmay W. F. Quigley’s house down the current @ few rods, leaving only the old L part-on the site. In this L part Mrs, Quigley, two daughters and Miss Marble, a teacher at the Leeds school, were sitting, having just completed breakfast. They flew into the upper story and so escaped. It was whille they were standing here that the main part of the bouse parted from their TOWER OF SAFETY, leaving them with a thin partition to fence out the surging sea. Gazing out of a window they saw Walter Humphreys on the roof of a house, that appeared as a ship on the sea. Happily it Noated near the window, and Miss Nellie Quigley and Miss Marble raised the window, grasped:bim and drew him into the little harbor. that bravely stood out the storm, and he was saved, Mr. Humphreys knows nothing of the way he came upon the roof. His family, @ wife and two children and an aged lady, were all saved. Mrs. Humphreys was surpfised by the ficod, and she and the old lady took each a child and | stood upon a bea, holding the little ones above the waves that were clamoring for mora life to des- troy. These women in saving others were saved themselves. Tne iron bridge was carried away~ and irom this point the waters poured down into the drowned villages, bearing on its bosom the form of destruction. House after honse crumbled nan neh The old residence of Thomas Mus- ftave, Who ‘was killed some months Ago on the Morris and Essex railroad, was among the first to fall and not a whit of it remains. One house lodged. by ® large maple tree and @nother dovetailed into an adjoining build. ing. Frederick - Qlough, 9 foreman at the button factory, heard the roar of the coming flood and hastened to Mrs. Bonney's house, and, as it were, commanded all those present there to flee. Mrs, Bonney obeyed, running to the hills, Clough seizing one of Mr. Ryan’s children, a grand- daughter of Mrs. Bonney, begged Mrs. Mary Ryan and Carrie Bonney to follow him, but they stood fixed to the spot in terrorand fright. He fled with the child, ‘They remained with another cniid and 80 Were Swept.away. Mrs. Bonney’s other daugh- ter, Annte, fled from the mill and was saved, The ‘village chapel followed the way to destraction, and also two or three donbdle houses. The cur- rent had now nearly reached George P, Warner's button factory, which was totally ruined. The alarm had been given and all the employés ex- cept Carrie Bonney and Evelyn Sherwood escaped, These two became bewlidered and started for home, when they were swept down the current, Mr, Warner’s loss is $125,000. He will resume business, though his losses have, of course, seri- ously crippled him. FIVE ADDITIONAL BODIES FOUND. Five dead bodies—one man, two women and two children—were recovered on the west side of the river to-day. They were trom Haydensville, and were removed to the houses of their trienda, The Ust of those lost at Leeds, 60 far as ascer- tained, 1s a8 follows :— Captain T. F. Vaughn. Miss Mary Woodward, Mrs, Jane Canyan and two daughters, Annie and Gracie, Miss Carry Bonney. Ralph, Isham, Mr. Dunning. Oharies Fitzgerald, Mrs. Ellen Finnessy, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew, Nellie Finnessy, Annie Fitageraid. George Clancey. Alexander Lanier. Mrs. E. Hannop, and three children, Mrs, Sarah J. Ryan. Miss Evelyn Sherwood. Artour Sharp. Mrs. Hurley. Mrs. James Finnessy and two children, Mrs, Coogan and her two daughters were breakfast when the house was crushed. One the girls was @ teacher in the village school, and the other was preparing for the same calling at the Westfleld Normal School. She was spending, the day at home with her mother, A few years ago Mra, Cougan’s. husband was drowned in the same stream, during a freshet. BURIAL OV VICTIMS, Miss Annie Coogan was buried to-day from the house of Mr. George Warner, as was also Mise Carrie Bonney. The body of Miss Grace Cougan was sound neas Florence iste last nignt. Mrs. Cougan’s remains have not been recovered. Cornelius Harlen rushed to his home when be saw the water coming, and, clasping two of hs! children in his arms, told Nis wife to do the same, and then both escaped with their precious burden. HEARTRENDING CRIR3 OF THE DROWNING, It 19 said that the cries of the drowning and terrified victims were heart-rending. Children ciung to their parents and parents to their chil- dren, and together they sank in the angry tor- rent. One man was seen to go over tne silk mill, dam, standing erect on some floating timber, and’ then he suddeniy disappeared from sight. Ose little child was found alone in the street: where it had been at play. All its relations nad been lost, SORROWFUL SEARCHING, The search for the dead was made with the ut- Most kindlness, and the bodies were.taken up and borne away with unspeakable sorrow.. Many of the victims were sadly disfigured, arms and limbs: were broken, and their bodies cut and gashed bd; the falting timbers and débris, It was a sickening: sight to see the long hair of women matted with mud and dirt, Many @ spectator looked on an@ turned away with tears filling his eyes. Not ao drunken man was seen on the ground to-day and scarcely an oath was heard. TRUNKS RIFLED. One or two trunks were rifled as they were dug from the ruins of the Silk Mill boarding house, one of the victims being Miss Alma Angell, of South Worthington. Apart from this strict ordes has been kept, The Northampton Emery Wheel Company’@ works, reported to be destroyed, are damaged only to the extent of $1,500. AT FLORENCE. Florence, when compared to the other villages through which the terrible flood surged, may be said to have escaped serious damage. No person. living there lost bis Iiie, and yet the scene on the Florence meadows was appalling. The waters there had the sweep of 106 acres of fine meadow land, and rushed over its enlarged borders with tha speed of lightning, carrying away everything which had been planted, and covering the fine grass land witha foot or two of soft earth, om which is piled andiscriminately several thonsand cords 0! timber and building material of every. Kind. Dwelling houses and {factories ground to Kindhng wood liein great confused masses, aud mixed with the débris may be seen household Turniture torn-to iragments, bedding and wearing apparel, pieces of Bibies, hymnbooks, photograpm albums, mantel ornaments, &c., all destroyed and heaped up on both sides of the stream as far ag the eye can reach, THE HERO OF THE FLOOD. ‘The first warniug the people of Florence had of the approach of the flood was brought by tha brave Myron Day, who, with the flood roaring be-: hind bim, lashed his horse down tnrough the vale ley, startling the dwellers along the stream and the operatives in the mills with his quick cry, “Run for your lives!” It wasa little after eignt o'clock Saturday morning when he dashed into Florence, startling the echoes with his wilt alarm. For & moment the people heste scarcely believing that the mag coulda be in his senses, but his manner soon infected them, and It was well'for them that itdid. They fled to the high ground with ail pose sible speed and had scarcely reached it when the torrent swept through and onward towards Northampton. It was the work of a few moments, and then the waters receded rapidly and the mem ot Florence bent themselves to the sorrowful tasic of looking for the dead bodies. THE RECOVERY OF CORPSES. Tt was not a bard matter to Gnd them, for alt about, bruised and torn, they lay haif buried in the sand and débris. In Warner’s meadow they ound Mrs. Bruyette, of Leeds, and not far away her daughter and son, the latter buried four feet under a pile of timvers. So the search went on, | bringing to light a mother here, a brother near by and @ husband or an innocent little babe im another place. As fast as the bodies were dis- covered they were carried to William Warner's shop ana lald in rows for identification, Tne names of the persons found and taken to the shop on Saturday are as follows :— Annie Coogan. Carrie Bonney. Mrs. Bruyette, Ora and Jean Bruyette. Mrs. Andrew Finnessey. Spencer Bartlett, Ralph Isham, Annie Fitzgerald, George Clancy. Mrs. Dunlea, Terry Duniea. Nellie and Lyman W, Kingsley, children of BE, Dy Kingsley. Captain T. Vaughn. Samuel Datris, Mrs. Dunning. Grace L. and Freddie G, Thayer. Mrs, Patrick. Mrs. Hurley. Agnes and George C. Miller, Mrs. and Georgiana Posey. Mrs, Robert Fitzgerald. Mrs. Fennessey. Francis Murray. Mrs, Horace Lamb. Mrs. Elbridge Kingsley and daughter, Patrick W. Scully. Bertha Fitzgerald, Merrick Wood. E. C. Hubbard. Mary Ann McGee and another woman named Fennessey, whose first name is unknown, THRONGS SURVEYING THE DEAD, All day long the men worked in the meadows, and people thronged to the carpenter shop to view the bodies. It was aterrible sight and never ta be forgotten. All were identified with the excepe: tion of two, s gray-haired lady and @ little child, scarcely @ year old. TO-DAY’S LABORS, ‘The search for tne bodies ceased only with the night, and early this morning was renewed with vigor. General Oliver Edwards organized a force of, seventy-five men and they went to work overnaul- ing the rubbish. The bodies at Warner's shop have been mostly removed by friends, and msay heartrending scenes have occurred. PITIFUL IDENTIFICATIONS, About the middie of the forenoon to-day 6 welt dressed man appeared and motioned admittance: to the man im charge of the door. He tried tor speak, but his voice failed bim entirely. Ho wow allowed to enter, and with tears streaming down: his face ‘he raised the covering from each ghastiy, corpse, Scanning them with sa reersligtids 5 ‘Was truly pitisal, and finally turn ' ing in broken ee psperagay can'e ” ked away. joe ancvner san came and said “I’ve found the body of my wife and my brother has found bis: ‘also; but he cannot On4 his daughter.” Every few moments @ father would recognize @ Mrs, Bronette and seven children. Mrs. Patrick, two daughters anda son. Charles Patrick and wie fon, or a husband & fond wife, and the touching CONTINUED ON TWTH PAGE