Mill River Flood (Florence)
Months later, four men – George Cheney Collins Graves Jerome Hillman Myron Day - were honored for bravery, for rushing to warn others and presented gold medallions and yet who knows how many more ran to neighbors, shouted warnings, saved lives, sacrificed themselves: men and women that were not then, nor now, ever remembered
Reference: The Mill River Flood of May 1874, in Williamsburg, Leeds Massachusetts
Mill River Flood (Florence)
Florence heard, and knew, and left, and the Meadows - at 90 minutes from the break of the Williamsburg Dam – became the landing place of up-river’s lost pieces
Reference: The Mill River Flood of May 1874, in Williamsburg, Leeds Massachusetts
Mill River Flood (Leeds)
At eight thirty, the flood left Leeds in tatters, a village shattered, and fell its way into Florence, bringing with it not just water, but debris of wood, buttons, bodies
Reference: The Mill River Flood of May 1874, in Williamsburg, Leeds Massachusetts
Mill River Flood (Leeds)
Imagine the fear, with water up to their necks, those six children huddled behind the bed, waiting as the river diverted, receded, fled
Reference: The Mill River Flood of May 1874, in Williamsburg, Leeds Massachusetts
Mill River Flood (Leeds)
Only five, left standing, and all other buildings, gone in a blink, the river’s reach like a hand expanding expanding expanding, and then at least 50, dead, we think
Reference: The Mill River Flood of May 1874, in Williamsburg, Leeds Massachusetts
Mill River Flood (Leeds)
Myron Day saw the wave, the broken river rushing forward in a powerful push
He raced the water that day with speed, to try to warn the families and workers of Leeds
Reference: The Mill River Flood of May 1874, in Williamsburg, Leeds Massachusetts
Mill River Flood (Williamsburg)
Vats of dye lie in the river’s wake, colors mixed with wool, and rock rubble, like an eye of a bent needle
Reference: The Mill River Flood of May 1874, in Williamsburg, Leeds Massachusetts
Mill River Flood (Williamsburg)
The village doctor was last seen with two children in his arms, his wife with the other, by his side, and then he was gone, and they were, too
Reference: The Mill River Flood of May 1874, in Williamsburg, Leeds Massachusetts
Mill River Flood (Williamsburg)
Ten year old George, sat down to breakfast, then lost his entire family as the water washed through, and who knows if it was luck or grace, or just the opposite, that kept that boy alive
Reference: The Mill River Flood of May 1874, in Williamsburg, Leeds Massachusetts
Mill River Flood (Williamsburg)
Four days later, the inquest begins with the body of John Atkinson
but it was the dam itself the inquest jury was looking into, probing with critical eyes, and looking for blame
Reference: The Mill River Flood of May 1874, in Williamsburg, Leeds Massachusetts