Albany, NY Flooding, Feb 1900
NINE LIVES LOST IN ALBANY FLOOD.
HIGH WATERS CAUSE DAMAGE OF HALF A MILLION DOLLARS.
POOR IN GREAT DISTRESS.
MANY WERE COMPELLED TO FLEE FROM HOMES BY THE FRESHET, WHICH WAS THE WORST SINCE 1857.
Albany, Feb. 14. -- Three men have lost their lives andhalf a million dollars' worth of damage has been done to property along the Hudson River by the worst freshet which this city has seen since 1857.
The men who were drowned were WILLIAM RHINEHART of New York, THOMAS SHEA of Bath, and JOSEPH VOGEL of Van Rensselaer Island, three miles below the city. SHEA and RHINEHART, who were employed by the Montgomery Ice Company as foreman and timekeeper, respectively, were out on the ice near the shore watching the flood, when the ice gave way, throwing them into the water.
VOGEL was drowned while trying to rescue four horses on his farm.
Fifty men are imprisoned in the second story of an icehouse on Montgomery Island, across the river, but they are in no danger, as the water has begun to recede.
The flood reached its height at 3 o'clock this afternoon, when it registered twenty feet above the ordinary level. At midnight it had gone down two feet. The ice gorge at Coeyman's still keeps the water back and the river will be high until it breaks.
Two hundred thousand feet of lumber, valued at $7,000, were carried away from the lumber district.
The police are distributing food, coal, and clothing among the poor families along the river front, where the water reached the second floors of the houses.
The Commissioner of Public Charities has issued a call for aid.
A fire broke out in the flooded district early this morning. It was allowed to burn itself out, because the firemen could not get near enough to fight it. All trains are from an hour to two hours late.
The New York Times New York 1900-02-15