THE FLOOD OF 1 843. 67 



years. All the bodies were found some distance below on the 

 following day. 



Susan Dowlan, the other member of this ill-fated family, 

 had her life preserved under circumstances which scarcely 

 presented one chance in ten thousand. As the water rose the 

 inmates of the house retreated to the second story for safety, 

 but it was not until the wing walls of the bridge gave way, 

 that they realized the danger to which they were exposed. In 

 less than half an hour after the yielding of the bridge walls, 

 the house began to fall in pieces, and they were all precipi- 

 tated into the roaring torrent. Being resigned to what she 

 believed would be her inevitable fate, she commended herself 

 to the mercy of her Maker ; and while struggling in the water 

 (to use her own expression,) " in the agonies of death," she 

 made a grasp with the hope of seizing one of her more unfor- 

 tunate companions, as she "dreaded to die alone." In this 

 effort she caught hold of the branches of a tree, standing 

 immediately on the margin of the channel of the creek, and, 

 at length, obtained a foot hold on a knot which slightly pro- 

 jected from its trunk. This tree is about sixty yards from 

 the site which the house had occupied, and a shorter distance 

 from the arches of the bridge, from which, the water rushed 

 with impetuous fury. Though the position of the knot kept 

 her for a considerable time immersed in water up to her waist, 

 she was in a measure shielded from the force of the current 

 by the trunk of the tree. She remained in this position for 

 the space of three and a half hours. No one on shore being 

 able to render any assistance during that time, though they 

 could distinctly hear her piteous cries for help. At length 

 when the flood had somewhat subsided, Messrs. Charles 

 McClure, John Cunningham and John Heller, made a praise- 

 worthy effort to relieve her. They all crossed the rapid 

 current which still swept round the bridge, and reached a 

 position where the water was less deep, and within a short 

 distance of the tree upon which Susan stood. At the risk of 

 his life, Mr. McClure swam with one end of a rope and sue- 



