7<J THE ?-LOOD OF 1843. 



of George) at the time the flood burst through their dwelling 

 was standing near the corner of the room with her infant 

 child in her arms. This jiart of the floor (but a few feet 

 square) and this only remained. Upon these projecting 

 boards this woman with her child stood for the space of nearly 

 five hours, when she was rescued by Mr. Thomas Holt. 

 Thomas Wardell Brown, his wife and child, occupied a cor- 

 responding part of the floor of his dwelling, but of scarcely 

 half the dimensions of that upon which Jane Hargraves 

 stood. They also were standing upon this part of the floor, 

 when the flood burst through their dwelling, and this was the 

 only portion of it which rvas not earned away. They were 

 rescued about the same time as Jane Hargraves. It would 

 be difficult to describe the feelings of people under such cir- 

 cumstances, particularly those of Mrs. Hargraves, who just 

 before had seen her husband and all her children, except the 

 infant in her arms, borne away from her on the bosom of the 

 flood. 



About eighty yards above Sherman's upper factory, a 

 double frame house was occupied by William Toombs and 

 James Rigley, with their families. This building with its 

 inmates was floated off", but in its progress down the stream it 

 encountered the inshore end of a more substantial dwelling, 

 which gave it a direction towards the wheel house of the fac- 

 tory against which it lodged, in a position opposite to a 

 window of the picker house. From the upper window of his 

 dwelling (which was partly under water) Rigley not only 

 escaped himself to the second story of the picker house, but 

 succeeded in rescuing his wife and child. But his good offices 

 did not end here. Toombs, (who was sick ) his wife, and two 

 children were in the garret of their dwelling, shut out from 

 the light, the roof being partly under water. Rigley, after 

 placing his own family in safety, made an efl"ort worthy of 

 all praise, to rescue his fellow suff"erers. He returned to the 

 almost submergetl building, broke a hole through the roof, 

 and took Toombs and his family and placed them safely in 



