72 THK FLOOD OF 1843. 



l)eing from three to four feet high) and swept him away. He 

 was carried from his path into an old race where he suc- 

 ceedeil in catching a grape vine attached to a tree standing 

 on the race bank, by means of which he succeeded in gaining 

 a position on the tree, which, however, was soon uprooted 

 and borne away. After a short period of extreme peril 

 during which he was several times overwhelmed by trees, 

 timber, etc., borne down with frightful velocity by the flood, 

 he was again lodged in the branches of another tree, larger 

 and less exposed than the one from which he had been 

 carried. When he disappeared under the floating trees and 

 timbers, the by-standers supposed he was inevitably lost, and 

 left the station they had occupied on the shore. He had 

 great difficulty in gaining a position on the second tree, in 

 consetiuence of exhaustion, but when he succeeded he 

 remained there in comparative ease and safety. He was at 

 length discovered in this situation by persons on the shore, 

 and as soon as the flood had somewhat abated, and the stream 

 ceased to bring down floating timbers, &c., (which made any 

 attempt to reach him extremely perilous,) Mr. Abner Wood, 

 with a courage and benevolence which deserves the highest 

 credit, swam off to him with a rope, by means of which he 

 was safely brought to the shore. This was at half past nine 

 o'clock, when the water had fallen ten feet. 



No lives were lost at the town of Chester, but several per- 

 sons were placed in a situation of great peril in the house 

 occupied by William Kerlin, Jr., adjoining the eastern abut- 

 ment of the suspension bridge. The narrative of the expos- 

 ure of these persons, will be given nearly in the words of 

 Caleb I'eirce, who communicated the same to the committee, 

 and who happened to be one of the party. It also gives a 

 very good idea of the extreme suddenness in the rise of the 



water at that place. Mr. Peirce observes, that " Mr. , 



myself and little son were standing on the pavement near my 

 door, when a person passed by, calling out, ' Mr. Pierce, 

 there is a freshet coming down the creek : Flower's bridge is 



