5 April 1876 • Hartford, Conn. (Hartford Courant, 6 April 1876: UCCL 13021)
(SUPERSEDED)
A shocking state of affairs exists in that part of our beautiful city where Niles street used to be. This street is now no more. For some weeks past it has been gradually sinking. Here &Ⓐemendation there large openings appeared. Gutter stones disappeared, hitching posts unearthed floated in the mire. About a week ago the road became impassable, &Ⓐemendation since that time the residents not being able to get fresh meat &Ⓐemendation groceries, have subsisted on codfish, ham, &Ⓐemendation such salt victuals as they might have had on hand. Some are now out of the necessities of life, &Ⓐemendation unless a way is found to reach them soon, dreadful results are to be feared. During the great rain on Tuesday matters grew much worse, &Ⓐemendation Tuesday night the street disappeared entirely. Nothing now remains but a broad muddy canal. It is feared that the houses will soon begin to crumble &Ⓐemendation fall in also. Many accidents are said to have occurred. On Saturday last a charcoal man attempted to go to No. 31. When within a few rods of his destination he disappeared, horse, wagon &Ⓐemendation all. His basket floated ashore near Gillette street. On Sunday morning a newsboy attempted to cross the street near the school house, the ground gave way &Ⓐemendation he would have been lost had it not been for a hitching post floating close by. On Monday the orange man was lost; horse &Ⓐemendation wagon disappeared entirely. Fragments of wagon, baskets, barrels, &c.Ⓐemendation, indicate that many more accidents may have occurred. The scene of horror may be reached from Gillette or Sigourney streets.
This letter and the next one were almost certainly by Clemens: they are very much in the mode of his mischievous letter of 30 March 1873click to open link, about street flooding, to the editor of the Courant (see L5 , 325–28). The editor in chief of the paper, Republican Congressman Joseph R. Hawley, was in Hartford for the 3 April 1876 Connecticut state and Hartford city elections, but it is not known if he was a party to the present letter. Charles Dudley Warner, the paper’s associate editor, was still abroad at this time (see 1 Jan 76 to Howellsclick to open link, n. 1). The “great rain” had hit Hartford and its environs on the night of Tuesday, 28 March, causing flooding and damage that were still a problem a week later. The Courant’s reports did not specifically mention Niles Street, which was about two blocks from the Clemens house on Farmington Avenue (Hartford Courant: “Brief Mention,” 29 Mar 76, 2; “Full and Overflowing,” 30 Mar 76, 2; “Meeting To-Night,” 1 Apr 76, 2; “Brief Mention,” 3 Apr 76, 1; “Last Republican Rally of the Campaign,” 3 Apr 76, 2; “The State Election,” “The City Election,” 4 Apr 76, 2).