In the meantime, the greatest consternation prevailed in the lower part of the town. Many families that had remained in their houses on Shenandoah street, expecting every moment the flood to attain its greatest height and then subside as suddenly as it had risen, finding that it increased with great rapidity and persistency, made efforts to escape about 7 o'clock, p.m. A family named Kane living between the Winchester and Potomac railroad and the Shenandoah river were rescued with great difficulty by passing a basket to them on a rope thrown across the abyss and transporting them, one by one, to dry land in this novel aerial carriage. Charles King, at one time proprietor of the Shenandoah House, a man of great physical strength and activity as well as courage, directed the operations of the rescuing party and, in several other instances, rendered valuable assistance in saving life and property. The Widow Furtney and family, living at the upper end of Shenandoah street, were rescued in the same manner as were the Kanes, and, in the latter case, the Reverend Daniel Ames, another citizen, exhibited a great deal of courage and tact. Mr. William B. Fitzpatrick, supervisor of track on the Winchester and Potomac railroad, while attending to his duties some hours before, near Strasburg, Virginia, learned that the river was swelling to an unusual height and, fearing for the safety of his family at Harper's Ferry, he hastened home on his engine and had just crossed the bridges on the islands when they were swept away. As the engine proceeded along the trestling through Harper's Ferry, the track swayed in such a manner that it was with the utmost difficulty the engineer could direct his course and, just as they left the trestling and landed on terra firma at the market house, the uprights that supported the track above the solid ground gave way before the force of the waters, and at the same time, the houses from which the Kane and Furtney families had been saved, as well as others from which the inmates had fled or had been rescued, fell with a horrible crash, and so completely were they demolished that in some cases there was a doubt afterwards as to their exact site, the very foundations having disappeared. Mr. Fitzpatrick found it impossible to reach his family, but having climbed the hill on which the Catholic church is built and descended it on the other side to the water's edge, he stood opposite his house and called to his wife inquiring how it fared with her and their children. She replied that the house was giving way--that the walls were cracking and that she expected to be swept away at any moment, but at the same time she appeared to be more concerned for the safety of her aged and feeble mother, who was at the time lying sick in bed in the house, than for her own. Mr. Fitzpatrick, who was a man of the most acute sensibility, and who was thoroughly devoted to his family, became completely frantic, offering all that he possessed to any