The Greenville enterprise. [volume] (Greenville, S.C.) 1870-1873, 1870-07-06
An Avalanche Of Death.

Brevet:C Colonel Merriam, Major
OF the Twenty fourth Infantry,
who is now in Austin, after four
years of military service on the
frontiers of Kansas, New Mexico
and West Texas, hade received
leave of absence, and was iour.
neyiDg with his wife and Child
from Ell Paso to the Texan coast
They had reached the head of the
Concbo River, and camped for the
night on Sunday, the 24th OF
April. The stream at this point
is SO small that a man can step
across it anywhere. The banks
were twenty feet above the bed of
the water. Fatigued with the
long journey of sixty.eight miles
in the previous twenty.four hours,
without water, the party were
pleasantly resting, when, early in
the evening, Colonel Merriam was
reused by the signs of an APP
preaching storm. The tent was
fastened and made secure as pos.
sible, and about 8 o'clock a hail.
storm burst upon them, accompa-
MED by some rain and a strong
wind. The fall of hail was unpre.
cedented, lasting until nearly IL.
the stones being of the size #
hens eggs, and striking the tent
and prairie with a noise like near
and incessant musketry. . ..
The Colonel, who was not icno.
rant of the sudden and extreme
overfows to which the mountain
streams of Texas are liable, went
out into the darkness as soon as
the storm had ceased, to note wi at
effect had been produced OH this
rivulet. To his amazement, he
found in the formerly almost dry
b,d of the creek resistless tor.
rent, loaded and filled with hail,
rolling nearly bank full, white "a
milk, and silent rs river of oil.
lle at onco saw the danger, and
ran back to the tent shouting to-
tho escort and servants to turn
OUT. lie placed Mrs. Merriam,
the Child and nurse in tho car.
riagc, and with the aid of three
men, started to run with it to the
higher ground, q distance of not
m re than sixty yards. Scarcely q
minute had elapsed from the timo
the alarm had been given, but al.
ready the water had surged over
the bank in waves OF such volume
and force as to sweep tho party
from their feet before they had
traversed thirty yards. Merriam
then abandoned the hope of saw.
ing his family in the carriage, and
tried to enter it In order to swim
out with them, but he was swept
down the ice-cold torrent like a
bubble. Being an expert swim
mcr, he succeeded in reaching the
bank about 200 yards below, aid
ran back to renew the effort,
when he received the terrible It'd.
ings, that the moment after he was
swept down, the carriage, with all
its precious freight had turned
over and gone rolling down the
flood, his wife saying, as she dis
appeared, MY darling husband,
goodbye" The little rill of a few
hours before, which child might
step across, had become a raging
river, covered with masses of drift.
wood mile in width, and from
thirty to forty feet deep.
Before day, the strange and
momentary food had passed by,
and the small stream shrank to its
usual size, and ran in it's wonted
bed. The sad search began. The
drowned soldiers and servants,
four in number, were found, and
the body of the wife taken from
the water about three fourths of a
mile below, and prepared for a
Journey Of fifty three miles to the
post of Concho for temporary bur-
ial. Not till three days after,
was the body. of the child found,
four miles down the stream, and
a long distance from its bed. The
beaver ponds, from which tho
Concho takes its rise, were SO filed
with the icy hail, that the catfish
were killed by the congelation,
and were swept in wagon loads,
together with myriads Of smaller
animals Of the plain, such as rab-
bits and snakes, all over the coun-
try by the sudden and rushing
flood. Three days after the storm,
when the party left the Concho,
the hail still lay in drifts and win.
rows to the depth OF more than
six feet.-Austin { (7esas) Journal.