The Indianapolis journal., 1883-07-30
Eleven Acres of Logs and LumbT Carried
Away; Also, \ Number of Coal Barges
Loss About One Millioe.
Terrible Collision of a Passenger Train
and a Freight Car.
Nineteen Persons Instantly Killed - Two
Other Collisions with loss of Life
Other Accidents.
HEAVY LOSS AT PITTsBURG.
Immense Quantities o. Lumber Swept Away
by "a Sudden Rise.

Immense Quantities o. Lumber Swept Away
by "a Sudden Rise.
Special to the Indianapolis Journal
PITTsBURG, Pa, jay 29.-The heavy rains
Of Saturday produced a food which made
havoc with the hmbermen Of this city, early
this morning During Saturday night the
watchmen alo1g the river near Herr's Island
gave the alarm, and new lines were added to
the immene fleet of RATS lying behind and
below the island.
AT miGnigh5 one OF the outside rats, op-
posite the Allegheny 'Water-works broke
loose and went whirling down the river. 1t
went to pieces against the Sixteenth-street
bridge. An aour later two more parted their
cables One of them went out whole to the
Ohio the other was wrecked by striking the
piers of both the railroad and the Ninth
street bridges Meanwhile the river
was rising st the rate of six inches an hour,
and drift wood and debris were piling up at
the head OF the RATS of timber and boards
Ala O'Clock yesterday morning the strain
became too great for the RATS that were be-
ydnd the shelter of the island, and the shore
lines parted like threads. Seven acres of
square timber and boards went jamming
and crushing down the river.
James Omslear, of Allegheny, was on one
of the RATS, and stuck to it, He managed
to keep away from all the piers and expected
to land somewhere down the Ohio, At Pork
house rifle he abandoned it,
About the same time there was an excit-
ing scene and fatality at the suspension
bridge. section of log raft three logs in
length struck the first pier on the
Pittsburg side. A man who was on
the pier was thrown into the river,
and as he rose to the surface a log
stsxck him on the head and he was not seen
again.
Several of the raftsmen were living on the
RATS with their families, but all were re-
moved to shore before the lines broke. The
loose RATS made short halt at the bridges,
where many OF them were broken up.
By o'clock the danger was thought to be
passed, when, in reality, the worst was to
come. What ensued is best told in the Ian
guage of one of the losers, who was an eye
witness of the scene. He says: ut was about
five minutes of 7 o'clock when l noticed
large tree coming down the river. The
cables had all the strain they could bear and
l knew that if it came behind the island
everything must go. 1t was keeping well
out into the river, but afterwards changed
its course and came directly toward the
RATS. 1t struck the first one with
terrific force, and the lines commenced snap
ping from head to bottom, and everything
began to move"
Such jam as followed this last break has
not been seen on the Allegheny since the
flood of 1861. The fleet struck the Sixteenth
street bridge piers with a solid front, and
was held there until the force of the water
broke it up. 1t next halted at the railroad
bridge where it was mashed into small frag-
ments, and sent iamming and pushing down
the river. In less than an hour nearly eleven
acres of boards and timber were broken into
fragments and sent adrift down the Ohio.
As the RATS passed the Allegheny water
works they took away six barges loaded with
COAL the property of Lynn & Snethn. One
of these broke up on the north
pier of the Sixteenth-street bridge; the
others are en- route to Cincinnati. Eight
barges of coal belonging to Musgrove & Co.,
and moored below the railroad bridge, with
stood the crash; but after it had passed they
broke lines and are now beached on Brunet's
island.
The loss to local merchants will exceed
quarter of a million. When to this is
added the losses from the headwaters of
the river, the total will be very close to
81, ,0000 900.