Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-07-26
THE WHEELING DISASTER.

struction Wrought by the storm ss
Wheeling and Vicinity.
WHEELING, w. Va, July 21.-Thursday
nights storm extended sixteen miles east
| of West Alexander, Pa, and the scene all
| along the way is one of desolation and in
! conceivable horror. Where the Triadel-
phia school house, a large building of six
rooms, stood, the creek is now a raging
food and not even a vestige of even the
foundations remains, while the whole
south half of the town has disappeared as
clean as if il never existed. The Wheel
ing relief committee. which recently raised
funds for the Rowlesburg sufferers, ex-
pended the balance for provisions and sent.
! ID to Triadelphia.
The Baltimore s. Ohio, Pittsburgh di-
vision, is practically destroyed for fifteen
miles, while the Western Union Telegraph
Company lost forty miles Of wire and
most OF the poles.
Reports from all parts of Ohio County
indicate that the storm was more disas-
| trous to life and property in the country
than in the city, but it can not be stated st
this hour how many lives have been lost.
The loss in this city is known to be ten,
with a number reported to be missing.
Caldwell's run, which passes through
scene of the greatest havoc. Three houses
were swept away and all the inmates were
drowned. They were: Mrs. Barbara
Stencil, Herman Stencil, Alice and Annie
Wingert, of Miltonsburg, o., nieces OF
Mrs. Stencil; John Homan, Mrs. Thomas
Hswley and four children.
Hswley was in the yard and was swept
q hundred yards down the stream, but
managed to reach the bank in safety.
Only two bodies have been recovered
Alice Wingert and Mrs. Stencil. Great
| damage is reported &C Elm Grove and
Triadelphia. The drcSned at these points
were: Mrs. Jane Fay and two daughters,
William Warren and wife, Cal Bell, two
Young man named Bowman. Mrs. John
Offord, a widow, aged sixty years, living
at Clinton, this county, died from fright.
The greatest loss of life was along
Wheeling creek and at Triadelphia-
search this morning resulted in the dis
covery of a number of bodies near the lat,
ter place. Most of them were found
among the drift which collected at Elm
Grove.
The body of William CASTOR, aged sixty
wears, a prominent and wealthy citizen,
was found near Elm Grove. His wife's
remains were found two miles below Elm
Grove hanging on q barbed wire fence.
Charles Caulbell, of the Wheeling NetcS
letter, aged fifty years, was found among
driftwood. Mrs. Jane Fay and her two
grown daughters, Alice and May, were
! discovered short distance below Triadel
phia, and the bodies of two brothers named
German were found in a meadow.
Twenty three persons are known to have
been drowned, among them the sheriff of
Marshall County.
Two cemeteries were washed out and
the coffins with bodies floated down the
river.
The line of the Pittsburgh division of the
Baltimore & Ohio will have to be practic-
ally rebuilt from Elm Grove to the Penn
sylvania State line. Six large and costly
bridges were washed away and the track
lifted from the roadbed and twisted into
all conceivable shapes for miles at q
stretch. At some places it is impossible TO
discern where the roadbed had been, while,
with the exception Of only an occasional
gap on high and solid ground, the entire
bed is badly washed.
Interest centers in the wreck of the Bal
timore s. Ohio bridge over the Wheeling
creek at Main street and the fatalities
which attended that disaster. Several OF
strangers in the city attracted by curiosity
and their absence is not noticed. So far
as can be definitely known there were
four women and three boys not since heard
from on the bridge when it went down.
The thirteen year -old son of Daniel Richie
and a twelve-year-old boy named Eddie
Hathaway are missing.
1t is impossible to give any details Of
losses for the ressOn that those who suf-
fered can not estimate their own loss as
vet, and every resident of low ground in
the entire valley suffered damage ranging
from 800 to $4,000, while even those on
the hills lost valuable crops, fences, ETC.
The Baltimore & Ohio Company's loss will
reach $3.50 900 at low estimate. The coun-
ty's loss in roads and bridges will be at
least $4,000; the Wheeling Natural Gas
Company, 5000; the Natural Gas Com
pany of West Virginia, $500; w. t.
Chambers & Co., Elm Grove coal works,
5000; Kimmins & Hutchinson, Elm Grove
merchants, 5000; city, on washes and
bridges, 5000; Pittsburgh, Chicago & st.
Louis railroad, $500; Wheeling & Elm
Grove raj !road, $4,000; H, C. Hunter, Tri-
adeIphia brick manufacturer, $1,000.