The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1889-06-08

ADOVe 1tS normal level, WHICH, Icsuit-
ed in the dam, which was weak in
places, giving way to its very foun-
dalton, thus turning loose upon the
helpless 5000 inhabitants of the
town below, the entire contents of
the reservoir. The dispatches tell
following awful story:
"The dam broke in the center at
3 o'clock Friday afternoon. At A
o'clock the lake was dry. Men were
sent three or four times during the
day to warn the people below.
When the final break came there
was a sound like tremendous and
continued peais of thunder and a
mass of water forty feet high surg
ed down the valley engulfng every
thing before it. A horseman came
riding down the road shouting the
portentious warning, Run for your
lives to the hills! Run to the
hillsp People crowded out of their
houses along the thickly settled
streets, awestruck and wondering.
Nobody knew what he meant.
Some thought he was a maniac and
laughed. On at deadly pace he
rode, still ringing out his awful cry.
In few minutes, however, there
came a cloud of ruin down the
streets, grinding, twisting, annihil-
ating. 1t was the charge of the
food which grew at every instant
of its progress to forty feet high.
Hundreds Of people took heed Of
the warning and ran up the hills,
but the rider went down in the
food"
An idea of the extent of the
damage done may be obtained from
the following:
Gan area of eight or ten acres
below the dam is covered from a
depth of 40 feet with shattered
houses borne to the neighbor-
hood Of YOUNGSTOWN. In each of
those houses it is estimated there
is from one to twenty-five people.
This is accepted as data upon
which to estimate the number that
persisted in this spot. Attorney
General Hastings who has charge
of everything says: In my opinion
there are anyway from 1000 to 5000
souls lost.
"To add to the horror of the scene,
flames from overturned stoves be-
gan to break out from different
parts of the wreck making vast
funeral pyre. From the banks
many charred remains of the VIC
TINS of the flame and food were
visible as the receding waters re-
luctantly gave up their dead. Be-
meath almost every log or blacken-
ed beam, glistening skulls, bleach
ed remains or limbs mark all that
remains of life's hopes and dreams.
'The chief sensation of Saturday
morning was the united remon-
STRANGE of physicians against the
extinguishment of the burning
wrecks. 1t would be better, they
said, to permit natures greatest
scavenger, the flames, to pursue his
work unmolested, than to expose to
further decay the horde of putrefy-
ing bodies that lie beneath the de-
bris. Burn the wreck, burn the
wreck, was the loud cry Of indigna-
ton that arose from the lips of the
vast multitude, and the words of
science were lost in the eager de-
mand of those that sought for the
of those near and dear.
The hose was again turned upon
the kissing mass"
"Six improvised morgues are in
Johnstown, and in these the bodies
are held until decomposition rem
ders it unsafe to keep them longer.
The corpses dug from the banks
are covered with mud, and are
taken to ante-rooms where they are
placed under a hydrant and the
mud and slime washed off. With
a slash of a knife the clothes are
ripped open, and an attendant
searches the pocket for valnables
or papers for identification and four.
men then lift the corpse upon a
rude table and there it is thorough
ly washed, embalming fluid inject
ed into the arm and then with
other GRIM bodies the corpse lies in
Q larger room until it is identified
or becomes offensive. In the latter
case it is hurried off TO q large
grave that will hereafter have q
oyer it bearing the. in
scription, Unknown Dead
Human yultues have been at
work all week robbipg and disfg.
ing the dead. A Hungarian caught