Omaha daily bee., 1892-05-19
PASSING OF ruE srocK YARDS.
No Time to Rescue the Cattic-How the
EMPLOYEES Escaped.

EMPLOYEES Escaped.
Sioux CITY, Ia, May lS.-lSpecial Telc-
gram to TuE BEE. Tho first warning Of the
approach OF the flood given the stock yards
company was telephone message
warning them to prepare for high
water and stating that the Seventh
street bridge had gone out. The whole
available force Of the yards and all by.
standers who could be induced TO assist were
at once put TO work 10 an endeavor to got all
stock out OF tho yards. A long train OF
empties were sent down TO the chutes, but
before the cars could bo loaded and pulled
away rush OF water came and put ort the
fires in the engines and they were compelled
to remain.
Tue attendants and yardmen who had not
time TO escape were perched on the roofs OF
cars, waiting to be rescued or for the sub
sidence Of the food. The rush Of waters was
so great that number OF the commission
men and their employees could not escape
They took refuge in the third story OF the
Exchange building, while the water had
risen to within an inch of the first floor.
Everything Fioated Away.
The scene at the yards is almost inde-
scribable. The rush of waters came down
across the bottoms the overflow of the
river at first flowed out on the east bank
At 80 solid blocks of hog pens were seen
swaying with the motion OF tho
wind and waves, and in short
time they began moving down stream.
The new division started first, and
then almost the whole block started off down
street, and the report of the rendtng and
breaking Of timbers sounded almost like the
| sharp crack of cannon. At II O'Clock there
was not sign of the hog yards left
The large corn cribs, containing several
| thousand bushels of corn, were also
| carried away. Scale houses and all
| buildings were taken with the flood. The
| cattle yards at the time mentioned were
! mostly intact, but the south portion was
! floating with the evident possibility that it
would soon follow the hog pens and sheds.
| About three loads of hogs were all that were
| confined in the hog yards Two double
| decks of those purchased yesterday by Cud
| ahy Brothers of Milwaukee were detained
last night by washouts. On the approach of
| high water they were loaded into Milwaukee
doubles, but they-were also detained by the
| water putting out the fires in the engine.
When seen from the SOUTH the engine had
careened to tie cast and one OF The cars to
the west. The roadbed Is composed mostly
| of ashes, and the engine and cars settled
down into the mud The elevated chutes
| leading from division No. 3 to the old Booge
| plant, into which quite number OF cattle
! had been driven, collapsed oD the washing
away of the supports, aud most of the cattle
| were drowned. 1t is feared that the walls
OF the packing houses are badly injured. An
| immense amount of stored meat is certainly
| destroyed.
| Watching the Flood.
The elevated road served rs great point
of observation to thousands OF onlookers.
Every car from Jones street to the Leecn
street station was crowded with refugees
aud sightseers, and from station to station
the tracks were lined with men and boys.
Many were armed with ropes and long poles
ready to render assistance should the oc.
casIon require And their services were
brought into use a great many times and
numerous lives were saved in consequence.
William Mills, laborlng man, was one oi
these. He came sailing down with the tide
in what appeared to be a common dry goods
box. Long before he reached the trestle
work he had attracted the peoples attent tion
and the life saving crew. A ropo was lowered
| and in waiting. Just before he reached IT,
| however, the box turned aud Mills al
| out missed the rope He succeeded IL
grasping hold and was quickly hauled ur
onto the elevated tracks. A number Of lives
were saved in the same way. At the Omaha
bridge there is piled up on the other side
| thousands OF new railroad ties, ana reaching
out from each side of the pier for a distance
OF nearly 200 feet the ties are wedged In
solidly up to height of nearly twenty
feet. 1t was here that the west fam
ily met disaster. Mrs. Wcst and hel
littlo 5-year-old Nelle were unable to ge
away from the flood in time. The father
and two children were safe and the rescuiul
party were returning for Mrs. West and he
child when the waves swept the house away
They foated down with the roaring curren
until this bridge was reached. The building
was torn asunder, and by the time tn
stock Yards bridge was reached there wa
scarcely anything left on which to hold. A
this bridge an engineer succeeded In saving
the woman. But the woman's physica
strength was unequal to the mothers love
and she was compelled to rellnquish hei
hold on her child. With a despairing cry o
Mamma" the child disappeared beneatl
the waves.