Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-06-06
have been recovered. with subsid-
ing of the flood many more will un.
doubtedly be found. Over hun :
dred families are homeless.
AT TITUsvILLE.
Fire and Rain Add to the Horrors
of the Scene.

of the Scene.
3 TITUsvILLE, Pa, June 6.-The
city of Titusville was visited during
the past twenty-fOur hours by one
the most disastrous fires and flood:
in all the history of the region. Oil
creek overflowed its banks and fol
hours swept through the city in tue
proportions of an almost resistless
food The city is without fuel
lights and waterworks, and is gu
rounded by water. The Perry
street and franklin street iron
bridges are swept away, scores ol
cheap dwellings In the lower part o'
the city destroyed, and large num-
Der of lives lost. Some were burned
but tue majority were drowned
When morning broke, hundreds OF
anxious people looked out of the
windows, or stood on the roofs Of
their houses, waiting for helping
hand and trembling for their fate
To add to the horror of the scene,
rain fell In torrents, and fire broke
out in the refinerles at different
points. The burning oil swept
down raging current, and COM
muicated to the manufacturing es-
tablshlnents and houses, and the
destruction was increased hundred
fold.
At late hour tonight the loss of
life here, according to a conservative
estimate, is 35. This is entirely
within the city, while the news from
tributary towns show proportion
ate loss. Fully third Of the busi-
ness and residence portion of the
city is a mass of charred embers,
over which the waters rush with
unabated fury. The streets are
filled with crowds of wet, hungry,
homeless aud despairing men, WON.
en- and children, most of whom lost
their loved home and all their prop
erty. 1t is simply Impossible to give
any idea of the horrible scenes en-
acted. Men with boats and ropes
battied manfully with the current,
and hundreds of people, captives in
their own homes on account of the
surrounding waters, were rescued
Fully fifty people are yet unaccouni-
ed for, and at the present condition
it Is impossible to correctly state the
number actually drowned and
burned. Five persons were grasping
u piece of timber with prospects of
landing safely. When they drifted
in the proximity Of an oil tank, the
tank exploded, and in a moment
the men were enveloped in flames
aud death came speedily to relieve
their sufferings. A mother with a
babe clasped to her breast, and cling
ing to a plank, drifted toward the
depot, around which the waters were
furiously, AS both reached
the point, the suction was 80 great
1t drew them down and they disap-
peared from view. Scores of cases
OF like fearful character are reported.
TITUSvILLE, June 6,-Never in
the history of TitusYille has such
scenes Of desolation been unfolded
10 the gaze, as an Associated Press ,
reporter saw this morning, when he 8
the main thoroughfare. The
first sight of men carrying dead
body on stretcher, within fifteen ,
the sight became so COM
mon as to cause no surprise. 1t is
now estimated that 500 were
drowned or burned to death. The
money loss is million and a half to
two millions. Fire was caused by a
spark from a locomotive. Mechaic $
street, occupied by the poorer classes
'or residence, is simply blotted out
)f existence, not vestige of dwell
ng left, The greatest loss of life
occurred here. Whole families were
'wept away before they realized the
hanger. The Queen City laundry {
has just caught fire, aud thrertens {
he unburnt district. I