St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-04-29

over 100 OF DEAD.
List Of Victims in the Bouzey
Dyke Disaster Grows
Rapidly.
1T is JOHNST0WN REPEATED.
Entire Valley Is Completely
Devastated by Rushing
! Waters.
7 is JOHNSTOWN REPEATED.
BUT ONE HOUSE IN B0UZEY.
Many Other Cities Nearly
Wiped Out Survivors
DaZed.

III I4N<aIt : April EO.-1 AS
list of the fatalities caused by the
breaking yesterday morning of the
great Bouzey dyke in the Epinal
district of the Vosges increases ev-
cry hour. One hundred and fifteen
deaths have already been reported,
but only fifty bodies have been recov-
cred. 1T is believed that the death
figures above given when all the dis
.tricts are heard from. It is supposed
that many Of the dead were swept
into isolated places where it will be
long time before the bodies are
found.
The whole region over which the
thousands of tons of water swept in
a resistless flood is strewn with
EVERY SORT OF WRECKAGE,
and the whole country presents a
most desolate appearance. In many
places the early crops were swept
clean out of the ground, and the
losses thus incurred will be very
heavy.
: Six brigades of gen d'armes have
arrived, and they have been detailed
to act as guards. Every attempt is
being made to reorganize the dis
itrict, but this is rendered difficult by
the waters. The Aviere, a small
stream, is now in some places mile
and ahalf wide. The railway in the
vicinity of the Darnieulles station
was torn up. Railroad ties were
swept away, and the entertainments
destroyed. Nearly every bridge in the
line of the flood was either destroyed
or so badly damaged that lit will
have to be rebuilt
The construction of the dyke, or
dam, was commenced in 1879, and
finished in 1884. In 1889 it was great
ly strengthened 1t was heavy mason
ry $50 yards long and Sc feet high and
66 feet thick at the base. The ma
sorry was carried into the ground
to a depth of thirty feet below the
tevedof thevalley into which resercoir
discharged it's water. IT was built
against a vertical face of solid rock
having maximum height of eigh-
teen feet. The base rested in a sand
stone bottom of natural formation.
The massive construction of the
dam was considered to be guarantee
that it would hold back any weight
of water that could be brought
against it.. Until the strengthening.
of the work in 1889. it had not been
subject to full pressure of the water
which it was built to hold. The dis
tress among the
HOMELESS JEWELLERS
of the valley is very great. and in
many cases they appear to be mental
ly benumbed by the calamity that
has befallen them
The government is fully awake to
the disaster, and is doing everything
possible to relieve their surround
1ngs. M. Dupuy, minister of public
works; M. Leagues, minister of the
interior, are now On their way here
to assume charge of the relief work
Three thousand francs have already
been received for relief purposes. and
the ministers will bring 5000 more
from the funds of their departments
and 1000 contributed by President
F'aure. Nine. Heine has sent 10000
francs, which will be applied to re-
heving the sufferers. The prefect
Of the department has visited all the
district affected by the disaster. H,
has organized. the employees. on the
PUBLIC roads, and, aided by the mill
tary, will, as soon as possible. re.
store communication. These en-
ployes and the soldiers will also search
for the dead, and Immediately bury
all the dead animals they may find.
Ali the municipal authorities are
working ceaselessly in distributing re-
lief and seeking to bring order out
OF the chaos prevailing. Over so. 600
persons from the nearby towns and
the surrounding country visited the
scene Of the disaster today.
AT o'clock this afternoon the burial
Of fifteen of the victims took place at
Domevere, one of the villages that
suffered the worst from the inunda-
ton. Two thousand persons attended
the funerals, which were held while
the graves were being dug. There
were many heart-rending scenes while
the bodies We're being consigned to
the earth.
BUT ONE HOUSE AT BOUZtsY.
! PARIS, April 2S-At Bouzey itself
but one house remains standing ON the
hill above the reservoir, which is now
quite empty and looks like an i'm
mense black hole in the landscape.
The remains of the broken wall are
lying about for a distance of 200 Yards
-t1clow the opening. Asmali pine wood
which stood beneath the reservoir has
completely disappeared, with the ex-
ception of two trees, between the
branches of which quantity of
wreckage remains. The great reser-
vior was an exceedingly curious struc-
ture. 1t was composed of three arms
which stretched out like a fan between
wooded hills.
! The catastrophe occurred few min
utes before half past five o'clock IN the
morning. A stonecutter, who had INST
commenced work a short distance
from the reservoir, saw The front of.
the wall, go feet high, and from 100. to
$50 yards long, go down almost instant.
.ly. The water poured down the valley,
forming wave about 16 feet high.
The flood reached Monsey at 7:o5
O'Clock, having travelled eighteen miles
in less than an hour and three-q Iarters.
The project at VoSgas estimates the
number of victims at lit. This loss CT
life is probably underestimated, as no
news has yet been received from the
parish of Frizen, through which the
torrent passed.
The sound of the bursting dam was
heard several miles away. The great
rush of water lasted about fifteen MN
utes. when 6.0OO.000 cubic meters of
water had passed through the Dres,h.