The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-07-30
REPORTS OF DEATH AND De
STRUCTION COMING IN FROM
OUTLYING DISTRICTS.
HOUSE FULL Of MINERS SWEPT AWAY
Loss to Mining Property Will Foot
Up Into the Observation-Disclosures
Of the Lightning.

from last nights storm. At Elwood,
Lawrence county, the pumping station
was struck by lightning and Charles
Mitchell, the engineer, paralyzed His
condition is critical.
In Fayette county seven bridges were
washed away between Conntllsville and
Uniontown.
At West Newton. the bridge of the
West Newton Ground Cement and Lime
| company was crushed like cggshells by
falling debris from cliffs. The greatest
damage was in Washington county,
which was the scene of this mornings
cloudburst. Hundreds of bridges have
been washed away, and traffic mas been
suspended ON the Washington and
Waynesburg railway.
At Claysvile houses were unroofed.
trees uprooted and many buildings are
total wrecks. The United Presbyterian
church and the Claysvlle school building
suffered the severest loss here. being
struck by lightning and wrecked Re
ports brought i'll from the surrounding
country state the storm wrought great
destruction for miles around. In some
places houses We're removed from their
foundations. Many houses and barns
were struck by lightning.
One of the most terrible results of the
storm last night was the drowning of a
number of coal miners in the Paint Run
district, just over the Washington county
line.
The boarding house they occupied
was blown down and swept away. and
of sixteen miners sleeping in it fifteen
are believed to have been drowned. The
bodies of five have been recovered. One
Of the men was revived They were all
foreigners. mostly Italians. and were en-
ploycd in the mines of Col. w. u. Rend
and the Ridgeway Bishop Coal company.
The boarding house was Il little settle
ment called Cecil. on the line of the
eight-mile branch of the Panhandle
which leaves CHARTERS division at
Bridgevillc. The branch runs over to
Mcdonald. and Cecil is located midway
between the two points. The fatality oc-
CURED at 1 a. M. when the small stream.
Paint Run, which empties into Charter
ing torrent by cloudburst. The stream
had been very high on account of the
rain, but little damage had been done he
fore the rush of water which carried
away the tenement house. The particu-
lars of the fatality which have been re-
ceived in this city are very meagre, ow-
ing to the remoteness of the locality and
to the fact that the wires are down. Five
bodies of the unfortunates We're recover
ed during the morning at various points
about a mile from where the house stood.
The other ten are believed to have per-
ished One of the sixteen was rescued
while clinging to a tree, and another of
the occupants of the house was discover
ed clinging to the bOughs of Il tree three
miles down the stream. He was uncOn-
scious. and died later.
The property loss in the mining district
will amount to thousands of dollars.
Many narrow escapes are reported from
the valley through which Paint creek
comes, and it is not at all unlikely that
others may have pcrished although there
is no further rumored loss of life.
Several houses in the valley were swept
away. but the occupants so far as learn
ed. all managed to seek places of safety
before thcir homes were carried down
the stream. Some of the occupants were
rescued in skiffs.
The rigging in many oil wells were
swept away and the men working about
them were compelled to flee Tor their
lives as the torrent bore down the valley
on its course of death and destruction.
The higher water caused the boiler to
explode in the No. 4 mine of Col. Rend,
the Chicago operator. The boiler house
was DONE but no one was hurt
William Rose, a Swedish gardener.
aged 30 years, was drowned near Boston,
Pa, at > o'clock this morning while at
to ford Long run. His body
was recovered in the Ohio river three
hours later at Avalon, three miles from
Boston.