The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-29
SEVEN DROWNED AT CECIL.
HOUSE WITH ALL ITS OCCUPANTS
SWEPT AWAY BY SUDDEN
FLOOD.
TWO OF BRAVE REsCUERs KILLED
One Had an Opportunity to Save
Himself, But Refused to Aban-
don His Companions.


Pittsburg. Seven Of these met death
at Cecil, a mining and oil hamlet in
Washington county, the eighth victim
going down at Carnegie. The dead are:
MRS. SAMUEL M'KINNEY, fifty years old.
MARGARET M'KINNEY, thirty years old;
daughter.
JAMES M'KINNEY, eight years old; son.
CLYDE BEATTY twenty-one years old;
oil well pumper Of Sistersville, w. Va.
G: G. HIGGINS, forty-fve years old; oil
we'll pumper, of Bradford Pa.
VINCENT WILKINSON, twenty-five years
old; oil well employe Of Vowinkle. Forest
county, Pa
JENNIE HOLMES, eighteen years old;
daughter of Cecil coal miner.
JOHN WRIGHT (colored), seventeen; en-
ploye of a liveryman at Carnegie.
Samuel Mckinney kept boarding
house at Cecil for the accommodation
of oil men and miners. The house was
situated on the banks Of Miller's Run,
| a tributary of Charters creek. Ordi-
narily the run which flows through
valley, banked by high and steep
| hills, would scarcely float a chip; but
| last night a cloud burst filled it in it's
| closely confined quarters, to such an
extent that everything along it's banks
was endangered.
There were thirteen people in the
Mckinney house when the water COM
menced to rise at 1890 last night, but
no serious danger was apprehended.
The men busted themselves carrying
household goods to the second floor,
and the female portion Of the house
hold continued their dressing for the
dance which was being held in a
neighboring hall. Suddenly the house,
two story frame, was washed from
its foundation into the seething waters
and rapidly carried down stream 1t
was then too late for any one in the
house to escape.
Below the site Of the house, about
200 yards, stands an old-fashioned
country bridge, which spans the
stream. The house crashed against
this structure. The roof was torn off
and the rest Of the building was crushed
like an egg shell in being forced under
the bridge. Higgins and w. B. Hittener
were caught between the first and sec
ond floors. Higgins died there, but
Hittener made most miraculous es-
cape. Those on the second floor were
badly squeezed. Just below the bridge
the wreckage Of the house struck on a
sand bar, with those Of the party who
were still alive, clinging to the tim
bers without any hope of being res
cued
Thomas Hayes, Vincent Wilkinson
and others formed a rescuing party.
Hittener was rescued, while fast in the
wreckage, by Wilkinson, who also
dragged the dead body of Higgins
from it's lodgment. Samuel Mckinney
was also saved by Wilkinson. After
assisting in other rescues, Wilkinson
heard a cry for help from the opposite
| side of the stream, and notWithstand-
| ing the extreme hazard attached to
the attempt, the brave fellow made
the effort to swim across with a rope.
When about half way over log struck
him on the head and broke his neck.
His body was found several hundred
yards below lodged in a tree.
Clyde Beatty was another hero of
the disaster who lost his life. He
made strenuous efforts to save Marga-
ret Mckinney and Jennie Holmes and
had them lodged in a tree when a
wave came along and
SWEPT ALL TO DEATH.
Beatty had several opportunities to
save himself, but refused to leave his
weaker companions. Those of the un-
fortunate party who were rescued
were taken from the branches Of trees
and portions of the wrecked house.
Those who lost their lives were either
crushed in the wreckage or knocked
insensible by rapidly floating logs,
making them an easy prey for the rag
ing torrent. The bodies have all been
recovered.
A great deal of mining and oil prop
| erty was damaged in the district along
| the run. The water rose in some places
| to a depth of eighteen feet. The loss
in the district will amount to thousands
| Of dollars. Many narrow escapes are
reported from the valley through which
Painters run courses and it is not un-
| likely that some of the others may have
perished, although there is no further
rumored loss of life. Several. houses in
the valley were swept away, but the
| occupants so far as learned, all man
| aged to seek places of safety before
| their homes were carried down the
stream. Some of the occupants were
rescued in skiffs. The rigging in many
oil wells was swept away and the men
working about them were compelled to
| flee for their lives as the torrent bore
down the valley on it's course of death
| and destruction.
William Rose, a Swedish gardener.
ton, Pa, at o'clock this morning,
while attempting to ford Long Run.
| His body was recovered in the Ohio
river three hours later at Avalon, 2S
miles from Boston.
| The full extent of the damage
wrought by last nights storm was not
| known until today, when wreck and
| ruin were apparent on all Sides
| Steeples were blown from churches and
! adjoining buildings crushed houses
were unroofed, trees broken off and In
some cases torn up by the roots, while
| the havoc caused by the heavy rainfall
| of last week, was repeated Summed
up, today, with out lying districts to
hear from, the result was: ten
| lives known to have been lost, SO other
| persons were injured, number fatally.
| and property was damaged to the ex-
| tent of 100000. The list of the killed
| and injured in addition to those at
| Cecil, is as follows:
Dead:
| JACOB AFFELTER, aged 35, It Forward
avenue, instantly killed on Greenfield avenue
| by falling fence.
JOHN FIGUs aged %. skull crushed by
| falling tree at Sugar Camp Grove.
| Injured: Abner Hayes, freight receiver.
| P, Ft. w. c., struck by lightning, may
| recover; August Zendetz, Robinson Road
Allegheny, with family of six shocked by
| lightning, all in critical condition; A. NJ
! Bennett and two children, 25 st. Clair street.
| struck by lightning, condition critical George
Miller, 226 Main street, Allegheny. fatally in
/ jured; Thomas OConnell, Jacob Metz, Charles
| Kosaick. Frank OFT, Harry Haddell, seriously
1 injured by falling trees at Cupar Grove.