The news & observer., 1896-12-30

and Dumb Animals are Buried Be
meath it,
Dublin, Dec. 29.-During the past ter
rible night and this morning the bog slide
at Castle Island, County Kerry, con
tinues unchecked, a copious rainfall help
ing the movement.
The mass Of bog, a mile and n half
wide. roars like the ocean, carries away
bridges and roads. destroying houses and
farms, sweeping through the Flesk val
ley and emptying peat, carcasses Of cows,
sheep aud doukeys and debris of houses
into the lake of Killarney.
The people living i'm the direction in
which the hog slide is coming have fed.
and the police, searching for bodies are
arriving on all sides.
Lord Kenmare has caused Gordon OF
guards to he drawn around the slide
to prevent loss of life.
The greatest excitement prevails in the
vicinity, and all the houses there are open
TO receive the hundreds Of people render
ed homeless by the disaster.
Near Baltimore there is an eminence
| nearly a thousand fet high, known as
Boy Hill. AMI it was here that the land
slide occurred. The ruins percolating
through the ground gradually loosened
a huge mass OF earth, and Sunday night.
apparently without the slightest warn
/ ing. a large part of the surface of the
| Hill began to slide towards the valley.
| Gaining momentum as it moved, it swept
downward. with a roaring sound, car
rying rocks, trees and everything before
| it for miles. In some places the path Of
| the landslide is a mile wide, and as 1t
moved along it buried everything, entirely
changing the aspect of the section over
which it passed. The residence Of Mr.
| Donnely, steward of Lord kenmare,
one Of whose seats, Killarney House.
| is at Killarney, was engulfed in mass
Of debris and all its occupants Mr..
Donnelly, his wife and seven children
were killed. 1t is supposed that the
house was swept from its foundations
| by the onrushing mass, overturned and
| buried to a great depth. AS it's present
locality is not known, it is hardly proba-
BILE that the bodies win ever be recovered.
All the cattle, pigs and horses on the
place were also buried, and there is now
a scene Of utter desolati0n where Sunday
stood the neat dwelling and outbuildings
of Mr.. DonnelIy.
The movement Of the landslide was to
| the southwest, in the direction of the
river Flesk, into which large portion OF
the earth slipped, blocking it up, The
current Of the river was employed in rum
ming dynamos which furnished electric
| lights for the Kerry lunatic asylum, and
some buildings in Killarney. The block
ing of the river, of course, stopped the
current and rendered the dyamos tenn
porarily useless. All the buildings using
the light from this source We're plunged
into darkness, and it was some time
before other light could be obtained.
The part Of the hill where the slide
began was a bog, and much Of the earth
that moved was very soft. Huge guam
titles plunged into the river, and there is
danger Of the backwater flooding the
country round about unless the current
is able to carry the debris down with it.
Ii anybody was passing along the roads
at the time the slide passed over the
highways, they would surely have been
buried. There have been no reports Of
anybody being missed and on this is
based the belief that there was no loss
Of life outside of the DOnnelly family.
The thatch which formed the roof of
the Donnelly house was found floating in
the river, and some of the family may
have been carried that far as well.
Te destructive movement Of the bog
land at Castle Island finally ceased to-
night. Two a8dies have been found a
mile distant from the scene Of the disas-
ter