Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1896-07-31
ENCULFED.
A Miners Boarding House Swep,
Away by Flood.
DISASTER NEAR BRIDCEyILLE, PA.
Fifreen Lives Reported Lost-Many Per.
soma ln1ured-Ruinous Storm at Pitts
burgh-Serious Situation In tho
Indiana Gas Belt.

county line. The boarding house which
they occupied was blown down and
swept away, and Of the 10 miners sleep,
ing In 1t is are believed to have been
drowned. The bodies Of seven have
been recovered. One of the men was
rescued. They were all foreigners,
mostly Italians, and We're employed in
the mines of Col. w. P. Rend and the
Ridgeway-Bishop Coal company. The
boarding house YVES in little mining
settlement called Cecil, on the line Of
the eight-mile branch of the Pan Handle
road, which leaves the CHARTERS d.
vision at Bridgeville. The branch runs
over to Mcdonald, and Cecil is located
midway between the two points.
Painters run, which empties into
CHARTERS creek, was suddenly swollen
into raging torrent by cloudburst.
The stream had been very high on ac-
count of the rain, but little damage had
been done before the rush of water
which carried away the tenement house.
The particulars of the fatality which
have been received in this city are very
meager, owing to the remoteness of the
locality and to the fact that the wires
are down.
seven Bodies Recovered.
Seven of the bodies of the unfortu-
mates were recovered during the morn.
ing at various points about mile away
from where the house stood. The other
eight are believed to have persisted.
One OF the 10 was rescued while cling
ing to tree. Another, Of the occupants
of the house was discovered cllnging to
the boughs of tree three miles down
the stream. He was unconscious and
died few moments later.
Three Dead, Thirey-six Injured.
The full extent of the damage
wrought by the hurricane in this city
and vicinity was not known until day.
light, when wreck and ruin were ap-
parent 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 re.
peated. Summed up, with many outly-
ing districts to hear from, the result in
this vicinity was three lives lost, 80
persons injured, many, it is feared, fa-
tally, and property damaged to the
amount of 100000.
Other Fatalities.
While there have been storms and
floods in this vicinity in past years that
Lave caused greater fatalities, it is
doubtful if the cyclone which struck
western Pennsylvania Monday evening
1,a IN, l. f,% L..
its widespread destruction of property.
Two lives were lost, one man fatally
hurt, and number of people seriously
injured
Unprecedented Rainfall.
I AT Mcdonald, Pa, Monday night the
rainfall was unprecedented. Small
runs were quickly turned to raging
rivers which swept all before them.
The streets of Mcdonald were swept
clean of board walks, which lodged
against bridge spanning an ordinarily
small creek Just below town. This
backed up the water until the lower
portion Of Mcdonald was for q time
Inundated. No lives were lost, but the
damage to property will be heavy.
Several coal mines in the vicinity of
Mcdonald were flooded. Near Cecil,
three miles southeast, six bodies have
been recovered from the mass of debris
in Cecil valley. Oil wells and shanties
occupied by oil producers and workmen
are thickly located along the banks of
Cecil creek. The torrents swept
through them like mad, giving no time
for escape. Samuel McKinney's house
was swept away, carrying with it his
wife and two children. Two oil men,
sleeping in their shanty, were drowned,
as was also girl named McElhaney,
who lived in the village of Cecil.
Bodies Recovered.
The bodies of Mrs. Mckinney, James
Mckinney, Jennie Holmes, Wilkinson
Higgins and an unknown oil man have
been recovered. The Charters creek
is higher than ever before known. The
bursting of Shleliems dams added to
the volume of the food which swept
through the valley.
Corrected List of Dead at Cecil.
A corrected list Of fatalities at Cecil
Just received from press representa-
tive is as follows:
Mrs. Samuel Mckinney, aged so years.
James Mckinney, aged eight years.
Margaret Mckinney, aged 30 years.
Clyde Beatty, oil pumper, aged q years,
Sistersville, w. Va.
j. c. Hagan, oil pumper, aged so years.
residence unknown.
Miss Jane Holmes. aged IS years. daugh-
ter of coal miner.
Charles Wilkinson. aged q years. oil
pumper, home. Clarion, Pa.
In Lawrenceville Seventeenth warD
the damage is greater than on July IS,
when the storm wrecked the stone wall
surrounding Allegheny cemetery. The
broken wall offered no resistance to the
food Monday evening, and raging tor
rent not only devastated large por-
ton of the beautiful Allegheny ceme-
terry, but flooded Butler street and
streets below to depth of nearly five
feet. The cellars of hundreds of houses
were flooded, and the first floors of sew
cral scores were covered with water.
Every streetin that part of the city was
blocked with broken trees, stones, rub
bish and mud.
Reports from the districts surround
ing the cities detail the destruction of
buildings; death of farm stock, and
much damage to crops and fruit.
All the railroads entering the city
suffered considerable damage and do
lay. Specials from Clnysville, Washing
ton, Canonsburg, Connellsville, West
Newton, Brownsville, Carnegie, Spring.
dale and other towns report loss Of
buildings and crops by the floods.
Loss Placed at 100000.
Van Vert, o., July 20.-About five