The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1897-04-30
MANY DROWNED.
Mighty Wave OF Water Six Feet Deep and
Mile Wids Strikes Guthrie, %. f.,
Crushing Houses and Driving People to
the Tree Tops.

pie are believed to have been drowned
here Tuesday. At 6 o'ciock Tuesday
morning a mighty wave of water SIX
feet deep and a mile wide swept down
the Cottonwood valley.
The water struck the city with a
mighty roar, crushing houses and
driving people screaming from their
homes.
At the first rush every bridge and
every boat went.
All West Guthrie is fh water 10 feet
deep. The river is so feet above its or.
binary level. The water is four feet
deep on the railroad track and the
track is giving away.
The telegraph is likely to fail at any
moment Hundreds of people are il
trees, but they can not be helped.
Men trying to swim the channel tc
reach four women and babe in a tree
were carried away. People are float
ing off on houses.
A woman wading from home with
her babe on her head was seen to &C
under. The air is hideous with the
screams of dying animals. There is
absolutely no way of helping the PEG.
pie as there are no buildings and nc
| boats.
Parties escaping from the food est.
mate that fully so persons have beer
drowned. The property loss is untold.
At 10 o'clock the flood was stationary.
! Two women and child were carried
away on building. One man anC
two women, who were on house roo5
when it went to pieces, persisted.
1t is absolutely impossible to get the
names. Scores are missing, and many
buildings are still going. A girl who
was in a tree near the railway station
| for hours gave up and fell into the
water. Hundreds Of men are building
boats at the lumber yards
Gus Platt and George Willis swan
through the main current, cut a fiat
boat from it's moorings and saved sew.
en- persons, making landing miles be.
low the city. 1t is believed that many
were caught in bed in small houses
/ and were drowned.
The big Cigarron bridge is gone. anC
immense damage done in the country.
! Shelton creek has washed away scores
of farmhouseS
Cottonwood river cuts directly
through the city of Guthrie, capital OF
Oklahoma, separating the colored sec.
ton from the business part. Cotton
wood is usually dry, but it has beer
known to rise several feet in a nights
time.
The business section of Guthrie is
situated on knoll The river is on the
east side and the railroad tracks of the
Santa Re follow gully on the wesI
side, crossing the river half mile
south of the city. Most of the dwell
ings on the east side, occupied by Ne,
groes, are one story and the slightest
flood would carry them away. Guth-
rie has population of a bout s, 900, one.
third colored.
4 Negro woman with babe in her
arms desperately tried to steady her.
self in a tree top, calling the while for
help. She grew weak and the baby
slipped into the water and was
drowned. She was finally rescued
and said her family of six had been
lost.
\ woman wading from home with
her baby on her head was seen to &C
under, and a man swimming the chan
mel to reach four women and baby in
a tree was carried down stream. Two
women and child were carried away
on a bridge further down stream, anC
one man and two women, in plain
sight of shore, were on a house root
when it went to pieces. They all per-
ished.
Three men, Walter Olds, John Van
dusen and Eugene ella sought to res
cue an old man from a tree. Their
raft struck an overhanging tree and
they barely saved themselves by clam.
bering into another tree. They were
finally rescued on rope sent to them
by means of shotgun and cord.
Two men secured a small sternwheel
pleasure boat and started to the rescue
of half a dozen men and women lodged
in a tree. The persons were rescued
amid the cheers of the spectators The
cable holding the craft finally broke
and it was carried down stream, but
ultimately landed safely.
Adjt Gen. Jameson, of the terri.
torial militia, narrowly escaped with
f.! his family. He was forced to wade
and lead his horse with his family in
the buggy.
John Metz, aged 55, was capsize6
while trying to save a woman, who
sank before he reached her. Metz
himself was barely rescued.
George Owens, Attorney league
! Ray and Dick Pearson were precipi.
tated into the water while trying tc
save some people, and Owens was
/ drowned.
The wife and FIVE children of Wesley
) McGill, colored, were drowned in their
home.
| Wednesday night forty or fifty peo-
: pie could be seen clinging to trees and
roofs of buildings, but could not be
reached and will have to spend the
night where they are. The strength
of many may fail them before morn.
ing. The fate of many others.
: who are known to have been, car.
ried down stream, will not be known
+ until day break, and perhaps not then.
1t is Impossible to get any definite
( news from the hundreds of rescued