The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-29
LIST OF DEATHS
Numbers Thirty Lost
Beyond Any Question.

tonight the Canadian valley is a dreary
waste and the people are overcast with
gloom At sunrise this morning a
mighty wall Of water, from six to eight
feet high and mile wide, broke upon
West Guthrie without warning, crush
Ing houses, sweeping away property
and drowning people by the score.
Every movable thing was swept before
the wave, which passed on into the
valley with resistless force, wreaking
terrible destruction to life and property
wherever it reached. Dozens of lives
are known to have been sacrificed,
now many may not be known for
weeks. Hundreds of houses were
wrecked; for miles farms were COM
| pletely ruined; bridges and tracks
washed out and railway traffic in every
direction is at a standstill. The most
complete chaos has prevailed all day.
The efforts of rescuing parties have in
many cases proved in vain Many peo-
pie fioated down stream before they
could be reached and their fate is un-
known; others will pass the night in
trees in mid-stream or perched on
house tops. 1t is impossible to estimate
the number of dead The property
a
million dollars. Fully two-thirds of the
victims were colored people.
Business has been suspended all day
In Guthrie, the stores and banks being
closed. AS thorough an organization
for relief as is possible has been made,
but all aid has been necessarily re-
tarded by the confused condition of
things. 1t will be impossible to ex-
plore the houses until the water sub
sides, as many of them are submerged
AS darkness gathered over the scene
many overturned houses could be seen
far out in the flood, but it could not
be learned whether their occupants
escaped. The river is thirty feet above
its ordinary level. A heavy rain began
falling this afternoon A threatening
bank Of clouds came up from the north
west and many persons fled to their
tornado cellars fearing that another
disaster was upon them. Luckily, how
ever, the damage was slight The flood
is supposed to have been caused by
cloudburst, supplemented by heavy
rains.
The Cottonwood river ordinarily
small stream that winds between steep
banks in West Guthrie, was bank full
from heavy rain yesterday and last
nlght, but no alarm had been felt as
the river mad been rising gradually
| during the night. About 6 O'Clock. how
ever, waters from a cloudburst above
was added to those already nearly up to
the level of the high banks, and the
MOOD was sweeping through West
Guthrie, section populated mostly by
colored people. Persons who saw the
first wall of water said that it was
about eighteen feet high, spreading en-
tirely across the valley. There was no
water in front of it save that in the
rivers channels. The first wave was
followed by others in quick succession
until the whole settled into a bank Of
| water from six to eight feet high. Manv
had already begun carrying their
household goods to places of safety. but
! Few had made more thanone trip when
they were forced to flea for their lives
before a raging, resistless torrent that
! no power of man could hope to stay.
The main supply pipe of the water
| works system burst where it crossed
| the Cottonwood, in the southern part Of
! the city, and all the water in the reser-
vOirs poured into the river
In the southwestern part of the CITY
a long arm of land is formed by the
| winding of the river. On the island
| lived hundreds of negroes During the
|
river to the main section had been
swept away. The people were absorbed
| In watching the rising waters this
morning when the floods from the res
erVOirs came down in a solid wall and
cut across the arm of land near the
main land, cutting off the people from
escape They fled from their homes to
the higher portions of the newly form
ed island. In half an hour the noun
! tain of water had done its work and
practically spent itself. The air be-
came hideous with the crashing of
houses and the cries for help of the un-
! fortunateS. When the first shock of
! the disaster was over the more fortu-
nate on the island Immediately began
| to help those nearest them, while across
| in Guthrie proper prompt steps were
taken at rescue The houses, barns and
other effects began to drift down
stream, each freighted with one or
more human beings. Boats or RATS
| shot out here and there from the shore.
and desperate efforts were made to res
cue the people. Improvised rafts were
quickly thrown together and started
| out into the mad stream. Before MANY
of them had been propelled couple of
yards from shore they were twisted
and broken by the waters, and the
would-be rescuers thrown into the
stream Half a dozen rescuers were
drowned even before those they had
tried to save had been reached
Gus Platt, business manager of the
| Guthrie Leader, and George Willis. a
/ merchant tailor swan the river at the
risk of their lives and secured a boat
by which number of persons were
saved. A negro woman, with babe
in her arms, desperately tried to steady
herself in tree top, calling the while
for help. She grew weak and the baby
slipped into the water and was drown
ed. She was finally rescued and said
her family of six had been lost A
woman wading from home with her
baby on her head was seen to go under.
and a man swimming the channel to
reach four women and a baby in a tree
was carried down stream. Two women
and a child were carried away on &
bridge further down stream, and one
man and two women in plain sight of
shore were on a house roof when II