The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-04-29
A MODERN DELUGE.
Oklahoma Towns Engulfed by
Walls of Water.
MANY DROWNED AT GUTHRIE
Houses Quickly Swept Away by
the Resistless Flood.
THE LOSS NEARLY A MILLION,

. A Mighty Wall of Water, From Six to
Eight Feet High and Mile Wide,
Broke Upon West Guthrie without
Warning - A Cloudburst, Supple-
mented by Heavy Rains and a Burst
. ing Reservoir, Rushes the Work of
pestruction-Citizen Sacrifice Their
Lives In an Attempt to Rescue Others
Guthrie o. T., April 29.-At sunrise
yesterday morning a mighty wall of
water, from six to eight feet high and
and q mile wide, broke upon West
Guthrie without warning, crushing
houses, sweeping away property and
drowning many people. Every move
able thing was swept before the wave,
(which passed on into the Canadian
kaIley with resistless force, wreaking
fsrrible destruction to life and prop
4 ArtyWhereyer 1t reached. The food
10 supposed to have been caused by a
rcloudburst supplemented by heavy
/. rains. A heavy rain began falling yes
Asrday afternoon.
' Dozens of lives are known to have
been lost, how many may not be known
|; FOR weeks. Hundreds of houses were
( wrecked, for miles farms were COM
plstely ruined, bridges and tracks were
washed out and railway traffic in every
direction Is at a standstil. The efforts
nj rescuing parties have in many cases
proved in vain. Many persons floated
down stream before they could be
reached, and their fate is unknown.
Others passed the night in trees in
r, ,1nidstrsam or perched on housetops.
rhe property loss is placed at some
khilg near $1.0000O0.
Y Fully two-thirds Of the victims were
solored. Business Is suspended in Guth-
ifie, the stores and banks being closed.
As thorough an organization for re-
: lief as is possible has been made, but
all aid has been necessarily retarded
by the confused condition Of things
II will be impossible to explore the
houses until the water subsidies. as
many of them are submerged. As dark
ness gathered over the scene many
overturned houses We're seen far out
I'm the flood, but 1t could not be learned
whether their occupants escaped. The
river is 30 feet above its ordinary level.
The Cottonwood river ordinarily a
small stream that winds between steep
banks in West Guthrie. was bank full
from heavy rain on Tuesday and
Tuesday night, but no alarm had been
felt. About 6 o'clock however, water
from cloudburst above had added
10 the already high stream, and the
Hood was soon sweeping through West
guthrie, section populated mostly
Ay colored people. Those who saw the
Qfst wall of water said that 1t was
Mbout 1S feet high, spreading entirely
kuross the valley. The first wave was
Followed by others in quick succession,
until the whole settled into bank Of
water from six to eight feet high. Many
persons had already begun carrying
kneir household goods to places of
Batety, but few had more than one
trip made when they We're forced to
Zee for their lives before the raging
torrent
The main supply pipe of the water
works system burst where it crossed
The Cottonwood, in the southern part
pf the city, and all the water in the
reservoirs poured into the river
In the southwestern part of the city
h long arm of land is formed by the
winding of the river. On this land
lived hundreds Of negroes. During the
night the bridge leading across, the
river to the main section had been
'hNept away. The people We're absorb
ed in watching the rising waters yes
terday when the flood from the reser-
) s'oirs came down in a solid wall, cut
ting off the people from escape. They
fled from their homes to the higher
portion Of the newly formed island.
When the first shock Of the disaster
was ovur the more fortunate on the
island Immediately began to help the
nearest to them, while in Guthrie
proper prompt steps were taken at
rescue. as the houses barns and
other effects began to drift down
stream, each freighted with one or
more human beings. boats or rafts
Ihot here and there from the shore.
and desperate efforts were made to
reycue the people. Imprcyised RATS
were quickly thrown together and
started out into the mad stream Be-
fore many of them had been propelled
couple of yards from shore they were
twisted and broken by the waters, and
she would be rescuerS thrown into the
stream. Half a dozen resCuers were
drowned 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 boat
by which a number of persons were
saved
A negro woman with a babe In her
= arms desperately tried to steady her
sEt In tree top, calling the while for
help. She grew weak, and the baby
clipped into the water and was drown
I'd. She was finally rescued, and said
her family of six had been lost.
=, A woman wad'-E from home with
I, her, baby on '.cr head was seen to go
under, and-a man swm"ing the chan
mel to reach four wcmen and baby
In tree was carl.td down stream
Two women and cl!ld We're carried
II away on bridge furt!SS down stream.
ind one man and two women in plain
!, eight of shore were on house roof
4. rhen 1t went to pieces They all per-
II she'd. An old negro woman was seen
I ,iinging to housetop. The building
aoon turned over and she wa drowned.
The wife ard five children Of Wesley
MoGill, colored, were drowned in their
home.
Three men, Walter Olds, John Van
susen and EuGens Gilla, sought to
pssoua an cid man from tree. Their
raft struck an overhanging tree, and
Shey barely saved their lives by climb