Evening star., 1897-04-28
A Mighty Wave Mile Wide Sweeps
the City.
SCORES OF PERSONS MISSING
Many Believed to Have Been Caught
in Bed and Drowned.
D A NJ A & E TO RAILWA AYS S

| 81 LoCIS, MO-, April "a brief dis
| Patch from Guthrie, Okla, says:
| At o'clock this morning mighty wave
of water six feet high and a mile wide,
| swept down Cottonwood valley and struck
! this city. A deafening roar went up as
the water crushed houses and drove the
Ieop!e from their homes. At the first rush
every boat and bridge was swept away.
All West Guthrie is submerged. and twen-
| ty of the business houses have ten feet of
water in them. The river is thirty feet
| above ordinary level. Hundreds of persons
| ere in trees, but cannot be helped. Several
| men who were trying to swim the current
| 10 reach four women and baby in tree
were carried away. A woman wading from
a house with a baby in her arms was swept
away and lost.
1t is believed that more than a score of
negroes were drowned in the negro settle
ment, and persons who escaped from the
| flcod estimate that fully fifty persons have
been drowned
Scores of Persona Missing.
WICHITA, Kan, April 2S.-A special
from Guthrie to the Beacon says:
Nine people were seen to drown; two wo-
| men and child were carried away on a
bridge; one man and two women were on a
mouse roof when IL 1T to pieces and they
persisted AS there is no communication it
was absolutely impossible to get names
Scores are missing, and many buildings
are still going. girl in a tree for hours
just gave up and fell into the water
Hundreds of men building boats at
the lumber yards. Gus Platt and George
Willis swan the main current, cut a fiat
boat from its moorings and saved seven
people, making a landing several miles be-
low the city. 1t is believed that many were
caught in bed in small houses and drowned
The big Cimarron bridge is gone. Inn
mense damage has been done in the ceun-
try, Skeiton creek has washed away scores
of farm houses and several people are
drowned
The Santa Fe railroad officials here have
received reports from Guthrie concerning
the hood. They are advised that the
tracks between Guthrie and Seward, seven
miles south, are under water from two to
thirty feet deep So far as known the
numerous bridges and draws between the
two places are still intact, but it is feared
that as soon as the water subsidies the
bridges will 60 out and part of the roadbed
viii probably be washed away. Superin-
tendent Dohan Of the Southern division
las dispatched train crews to the scene
from every division point and sent large
supplies of materials from Wichita Ar
kansas City and Purcell.
The train north-bOund from Guthrie will
arrive over an hour late.
Heaviest Rain in Years.
GUTHRIE, Okla. April 2s-The heaviest
I ain il years fell throughout the territory
yesterday and last night. a continuous
downpour keeping up for seven hours, and
everything being flooded. All creeks are
up to the danger point, and some out of
their banks. Southwest of Waterloo, in
this county. waterspout occurred, and
a fur fod
Clifton scores of farms have beeen swept
of everything and many cattle and horses
were drowned. Near Gushing, Payne
county dozens of persons have been driven
from their homes by. high water. In the
western part of Logan county several large
bridges on the C.marron and Cottonwood
rivers have been abandoned and trains in
every direction are delayed by washouts.
The Rock Island bridge over the North
Canadian has been moved several inches
out of line, the water being up to the rails.
At Ell Reno lightning struck the Presby
terian Church spire and the negro. school
house. knocking children right and left,
but killing none. The total rainfalls since
Saturday noon amount to l1.9S inches. 1t
is still raining hard, with prospects of a
continued heavy fall.
An Appalling Disaster.
KANSAS CITY. Mo-. April 2S-A special
to The Star from Guthrie. Okla. says:
A terrible flood in the Cottonwood river
Suuucfly cltSuiiSu w est SutnTlo
after sunrise this morning. There is rea-
son to believe that fully a score of per-
sons were drowned. Hundreds were driven
from their homes, and many houses were
swept away. 1t is the most appalling dis
aSter that ever befell the city of Guthrie
Owing to the intense excitement and lack
Of boats, nothing can be verified at pres
ent.
The Cottonwood river is small stream
scarcely more than forty feet wide, that
winds in many curves between the banks
in West Guthrie. which lies in the level
valley of the river. A terrific rain fell all
yesterday afternoon and a greater part of
last night. The river was already full
from heavy rain several days ago. No
great alarm was felt last night, the
river. rose gradually and the people felt
that 1t was impossible for the waters to
rise high enough to overflow the steep
banks.
About 9 clock this morning the river
began to rise az IL by magic. Higher and
higher 1t came. jumping four feet in thirty
minutes at o'clock.
A Raging Sea.
West Guthrie is thickly populated. most
ly by colored people. Many began carrying
their household goods to places of safety.
Few had made more than one trip when
they were forced to flee for their lives. The
river burst from its banks and raging
sea OF water half mile wide swept across
the valley, carrying houses. barns and
fences before 1t. To add to the horror of
the situation, the main supply pipe Of the
water works system burst where it cross
ed the Cottonwood, in the southern part of
the city, and all the water in the reser-
voirs burst into the river.
In the southwestern part of the city q
long arm of land is formed by the WIDEN
ing Of the river. In this land lived hun
dreds of negroes. During the night the
bridge leading across the river to the city
had been swept away. The people were alb
sorbed in watching the rising waters this
morning when the flood from the reser-
voirs came down in solid wall and cut
across the arm of land near the mainland,
cutting the people of from escape.
They fed from their homes to the higher
parts of the newly formed island. The
river by o'clock was thirty feet higher
than its usual level.
Authorities Bewildered.
It is believed that there was much loss of
life in that part of the city. but the au-
thorities are too bewfldered to make It pos
. sihle to ascertain facts now. House after
ho,,ss yyaauv rf then, nf attra