The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1901-07-05
SIXTY LIVES LOST.
Exaggerated Reports Causad by
Dead Bodies Rolng Washsd
UP AND FLOATING IN FLOOD
Paris Van Dyka 9. W III oreas
co'umn OF Water Ru,hing
Down mHouniain Gorge
UOOn H]a Horne
Upon Ills Home.

A dispatch from Roanoke, Va, says
o telegram from Blueii I'D Wednesday
afternoon says there are no important
Developments thore. Repair work is
going ahead with rush and vigor.
Bluefield is the great shipping point
for tho Pocahontas Coal company oom.
ing east, It is aaid there that coal
fields will not be able to ship out any
coal for tho next 80 days. It ia thought
at Blue ii Id that the loss of life will
reach in tho neighhorhood of 60. The
coal fields will suffer almost inoaloul-
able loss as q result Of tho wsshcd out
tracks and damage to their machinery.
a gentleman arriving from the
stricken section gives an explanation
for the report first circulated that great
MASSES OF human bodies we're to be scon
floating around in the water. It seems
that th,ro is q graveyard betwoon Nor
folk junction and keystone, which
towns are about q milo apart, and at
which point tho storm was very severe.
This graveyard 10 near tho bank Of tho
rivor which caused the great dest1uo
tion. When tho food came the graves
gave up their dead and added greatly to
tho bodies seen.
Mr.. j. 3. Frances, q Roanoke man
who is in Keystone installing q water
plant, and who was first reported dead !.
has written hiswifo telling her he Is,
safe and sound. He has tho following
TO say about tho disaster: "Abig flood
visited the town last Friday night
Eve ybody had to 60 up on the noun.
tains. Mon, women, and children we're
drowned in the streets and houses went
floating down with people in them. All
our crowd arc safe. We are entirely
out off from the outside world aud
provisiong arc getting very short. There
is now no water in tho town" Another
lett,r Wednesday from keystone says
between 10 and 15people were drowned
and DO houses washed away at that
plaoo. #
Tazswell, Va, also suffered from the
cloud burst. The house Of Paris Van
Dyke, four miles west OF Tazewoli, in
q gorge Of the mountains, was washed
away. Van Dyke heard the roar Of
water and started homo from tho field.
When short distance from the house
he saw the water rushing down the
mountains and tearing up and twisting
off giant trees as if shrubs, the water
loaping 40 feet high and travelling with
frightful" speed. Van Dyke rushed foY
the house toward his family, but the
water overlook him and swept the
house and all its inmates away. Two
children, 5 and Z years old, were in.
stantly killed, their brains being dashed
out against the rocks and timbers. The
bodies were washed to low lands. A
little girl, II years old, holding a young
sister in her arms, was carried 200
yards. Tho sisters tossed on the waters
and when rescued were unconscious.
Another member of tho family died
Wednesday afternoon aud Mrs. Van
Dyke is still unconscious and cannot
1.-Two.
AT Cedar Bluff, 16 milos west Of Tazo
woll, II dwellings were swept away,
but no lives are lost. At POUNDING
Mill, four lives were lost. Knobe,
small town seven miles west, was al
most completely destroyed. Ravens,
two miles west, was badly damaged,
and many business houses were i ..
stroyed. The damage to county roads
will not be less than $50, 900.
i