Omaha daily bee., 1902-07-10
LANDSLIDE DESTROYS HOUSE
More Of the Union Pacific Track Embark
ment Gives Way.
OLD WOMAN IS SERIOUSLY INJURED
Entire TrackREe-way from Bridge to
Union station Presents Insecure
Appearance-streams Flow
from Embankment.

The residence Of Mrs. Johanna Collins, at
712 Marcy street, was swept from its
foundation and the rear part demolished
at 9:4O a. m. yesterday by a miniature land
slide Of the Union Pacific track embank-
ment. which is gradually giving way to
the heavy rains. Mrs. Collins, who is
over go years Of age, was in her kitchen
when the mass Of earth crushed upon her
little cottage, and received injuries to her
back and head, the seriousness Of which
has not been fully determined. She was
hurled from the kitchen into the adjoin-
ing room by the force Of the collision.
The collapse Of this em~bankment, which
began with the displacement of $4,000 cubic
feet Of filling Monday morning, when three
tracks were destroyed at the western en-
trance Of the bridge, is now threatened all
along from the depot entrance to the bridge.
In half a dozen places great masses we're
swept out Of place yesterday morning, but
the worst of these is that which caused the
damage to the Collins cottage and injured
Mrs. Collins.
Goes Down with Force.
The house stood Just at the foot Of the
high embankment, separated by a board
fence six feet high. When the cave-in hap
pened the bank went down with a plunge
nnd struck the rear Of the house, which was
forced out fifteen feet. The rear room, in
which Mrs. Collins was at the time, was
completely demolished, the cook stove and
all other contents smashed and covered with
mud and water, which even found its way
to the front rooms. The cottage was a
four-room structure. One room was en-
tirely detached from the main building and
all the apartments were badly damaged, II
not ruined. Mrs. Collins, with her son and
three daughters, has occupied the house
since last December.
No progress has been made in filling in
or repairing the depression caused by the
collapse of the trackage-way Monday. One
of the sets of rails has been temporarily
placed so as to run dirt cars down, but no
filling has yet been taken in. Water Is
flowing from the torn embankment in copi-
Gus streams. not only in this place, which
was the location of the old artesian we'll,
but in other parts of the roadbed.
Changes in Topography.
The ground is creviced all along and the
entire trackage-way presents an insecure
appearance. Where the embankment has
slid down the ground 100 and 200 feet be-
yond it has bulged out and risen to a con-
siderable elevation, but at the foot of the
embankment there is no perceptible eleva-
tion and the earth seems to have opened up
and devoured the shifting sand.
No more tracks have been swept away
or interfered with by the slides yesterday
and the Union Pacific has completed its
little CUTOFF spur running its trains into
the Union depot. However, 1t is feared that
the tracks to the south side of the roadbed
will be endangered and the entrance from
the bridge cut off entirely until a more
substantial roadbed can be built.
The whole embankment seems to be SO
thoroughly saturated with water as to have
become a sort of mushy mass and It is be-
lieved there is no way Of preserving the
roadbed except by a system Of piping, thus
carrying the water into the river. The
statement has been made by some Of the
foremen at work on the bank that under
meath the sand filling is a stratum of soap
stone and that as the a~rteslan we'll has
formed a subterranean stream there is i'm
minent danger OF the entire mass Of road
bed being swept away.
To Prevent Disaster.
A theory has been advanced that in or
der to prevent such a disaster 1t will be
necessary to drill down through this soap
stone, and establish a secure foundation to
hold the earthen superstructure.
The continued rains naturally interfere
with the attempted repairs of the trackage
and It will be some time before trains will