The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-06-09

the valley near the mills in which they
are laborers.
The storm settled over Spartanburg
last night. 1t garthered force until the
proportions of a giant cloud burst
were reached when the dOWnpour from
the clouds swept away the dams, which
in turn settled into a vast swirling
stream which rushed through the val
ley where the mills were situated. 1hlS
AFTERNOON the waters are roaring above
. houses and home, where yesterday
! thousands Of laborerS were busy. The
property loss, it is believed will reach
s., 100000.
At Pacolet the following damage has
been reported: Mill No. 1 has been
washed completely away; mill No. is
totally destroyed. The cams Of these
mills are swept away and the waters
rush unchecked through the wide gap
| thus opened. The warehouse of mill
, No. l with it's total stock of goods and
! cotton was swept away, While the
| hotel, the leading churches and almost
| every building in the little city has
| been partially or totally destroyed.
| So many wires are down and COM
! munication Of all sorts is thoroughly
| demoralized that it is impossible to
| form any definite calculations of the
| loss of life in todays cloud burst and
| the resultant floods. The mortality list
may go to $50, but the more conscrva-
! tive estimates place it somewhere
| around forty or fifty. The total prop
| erty loss in the entire section laid waste
| by the storm is likely to aggregate
| s., 900 900.
| GREAT DESTRUCTION OF LIFE
! AND PROPERTY.
Spartanburg. s c., June Ga tor
rental rain-storm visited this region
| between last midnight and dawn TO-
| day, resulting IN general devastation
| and destruction of life and property.
| All the bridges and trestles on the main
| inc of the southern railway were
| washed away
The greatest destruction of life and
| property occurred at the Pacolet and
| Clifton and Glendale cotton mills.
| Wires are down and reports conflicting,
| but it seems certain that TWENTY-FIVE or
| thirty people are drowned, mostly mill
| operatives.
The following is a partial list of those
| who lost their lives by the inundation
at Clifton; August Calvert ana wife,
Miss Lizzie Calvert. NJ. Felix, Mrs. w.
3. Tinsley, Morlay Sims, Mrs. B. J
Johnson and four children, Mrs. Mag
| gle Kirby, Mrs. John Owens, Roy
| Owens, Garland Long. Mrs. Long Miss
F1etia Gocia. Robert Finley.
| The ill-fated Pacolet cotton mills
were the heaviest property losers
| President Victor Montgomery estima t.
| ing the damage to the plant at $3.50,
OOO About 200 operatives in theSt
l mills are thrown out of work and with
| in a few days will be in need Of daily
| bread.
| At o'clock this morning, it was no
/ ticed that the water was rising rapidly
in the Pacolet river. but no special i'm
portance was attached to it by the mil
Form in linz
| to enter the mills. At mills No. 1 anC
No. , the water pressure soon becam'
| dangerous. the boiler rooms were sub
! | merged and the workmen were ordered
| back. A little later the fury of tn
! | raging river struck mill No. l, sweep
| ing the plant entirely away. The stron!
} | current then swept against No. ?, de
| molishing that mill and leaving onl.
| the cloth room standing. The big bridg
: | over the PacOlet river, a steel structure
: was then carried away by the furiou
2 | water which had burst through tn
' | dams. The ware room with dOmeStl
| cloth followed all the cotton being car
5 | ried down stream. At PaColet mill Nc
3, one half the picker room and fiv
t | stories on the left side Of the lon
building were washed away. The mai
f | building. supported by a thick brio
. | wall, is still standing, but IS yer
o shaky and may collapse at any time
V The boiler room is gone, but the smok
stack is yet standing. The dam at NJ
3 is intact. All the machinery IN thi
| mill is ruined
: At Glendale four warehouses file
8 with cotton and cotton products weI
e swept away along with the dam acros
LawsOn's Fork and the trestle of til
s | city electric railway. The mill at Gler
|: | dale was not materially damaged.
), At Converse the main building of tf
l Clifton factory collapsed and the watt
4 rose till the second floor of the mill W.
four feet deey-forty or fifty feet aboI
the ordinary water mark. The Coz
verse mill is utterly demolished, notl
e ing standing except the nIcker roo
{, building, which is badly wrecked. tt
p Clifton mill No. 8 also lost its boil
Is room, machine shop, engine room ana
n smokestack.
is President Twichell could not estima
the loss tonight. He has not been alb
n yet to visit the ruins Of the plants.
e. The Whitney mills on Lawson's Fo
N were damaged by the heavy rise of I
D. water and some houses and a ste
Id | bridge at that point were swept ava
At the Tucapau mills the water rose
in the second floor of the building a.
he considerably damaged by machinery.