Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1903-07-15
DEATH IN A TORRENT
CLOuDEuRsT IN Pennsylvania
COSTS MANY LIVES.
Immense Dam Gives wey-walI OF
Water Sweeps Through oasford Park
I'm Ravine Near Jeanette Dead Esti-
mated at SO to 100.

AHother horror similar TO tnat OF
Johnstown occurred at Oakford Park,
between Pittsburg and Jamestown, when
by cioudburst and the breaking Of
Gam scores Of people were drowned The
estimates of the loss Of life range from
fifty to 100 Many bodies were swept
away and foated in the darkness toward
the Monongahela river, while others were
found crushed and bruised into unrecog-
nizable masses by the collapse of a build.
ing in which they had taken refuge. Still
other bodies have been found burned into
blackened masses from having tome In
contact with live electric wires which
fell on the victims who were fleeing for
safety.
The dam which burst was at Oakford
Park lake. The lake was formed by the
CONSTRUCTION of a forty-foot embankment,
which damned up a number of small
streams. Sunday afternoon 400 people
assembled at the resort The day had
been a beautiful one, but warm and sui
try. Very suddenly the skies darkened.
a severe storm swept over the park and
rain began to descend in torrents. 1t was
the worst cloudburst ever known in this
part Of the country.
Warned The Crowd.
Manager James McGrath, believing
there was danger of a break in the great
walls of the dam, hurried among the
crowds of pleasure seekers who had gath
cred under the roofs of the various stands
in the park and warned them to run to
the hills. On botn sides of the pleasure
grounds there are high hills. the park
being located in rayine about fourth
Of q mile wide and a mile long. The peo-
pie were loath to leave the protecting
roofs, and not until Mr.. McGrath and
his assistant, Charles Il. Thomas, entered
each building in turn and drove the
crowds out into the rain did they realize
that the parks managers were in earn
est, that earnestness being depicted in
their pale faces. for they knew that the
food would probably break the wall that
held FIVE acres of water
Half an hour after the buildings had
been cleared water to a depth of five feet
was flowing over the entire length of 400
feet of the dam. The park or ravine,
studded with buildings, the merry go
round, the laughing gallery and other
amusement places were twisted about,
and oil except the dancing pavilion and
large lunch stand were knocked from
their foundations.
Dam Suddenly Gives Away.
Suddenly, while the storm was at its
worst, there was crash like thunder.
-Four feet Of the dam had given away,
and a wall of water forty feet in height
swept down upon the pleasure seekers,
who were caught in the little valley
which forms the park. When the wall of
wxrok nnbt thnr .
panic in the restaurant building. Forty
people who had taken refuge there made
a frantic effort to escape, which resulted
in the frail building collapsing. Some
were trampled to death in the excitement
which followed. While some were hurry
ing across the street car tracks the troll
ley wire fell and caught them in its
meshes. How many were electrocuted
will never be known.
A trolley car which contained fifty to
seventy-iye people was crossing the
bridge over Brush creek. The motorman
saw the great wave of water coming and
put on all the power at his compland.
When the car had reached the cenlar of
the bridge the water struck it. The
bridge was swept aside as though it had
been a log, taking the car with its i'll
fated victims with it. A number of
bodies have been taken from the car, but
many others were washed down the val
ley.
The Brush creek bridge at Manor,
which separates it from Penn Station,
foated away. 1t was crowded with peo-
pie when it gave way. All got off the
bridge but fourteen, and they were finally
rescued. The body of Mrs. Silas Schroe-
der, aged 80, lay at her home, where
she had died of typhoid fever half an
hour before the flood occurred. The
house with the body was washed away.
At Penn Station, about thirty houses
were washed away, and thirty head of
cattle drowned. AS many more houses
were destroyed and wasted away at
Jeannette, three miles distant from the
park.
The flood kept on down Brush creek
to about 300 yards east of Jeanette.
Here the Pennsylvania Railroad embank-
ment, which is very high at this point,
checked the torrent and a deep lake COW
ering over twenty acres has been formed.