Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1903-06-17
BURIAL OF THE
FLOOD VICTIMS
At Heppner a Huutr,d and Thirty
Bodies Inferred.
SEVENTY MORE ARE MISSING
The Town Presents n Scene OF Des-
oIation- Survivors Tell Tales OF
Terrible Experiences.

buryIng the dead who lost their lives
IN The terrible calamity Sunday even
Ing has progressed steadily to-day ana
this evening 100 bodies had been re-
covered and buried, At least 70 more
are missing, and at this time the most
reliable estimate places the number OF
dead at 200.
All day long help in the shape OF
provisions, blankets and men VINO nave
come TO bury the dead and help restore
order out Of the confused conditions
has poured in
II wiz probably be several days before
the railroad track II opened into
this place as the roadbed Is washed out
for almost the entire nine miles be-
tween here and Lexington,
The scene from the hillside overlook
ing the town Ia one of desolation'
for half a mile below the town
As the debris, which is covered many
feet by mud is cleared away more
bodies are found Immense boulders
weighing tons were rolled along by the
flood and deposited In the midst OF the
town or lodged against buildings,
An appeal has been sent out for aid
the most pressing need being for men
10 ciean the streets and to assist In
searching the great mass of debris for
bodies.
one hundred and fifty Of the best
residences We're swept from the face OF
the earth Trees and every standing
thing were raised and uprooted the de-
bris Is piled along the railroad track to
tbe height Of freight cars. The relief
Work Is progressing at satisfactory
pace.
Among other incidents Of the terri
bic catastrophe was the saving Of three
lives by Julius Kethly, 20 years old,
who rode one mile and half on the
roofs of houses and pulled IN three
people from the flood
In the 6O-foot wall Of water which
swept through the town from the
waterspout on Sunday evening
dozens of bodies were carried down the
Willow canyon for miles In the rush
of subsding waters Sunday night cries
OF distress were heard IN monumental
piles Of debris and the first volunteers
OF aid worked like demons to hunt out
and find perishlng wounded but In
many cases It was too late, by the time
the sufferers were located.
Jim Kern, the Oregon Railway &
Navigation agent met his death at the
Telegraph key trying to raise Portland
90 inform the outside world of the i'm
pending calamity. His little daughter
az ha A,s .f,,t,
the station house, saw her father and
mother lost In the whirl Of mad waters,
Katy stood by while her father was
calling for the Portland office. The food
swept in the lower floor and curled
around him. Mrs. Kern rushed out OF
the house and started for a high point
of ground Kern brayely sought TO
save his wife and both Of them were
lost.
one Of the most thrilling adventures
was that OF Tom Shutter who with his
family was carried down stream in his
house for q mile and a half. His wife
and two children stayed In the upper
rooms Below town the house was shot
across the current to the west side,
where II lodged in debris $50 yards from
the canyon bank. Shutter then took his
two little ones on his shoulder and swan
200 yards in the boiling torrent contend
ing With distractions He landed
the children and then struck out for
the house for his wife and rescued
her.
The Mcbride family. which was lost,
went down In their house. The daugh-
tiers screamed and beckoned from the
windows to Louis Kinney, who, with
his family, ran out In the nick OF time
from their house TO escape the DEATH
dealing tide. Kinney watched the whole
family perish,
Zelda Mcdowell, years old ran to
tell her mother 10 save herself when
she herself was drifting to death.
A force Of seventy-flve men are dig
ging graves on the hillside Prompt
measures are being taken TO prevent
plague The weather promises 10 be-
come hot and a relief corps TO clean up
the town Is badly needed.
H. r. Baird Of Portland lost his wife
and three children. They were vlst-
ings Mrs. Baird's father Mrs. Clarence
Andrews and three children OF Seattle
nre among the lost. Her husband is In
Sitka, Alaska. She is a sister Of Mrs.
Baird A. Abramsicks Is the only one
severely wounded who has died so far.
Not many wounded are alive.
DISASTER DETAILED
Heppner, Ore. June l6.--Terribe Will
low creek. which Sunday wiped out more
than One-halt OF this town, has shrunk
IA tho size of an innocent brpok AW-