The Savannah morning news., 1903-04-30

Vancouver, b. u, April Z5.-ONer-
whelmed by countless tons of rock, this
morning shortly after 4 o'clock, and
with probably 112 of it's inhabitants
killed almost instantly, the little min
ing town of Frank, in Southwestern
Alberta, is threatened with complete
destruction by flood tonight.
Old Mans river, which flows through
the center of the town, is damned up
by the falling rocks to the height of
nearly 100 feet and the entire valley
above the town is flooded for miles.
A big body of water is pressing with
force upon the dam, the only protection
the town of Frank now has, unless the
river shall find another channel. Should
the impromptu dam break, the entire
village would be swept away.
The story from Frank.
A dispatch from Frank says:
"A tremendously loud reverberation
shook the whole valley of the Old
Mans river this morning at 4:lO
o'clock, and scarcely half the inhabi-
tants of this town awakened to a reah-
cation of the impending danger, when
from the top of Turtle mountain, over
looking the settlement, millions of
tons of rock were hurled.
1.-THE Frank mines, operated by the
French Canadian Coal Company across
the river from the town, were seen to
be buried under hundreds of feet of
rock Just as the morning light was
e
the first shock and before half the
town realized what had happened, a
small force of men had started to the
relief of the miners, despite the great
risk they ran of being buried under
the rocks, which were still being pre-
cipitated from the lofty mountain top
THE volunteer relief force was una
he to get into the mine, but managed
to get near enough to determine that
not a man at the workings had es-
capped death. Many had been fearfully
mangled.
COOped Up In the Mine.
1.-THE disaster was merciful to those
men who were employed above ground,
in that they must have been killed
instantly, while those men in the work.
ings of the mine may yet be alive, if
they have air to breathe. If all the
air shafts to the mine were closed up
under that awful avalanche, all the
men must have died by this after
noon.
THE disaster was not confined to the
vicinity of the mine alone, for many
of the dwelling houses in the town
OF Frank were demolished by the fall
ing rock. Some of the occupants of
these houses escaped death, but many
others were instantly killed. 1t is
conservatively estimated that the loss
of life exceed 100, and the latest re-
turns place the number of dead at
1l2.
AT noon to-day it was impossible to
arrive at any accurate estimate of loss
of life as owing to the excitement and
hurry and rush of people on the
streets, no one could say who is MISS
ing and who is not. There are no re-
cords available that will tell how
many men were working in and about
the mine at the time of the disaster
1t is variously reported that there were
from eighteen to fifty miners under
ground. 1t is known that many wom-
en- and children have suffered death,
but just how many it is impossible to
tell at present.
Great Fissure i'm the Earth.
Whap raoov+c ooY,oarnipr tho ma oroi-
tude of the disaster commenced to
come in from reliable men who had
been prospecting for news, it was dis
covered that the earth opened for
three-quarters of a mile and many
feet in width, and that the whole
northern face of Turtle mountain slip
ped from its place.
The shock resultant upon the pre-
cipitation of the millions of tons of
rock into the valley. while only actual
ly demolishing comparatively few of
the houses, shook the foundations of
a majority of the dwellings in the town
so that they are unsafe to live in, and
many hundreds of people will have to
live in the open or under such tenn
porary shelter as may be procurable.
The railroad track for a distance of
two miles or more east of the station
is covered with from ten to forty feet
OF rock, and the telegraph wires are
down. All communication is being
conducted over one wire running west,
and this one line is so blocked with
private messages and inquiries from
the outside that it is only with the
greatest difficulty that press matter can
be sent out.
Rock Continued 10 FAN.
AT dusk to-day the rock was still
being thrown on the town from Turtle
ountuln, and II Is impossible 70 VEN