The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-06-16
COST FIVE HUNDRED LIVES
THE TERRIBLE CLOUDBURST 1T
 HEPPNER, ORE.
Flood Came With Such suddenness That the Inhabitants Were Unable 90 Seek Places of SaGeey-Carrfed Down
 to Death by Ghe Awful Rush of Water.

to Death by the Awful Rush of Water. Portland, Ore, June 15.-Five hun | dred people lost their lives in cloud burst that almost entirely destroyed
 the town of Heppner. Ore, at o'clock I last night. Heppner is the county seat
 of Morrow county, and had about l,- l 250 inhabitants.
 All the telegraph and telephone wires
 are down and no accurate information
 can be obtained, but the estimate of loss of life is based on the most reliable | reports received up to tonight. A re- | port from lone, seventeen miles from Heppner, is to the effect that 300 bodies
 have been recovered. A messenger who | arrived at lone said that a wall of
 water twenty feet high rushed down | into the gulch in which Heppner is sit-
 uated, carrying everything before it.
 The flood came with such suddenness
 that the inhabitants were unable to
 seek places of safety and were carried
 down to death by the awful rush of water. Almost the entire residence por- tion of the town was destroyed, but some of the business part which is on higher ground escaped.
 Huge boulders weighing a ton were carried down by the current and many people were killed by being crushed against the rocky bluff. Early in the afternoon a thunderstorm occurred, covering a wide region of country, and later a heavy rain storm set in, many of the small streams overfiowing their banks in short time. Bridges were swept away like straws.
 As soon as possible after the flood had subsided the work of relief was commenced by the citizens of the town. Dozens of bodies were found lodged along the bends of Willow creek, and
 in several places they were piled over one another. Up to 2 o'clock this af- ternoon 200 bodies had been recovered almost within the city limits.
 The buildings which were not carried away were moved from their founda- tions or toppled over.
 Hundreds of horses, cattle, sheep and hogs that had gone into the creek bot tom for water, perished. u.
 News of the calamity did not reach the outside world until to-day, all the means of communication having been
 cut off. As soon as possible news was sent by courier to the nearby towns. The Oregon Railway & Navigation Co. started relief train with physi-
 clans and supplies from The Dalles shortly after noon, At 1:S0 this after
 noon another relief train started for the scene from this city. The citizens of Portland started a relief fund as soon as the news of the disaster spread over the city and in a short time $5,000 was raised. .. ,-.
 Supplies will be rushed to Heppner
 as soon as they can be assembled. Following is a list of the identified
 bodies: Krug and family; Thomas
 Howard and family; James Jones and family; Dr. McSwards; family of c. A.
 Rhea; Mrs. Carr's family; Mrs. Charles
 Andrews and children; Mrs. Robert
 Baird and children; - Wells, Sr., and
 family; James Mat1ock; Thomas Mat
 locks family; Dr. Higg's children; Miss
 Elliott; Miss Fiber: William Cohen and
 family; Mr. Geiger; W. M. Walton and family; Herbert Bartholomew family;
 MT. and Mrs. Dawson; occupants of
 Heppner hotel; several Chinamen: Mrs.
 Charles Curtis; George Tinsley, wife
 and child; H. A. Boyd's family; Mrs. w. H. Berg; Chris. M. Ashbaugh; Carl
 Jones and family; George Swardard;
 John M. Herman and wife; agent o, R.
 & N. railway: c. E. Maitfield and fam
 fly; Albert Cabots and family; Benja-
 min Patterson and family; H. c. Gerzer
 and family
 Fifteen buildings in the town of Lex
 ington, nine miles below Heppner on
 Willow creek, were washed away, but
 with no loss of life, the inhabitants hav-
 ing time to save themselves from the
 surging torrent. At lone. seventeen
 miles away, considerable damage was
 done to buildings although no loss of life is reported from there