The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1903-06-20
LIST EXCEEDS
ESTIMATES
Today Number OF Bodies Found
Expected To Reach Two
Hundred.
DOUBTLESS MANY MORE LOST
Survivors Dazed And Can Not
Realize The Appalling Com
ditions Besetting Them.

Heppner June Following il list
Of additional persons missing and be-
iicved 10 be lost:
Otis Bulls. 20 years old. OF Tower
City. N. D.
J. staley. 20 years old. Of Meaeham.
or Hardman, Ore.
Joe Potter.
The bodies OF the wife OF Douglass
Gurdane. city marshal: Mrs. Boyd and
child, a chinaman and Erma ASH
haugh, found and identified, today,
bring the list Of dead up TO i67.
Five carloads OF provisions have ar
rived AT Lexington for the destitute.
The work OF the relief committee is be-
coming more arduous. Hungry and
destitute families are being found and
cared for Ns rapidly as possible.
Superintendent o'Brlcn. OF the o. II.
Il ". arrived this morning and hur-
ried five wagons out TO load provisions.
Trains may reach here by Sunday.
when danger Of want viii have passed.
Carloads Of Fatlons from Fairfield,
Tckoa aud second iustallment from
Portland ars at Lexington, The re-
lief fund has reached $4,000.
The developments of yesterday after
noon and today show the Heppner
death list VIII exceed estimates. Ii
seemed at first impossible that 800 peo-
pie could have been killed. and the es-
tirnte was cut down In measure.
Now, prominent citizens are beginning
TO make estimates from $50 to 800. no
one falling below the former number.
Not all these bodies viii be found.
Some were washed TO the Columbia,
some are probably buried In cellar bot
toms right In town and destined never
TO bs .ound.
There are several large drifts to work
nnd corpses are expected to be found
as far down as Lexington. At the rate
bodies are coming in, the list by tomor-
row win easily reach 200 actually found,
identified and buried There are doubt
less dozens more,
Several outside ministers are relay
Ing each other, officiating at the
graves, and all the dead have brief
funeral services now. Danger of grave
mixing is also reduced.
The apparent stoicism OF the SURVIVE
ors Who have lost relatives is aston
ishing the only explanation being that
the situation Is not yet realized. Reali-
aatlon VIII come when the thousands OF
helpers leave town and the remaining
population finds the streets deserted.
Many women said today they were
afraid to stay here when the people
were left alone with their dead. Men
talk with dry eyes of wives and chill
dren killed, Many say they do not
know yet what has happened
While the bodies found yesterday and
today were in horrible condition, many
were frozen stiff when brought into
the hot sun, a phenomenon rendered
possible by their covering Of hail.
Great banks of hail still lie In the drifts
with bodies, or parts of bodies, enclos-
ed Corrses not thus situated are so
bad that workmen dislike to handle
them. Where people were rolled be-
fore wall of hail during the flood,
they are stripped and their tlesh Is
whipped irto shreds.
A pitiful scene was witnessed last
evening in the morgue, when a mother
and her babe lay side by side, having
been found together in drift two
miles below town, from which six bod
les had already been taken, with more
to come, The woman was Mrs, George
Ilinsley. There are many children still
to be found
No more laborers are needed, as all
that can be fed are here.
Mayor Frank Gillian and Sheriff e.
NJ. Shut have issued orders TO all per-
sons not working or with business to
transact to leave town as soon as pos
slble No attempt is being made to
save boards or timber--it is a question |
of getting the ruins out of sight.
The question of rebuilding the town |
is stlll unsettled. Some think the place |
Is permanently injured, and majority |
think it win not be rebuilt for several |
years. Leading men, however, declare