The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1904-04-21
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~ - By STEWART {:
T01z ~ EDWARD (:
II w. WHITE 9

Coeyrisbr. 1902. BY ~fs~aef Ed1ard wbhs
o. Dc 10 . 81

not maze 100 small lor MN 10 uiNlue
with needy comrade.
Thorpe approved thoroughly of jim
my Powers He thought him good
influence. He told Wallace so. stand
ing among the spectators on the cliff
top.
He is all right" said Thorpe. 81
wish had more like him. The others
are good boys too"
Five men were at the moment tug
ging futilely at reluctant timber.
They were attempting to roll one end
Of ii over the side of another projecting
log. but were continually foled. because
the other end was jammed fast Each
bent his knees. inserting his shoulders
under the projecting peavey stock, to
straightcn in a mighty effort.
1t was a fine spring day, clear eyed
and crisp, with a hint of new foliage in
the thick buds of the trees. The air
was so pellucid that one distinguished
without difficulty the straight entrance
to tue gorge a mile away. and even the
West Bend. fully five miles distant.
Jimmy Powers took off his cap and
wiped his forehead.
You boys" he remarked politely,
"think you are boring with a mighty
big augcr."
My God!' screamed one Of the spec
tato:s on top of the cliff.
! At the same instant Wallace Carpen-
ter seized his friends arm and pointed.
! Down the bed of the stream from the
upper bend rushed a solid wall of wa
! ter several feet high. 1t flung itself
forward with the headlong impetus Of
n cascade. Even in the short interval
between the visitors exclamation and
| Carpenters rapid gesture 1t had loomed
, in sight, twisted dozen trees from the
| river bank and foamed into the en-
trance of the gorge. An instant later it
collided with the tail of the jam.
Even in the railroad rush of those
: few moments several things happened.
/ Thorpe lcaped for rope. The crew
working on top of the dam ducked
( instinctivcly to right and left and be-
gan to scramble toward safety. The
men below, at first bewildered and not
comprehending. finally understood and
ran toward the face of the jam with
the intention of clambcring up it. There
could be no escape in the narrow can
yon below, the walls of which rose
sheer.
Then the food hit square. A great
sheet of water rose like surf from the
tail of the jam: n mighty cataract pour
ed down over its surface, lifting the
free logs; from either wing timbers
crunched, split, rose suddenly into
wracked prominence, twisted beyond
the semblance of themselves. Here
and there single logs were even pro-
/ jected bodily upward, as an apple seed
4 is shot from between the thumb and
forefnger. Then the jam moved.
/ Scotty Parsons, Jack Hyland. Red
Jacket and the forty or fifty men had
| activity which is a river mans alone
they succeeded in pulling themselves
beyond the snap of deaths jaws. 1t
was "A narrow thing for most of them
and a miracle for some.
Jimmy Powers, Archie Harris, Long
Pine Jim, Big Nolan and Mike Mo.
loncy, the brother of Bryan, were in
worse case. They We're. as has been
said. engaged in 'flattening" part OF
the jam about eight or ten rods below
the face OF it, When they finally un
derstOod that the affair was one of
escape, they ran toward the jam, hop
ing TO climb out. Then tire crash came
L fEhnv hnnrI IN nf tha ~ tha
wreckng of the timbers; they saw the
logs bulge outward in anticipation OF
the break. Immediately they turned
and fed. they knew not where.
All but Jimmy Powers. He stopped
short in his tracks and threw his bat
tered old felt hat defantly full into the
face of the destruction hanging ovel
him. Then, his bright hair blowing IL
the wind of death, he turned to the
spectators standing helpless and para
lyZed forty feet above him.
1t was an instant's impressiOn-th'
arrested motion seen in the fash o.
lightnlng-and yet to the onlookers i
had somehow the quality Of time. FO
perceptible duration it seemed to then
they stared at the contrast between th'
raging hell above and the yet peace
able river below.
Yet afterward. when they attempte'
TO recall definitely the impression, the.
knew it could have lasted but fraC
ton of IA second.
$50 long, boys" they heard Jimm.
Powers voice. Then the rope ThOrp
had thrown fell across caldron o
tortured waters and of tossing logs.