The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-03-16
ORECON'S PAUL REVERE.
How Leslie Matlock Saved Two
Hundred Lives.
SHOUTED A WARNING AS He RODE

Describes His wild Night Ride
Through Willow Creek valley With
| Rushing Waters In Close Pursuit
Never stopped In His Nine Mile
GaIIOp.
Leslie Matlock, q hardy stockman of
Heppner Ore, saved the lives of more
than 200 people after the flood on that
fateful Sunday evening of June Il
last had overwhelmed the town and
destroyed 800 souls
Chased by the flood, be saddled and
mounted his sturdy mare and galloped
for miles down the valley of Willow
creek to warn the jewellers in three
towns, Lexington. Pettysville and
Douglas, besides others who dwelt
along the creek road. Today Oregon
is hailing him as a second Paul Revere
He tells the story for the New York
World in part as follows:
Any one man who knows the coun-
try as we'll as | do and who can ride
horse could have done the same thing.
We none of us guessed what was
coming. The people who live down
Willow creek were spending Sunday
evening quietly in their homes. We ali
wanted rain in the stock region. and
we were getting it.
We never expected it at Heppner
Pretty nearly every man, woman and
child had turned in for the night Ii
had been raining all day, but that was
a good sign. Nobody had the slightest
thought of danger Then came that
awful torrent of water-black, fierce
roaring water that made your knees
tremble when you heard it and made
men turn pale when they realized what
they would have to face.
My fathers farm was among the first
to go-buried under twenty feet of
kissing water. The house, the barns
every stick of wood on the place-all
was swept away before a man could
think twice People were drowning
before our eyes. and we could see the
bodies swept down in the front of the
| flood.
Thank God, remembered!
''Willow creekr' l thought 'Hun-
dreds are down there who may drown
just as others have drowned in Hepp.
ner. Perhaps l can get there first
There wasn't a telegraph; there
wasn't a telephone 1t was a case of
riding down the valley ahead of that
awful avalanche of water. l don't
| think l ever saddled my horse so fast
| in my life. Nine miles away were lives
to be saved, and 1 the only man who
could save them. Off we went, my
bully good mare and l.
Behind US came the water. You
could hear it gathering strength. L
rolled and roared against the sides of
the valley like big cannon in a battle.
Once when / looked behind | saw
something big and white leap up into
the black sky. j 1t was the torrent hit
ting house and dashing up just as the
surf does when it strikes cliff.
Every time / came to a house l
yelled: run for your life! The foods
comingr' l never stopped. 1t would
have cost me my life and the lives of
all those 200 people farther down the
valley.
The road was so dark and stony that
we stumbled all the time, but my
plucky little horse never fell once or
else it would have been all up with US
Closer and closer behind came the rush
of that Internal water. There was no
time to pick your way. | just hung
tight and trusted to my horse to get me
through all right. The miles went by
in the darkness, but nearer and nearer
came that thunderous roar. More than
once thought it was all up with us.
We were going close to Lexington
now. Ahead / could see the lights.
Not a soul in all those quiet houses
guessed what was coming. Many peo-
pie had gone to bed. A few hundred
yards behind you could hear the flood,
louder and louder. My horse and
were racing the waters. We got there
first
Run for your livesr' l yelled. ''The
foods coming, You've only got a min
ute! Don't stop to save anything!'
l never stopped galloping. People
saw I was in earnest, thank God, and
| saved themselves In about thirty sec
onds, without stopping to bring a thing
along, they went on the dead run for
the hills, fathers carrying their babies
and mothers running along with the
other little ones by the hand. There
was plenty of high ground back of the
town, and in five minutes they were
safe But there hadn't been a moment
to spare. Already the flood was tum-
bling in on the town, first two feet
deep, then ten and then twenty.
Don't forget Pettysvillew shouted
one man to me as he took to the hills
carrying two babies and helping his
wife with another.
81 know! | known | remember an
swering as we tore down the road.
There were ranches on both sides of
the gully and people in all of them.
did nothing but shout and try to hang
on in the saddle. Behind me, faster