The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1907-03-21
FATAL OHIO RIVER FLOODS.
lives Lest Amid Ice FIoes as
ToWboat Sinks.
RAILROAD Bridge Swept Away in Penn.
sylvania, Precipitating Freight
Train INTO Rushing Waters.

P~ittSburg, Pa. - In one of the
greatest river boat disasters in re
cent years two lives were lost and q
score Threatened on the Ohio River
and eight others are known to have
been drowned in other places on the
river and it's tributaries.
The spring floods promise to be the
worst since 1873.
The dead, besides John Kennett
and a deckhand named Session, lost
in the boat wreck, are Lloyd Weyant,
of Bakersville; William Beard, Jones
Mills and ANNA Ehute, of Hastings.
Three men drowned, a railroad
bridge washed away, a county bridge
In danger OF following the railroad
bridge into the Allegheny River and
AN engine and ave cars In the water
are b first results of the rapid rise
during the night of Deer Creek, near
Harmarsville, on the West Penn
RAILROAD. -
a freight train east-bound entered
on the bridge about 5 O'Clock a.. m,
but had not gone further than the
second pier when the pier suddenly
gave way. Before the engine driver,
fireman or q brakeman on the front
part Of the train could realize what
had happened the bridge went down,
carrying the engine, trainmen, and
five freight cars with it.
So rapidly had the Deer Creek
risen during the night that it had at
tanned a height of sixteen feet in
stead f-the normal, from four to six
feet. So great too, was the force of
the current that one of the five
freight cars, heavily loaded, was car
ried down the creek a distance of
over a quarter of a mile before its
progress was stayed. The fireman,
engine driver and brakeman had not
the slightest possible opportunity of
escaping, but were Immediately
dragged into the roaring current and
drowned.
About ten miles below Pittsburg at
s o'clock p. m, the great tugboat
Cruiser, Of the River Coal Trust, went
doYn after striking the abutment Of
a Government dam. ~
Twenty other persons were plunged
into the icy water. Captain Harry
Swaney, Of the Cruiser, met his
brother at the p~ilot-house door. They
swan out together into the stream,
holding to the same bit of wreckage.
One mile down the river they were
rescued by Joseph Mcdonald, who,
from his residence, saw the lights of 2
the Cruiser disappear and jumped
into a yawl. He took the captain and
pilot to shore, and started across the
river to where the steamer Valiant
lay with steam up.
Dispatches from all sections of
Western Pennsylvania report heavy
Connellsville streams rose at
an alarming rate. Dunbar Is mum
dated and Oakdale, Ingram. Carnegie,
Wilmerdfng, Sharpsburg and Turtle
Greek borough were already under
water. At the latter place many
were rescued from houses by skiffs.
Pittsburg rivermen prepared for a
dood stage of twenty feet.
Cincinnati, Ohio. - Heavy rain
throughout the Ohio Valley
did much damage in the Mill Creek |
Valley and other suburban sections.
Lancaster, Ohio.-The worst food
since 1893 swept Lancaster. The |
police and fire departments are work
Lng to rescue people, from the second
of their homes in the vest
Ind south ends and the Hooking VAL
.ey tracks are washed out for more
han a mile.
Springfield, Ohio. - Twenty-Five
antilles we're rescued in boats FROM
he flooded district near Buck. Creek,
where a section a mile long by four
blocks wide is under water. Mrs.
dary Wills and her four-day-old child
we're removed to the hospital. This
s the worst flood in eleven years.