Los Angeles herald., 1907-11-12
DOZEN MEN
FACE DEATH IN
CLOUDBURST
COMMUNICATION is SHUT OFF
FOR DAYS
FLOOD SWEEPS ARROYO AND
FORMS LAKE
Sudden Abatlng Of Storm Is All That
Saves Campers from Being
Beaten to Death by
HaIstones

From a camp high in the Chuckawalla
mountains of the San Bernardino range
comes the story of cloudburst terrific
beyond description, that threatened the
destruction of a dozen men and created
such havoc that for days they were shut
off from communication with the outer
world.
Fifty miles from Mecca, on the Southern
Pacific line, in an isolated canyon, the
little group of human beings was caught
IN a downpour of hail, in torrents OF ram
that threatened to wash away their tents,
and in q flood that, sweeping down the
arroyo carried boulders before 1t, and
pitching them into a dam formed lake
that encrouched on their camp. Had the
storm continued but a few moments the
canvas of the tents would have been torn
10 shreds and the men beaten to death by
the hailstones.
Tells of Horros
In a letter to his family in Los Angeles,
Louis Merritt, one of the party, tells If
1he horror of their situation. The storm
occurred October II, yet not until yester-
day was the letter received. 1t was writ
ten at the Black Point camp
sAfter supper last night" he says, I'VE
noticed lightning to the southwest AT
first we were not sure whether IL was
heat lightning or a far off storm AS we
argued it grew in frequency. Our dis
cussion was ended by a distant peal of
thunder.
"The storm approached with remarkable
rapidity. Within few minutes we We're
compelled to hide our eyes from the
flashes, which kept up an incessant. blind
ing glare. My head aches yet from their
Intensity.
eve sought our tents and but a moment
Of in qUpDt down the
canyon. The thunder, which had IN
creased with the lightning, at first re-
sembled q cannonade in the distance, put
with the coming of the rain became one
ancessant roar deafening, drowning OUT
all other sounds. We could not hear one
another; we could only lie and think
Heavens Split
mo language can express the fierce
ness of that cloudburst at its height. Ter
rife as had been the din, there was
sudden cracking roar still louder. 1t was
not peal; it had the suddenness ana the
sharpness of an explosion. Before 1t had
rtonped reyerberating through the hills
hail big as walnuts and raindrops as big
as dollars came down with awful force.
''I glanced outside through the mist.
Had I ventured forth L would have been
killed-beaten to death or smothered. As
1t was, 1 was fearful of the latter 1ate
within the tent, 1Or II was lHeApiSoolDiS
stuffy, 1 could scarcely breathe Within
{. few minutes the rain was seeping
through the canvas, and as lay there
expected the hail to tear it at any mo-
ment few minutes more and the tents
would have been tatters.
"One of the boys tells me that, from the
next tent, he shouted again and again at
the top of his voice, This is where we
diep None of us heard him; there was
only the crack and roar of the thunder
'grhen, without warning 1t stopped
There were a few more fitful flashes,
farewell peal or two, and we heard the
rushing of water as it flooded down the
road, torrent.
Chinese in Terror
'I looked in the Chinese cooks tent.
There, huddled up in his blankets,
crouched on the floor, he was praying
with all his soul, jabbering, kowtowing.
"Everything loose has been carried
down the canyon. Boulders were swept
away like twigs and jammed into dam
below us. The hail was six or eight
inches deep this morning. 1t is warm
now, and the sun has melted most of
that, adding to the lake. Some OF the
bows are below, blowing up boulders
"All small game is killed. After break
fast I fed birds and watered them from
my fryingpan. They had crept toward the
tents without fear-all in.
1--WE must get to work on the roads
now