The evening star and Newark advertiser., 1907-07-18
HOUSES ARE
SWEPT AWAY
BYBIGFLOOD

(COntfnued from First Page.)
the Coal and Iron railroads in Tucker
and Barbour counties have been washed
! away. The service on these roads is
said to be at a standstill. The Dry
Fork and the Baltimore and Ohio rail-
roads are under water for many miles,
and no trains can be operated.
! In the Tygart valley the towns of
Grafton, Rowesburg and Tunnelton are
almost submerged, the property dam
age amounting to nearly quarter of a
million dollars. At Elkins the rainfall
was five inches. anu at other points the
fall was about as heavy.
At McCombs, w. Va, the home of
Mrs. Mary Ballard was wrecked by the
high water and three young children
of Mrs. Ballard were drowned. The
bodies were washed away.
Many remarkable features have char
acterized the food. While hundreds of
persons watched the raging Tygart
River a large church foated down
past Rowesburg. Fifteen bridges float
ed by Grafton.
The lowlands of western Pennsylva-
MIA points along the Monongahela
above this city are not affected to any
day. While the property damage will
be heavy, and many people have been
forced to abandon their homes, no ia
talities have been reported as yet.
WHEELING, w. Va4 July 1S.-Dis-
patches from Grafton. Rowesburg.
Tunnelton and other towns in the
Tygart's Valley in Northern West Vir-
all f1Il t.xy
the river going out of it's bank nearly
its entire length, causing property
losses that will aggregate nearly a
quarter of million dollars. At EllSins
the rainfall reached the remarkable
total Of five inches, and was nearly as
heavy at other points.
At Thornton the water was five feet
over the Baltimore and Ohio tracks
and several houses were washed away.
At McCombs the water came in an
immense wave, wrecking the house of
Mrs Mary Ballard. carrying off three
of her small children, whose bodies
have not been recovered.
| At Grafton traffic on the Baltimore
and Ohio is tied up. A railroad bridge
passed there, but 1t Is not known where
| 1t came from.
/ 1t is feared many other lives have
been lost, as the. flood came without
| warning.
ELKINS, w. Va, July 1S.-Cloud-
bursts and heavy rains yesterday
caused such damage along the Western
Maryland Railroad between Thomas
and Ellkins that it will not be possible
to operate that portion of the road
for at least twenty-four hours. Two
hundred and fifty feet of the track was
washed over the banks of Tub Run
between Hamsleton and Hendricks,
and at the same point there is a thirty
foot landslide. All telephone and tele-
graph wires are down between Parsons
and Elkins, and Superintendent Strenor
last night went over the line afoot.
Between Douglas and Thomas the
tracks are washed out for a quarter of
mile.
The Dry Fork Railroad is reported
under water, and the big main of the
West Virginia and Maryland Gas Com
pany was torn out at Parsons. On the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad there has
been trouble between Terra Alta and
Grafton, including wash-outs and land
slides, and since o'clock this morn
ing there have been no trains over that
division.
The dam at Thomas has been weak
ened, and 1t is feared it will give way,
precipitating several millions of gall
Ions of water into Cheat and Tygart
Valley. The coal and iron branch of
the Western Maryland road between
Ellins and Durbin is reported tied UP
by wash-outs and landslides.
GAINESVILLE, Ohio, July 1S.--A
cloudburst and electrical storm yester-
day resulted in three deaths and much
property damage. Taylor Cook was
drowned while fording a creek at
Museville and man was drowned in
the Adams Mills basin. His boat was
upset by the wind. John Kline, a
miner, of Connellsville. was killed by
lightning at South GAINESVILLE.
Mana CnnlI @ TuAT