The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-25
Floods in Oklahoma and
 Texas. ALL RAILROAD TRAFFIC
 AND BUSINESS SUSPENDED Towns Inundated and Inhabitants Moving from Their Homes. Terrific Wind storm That at Times Developed Into . Tornado Sweeps Texas and Leaves Destrue-
 tton In Path.

Fort Worth. Tex. May 24-seyen people are known to be dead. 5000 are homeless, dozen or more are report- ed to have been killed In Fort Worth and North Fort Worth. as a result of the greatest rise in the history of the Trinity River. which. beginning at 7:s0 saturday evening. reached a climax at ? o'clock this afternoon, five of the deaths occurring today and tive last night.
 Following the torrentiaI rains of Sat- urday and today, a volume of seven Inches. the river went three inches 1888.
 Stock valued at many thousands of dollars, including 2,500 sheep. penned up'in the stock yards in North Fort Worth. was washed down stream ana destroyed. The property loss cannot be estimated as yet.
 Tha paralysis of railroad service ia almost total The Interurban has dis continued service between Forth Worth and Dallas; the Rock Island made no attempt to operate trains; neither did the Forth Worth and Denver. The Frisco detouTed, in fact not a road escaped more or less damage.
 Row boats from Handley, White City HC8uG overhows on street cars, wagons and in patrol wagons, figured prominently in the work of rescus.
 A woman. a child and three men, represent the, known victims of the food. The dead body of the woman hoated past the foot Of East Fourth Street. about daylight today and cre- ated panic among negro refugees.
 A negro child was washed from it's mothers arms in the Rock Island yards and has not been seen since. An un known white man was drowned near the Long bridge. A negro. atEesnptanm to pilot two men In a buggy through waa thrown from his horse and his body has not been recovered. Ger man in North Fort Worth, was caught in the swift water and drowned.
 Many persons are missing and the police authorities believe this ts only the beginning of long list of deaths Tn the Hood.
 Not a vestige of the big wagon bridge over the Trinity river near the steel foundry Is visible. Piers, girdsrs and abutments were swept down stream and for a time threatened the lives of thousands of sightseers congregated on the city park bridge and approaches.
 Relief camps have been already es- abolished by Manager Greene of the Bureau of United Charities Mayor w. D. Harris of Fort Worth issued proclamation calling upon the fortu- nate citizens to help the homeless. The Salvation Army also cared for many.
 The river Is receding at the rate of one inch per hour
 In Oklahoma.
 Muskogee, Ok, May 24.-Not a raii- road in Oklahoma is in operation to- night, as a result of the heavy rains ata ffa various parts of the State during the past three days.
 The last road to suspend operations was the Nj. K. & T., which was forced to quit at noon today when the bridge on the main line at Eufaula wenf down. To add to the disaster. the main supplying natural gas to the In- dian Territory part of the State, was carried away with the Clarksville bridge today and the supply of gas for Muskogee and several other ctt- les in the south heastern part of the State has been entirely cut oft Officials of the gas company say 1t will be a week before repairs can be made so that the gas supply can again be carried. AS natural gas is used for light and heat. business will be suspended in a meas ure.
 Elevators have been forced to stop punning and hotels and restaurants
 
 ness.
 During the past ten hours there has been a rainfall of twenty inches In this section of the State. The entire section Is under water.
 Later this afternoon, a message was received at the Midland Valley Rati-f z road offices here from Jenks. Ok, say- ing that the town Is under water and that help is needed. The railroad is powerIess to send aid as a bridge went out today. Jenks Is about three miles north of Muskogee.
 Storms in Texas.
 Austin, Tex. May 24.-A terrific wind and rain storm that at times developed into a tornado, swept Texas from the Panhandle to the Gulf early today.
 The destruction to crops and vegeta- tion. trees and shrubbery was the greatest reported in years. In numer- ous places houses were upIlfted and small villages and hamlets in many in- stances were inundated by the terrific rainfall. which, in the space of four hours, reached seven inches in many sections. Austin was in the path of the worst of the storm and for hours the streets were impossible for either man or beast electric light and telephone connections were disabled beyond im- mediate repair and many houses were unroofed. The agricultural sections of Central and Southern Texas has been immeasurably damaged according to general reports received here tonight
 Badly demoralized wire service oc- casiohs slow and very unsatisfactory reports from many sections that are known to have suffered from the storm
 River Rising Rapidly.
 Tulsa. okla. May 24--As A result of most incessant downpour of rain in Oklahoma for the past three days. the Arkansas river has risen thirteen feet and Is still rising. At o'clock tonight. the river reached the high est point in fourteen years. Parts of West Tulsa and Junks, fourteen miles south of here. are inundated and the inhabitants arc moving from their homes.
 It Is impossible to estimate the dam- age done in the outlying country ae telegraph and telephone service is erlp- pied. It Is known, however that "a
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