The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-08-30
FLOOD HORRORS
ARE DESCRIBED
Passengers of Colorado &
Southern Train Reach
Denver.
SEVENTEEN BODIES FOUND
TELEPHONE OPERATOR DIED A
HEROINE.
SEVENTEEN BODIES FOUND

Denver Aug 29.-The long delayed Colo
RADIO & Southern train, bearing the
refugees from the district of Folsom,
n. NJ. flooded by the Cimarron river
pulled into the Denver depot shortly after
II o'clock this morning, and tired and hum
cry passengers FASTENED to hotels.
Among the passengers were Frank ID.
Jones, real estate man of Dallas, Tex,
and ]. F. Green and F. L. REGENCY Of
Fort Worth, Tex. These. along with 100
other passengers, were held up by the
flood about seventeen miles from Folsom.
with bridges washed out on both sides
of them for twenty-four hours.
Beyond Description.
THE scene at Folsom simply can't be
described" said Mr.. Jones. Il have never
seen such a picture Of waste and desola-
ton since l gazed at the ruins of Calves
ton. after il had been ravished by the tidal
wave. The entire business district and
great portion of the residence section was
washed down the stream, and the few
business houses remaining had water up
to their second floors.
When We left Folsom seventeen OF the
twenty-one missing persons were account
ed for. Seventeen dead bodies were found
at various point down the river some OF
The principal merchant of the town, ID. r.
Wagner, was drowned and his body has
not yet been recovered The body of his
wife was found eighteen miles down the
stream, and that of his little daughter
mile below that point
Two streams converge a short distance
above Folsom, and without note of
warning and while most of the residents
of Folsom were in bed Thursday night
huge wall of water crashed and tumbled
down each stream from the mountains and
united in an immense mountain of force
as II swept down on the village"
More Victims.
To the list of ten known yesterday TO
have been drowned are added seven more
victims.
They are:
Charles Wheeler, Mrs. Charles Wheeler,
Mrs. S. ]. Rookie. Antonio Salazar. Miss
Salazar. Mr.. and Mrs. Joseph Guerin.
Many are still missing and several days
may elapse before a complete list of dead
is obtainable.
Residents Of the town who lived on high
ground and beyond the reach of the tor
rent saw houses containing families CRYING
for aid swept away before their eyes, DOW
erless 10 render them any assistance Eye
witnesses of the disaster tell of seeing the
lights Pickering for a moment In doomed
buildings and hearing the structures crash
together as they drifted into the narrow
canyon and were crushed like bits OF
pasteboard. Some lights could be seen
distance of nearly a mile down stream
before the buildings were finally broken
up and the occupants drowned. An en-
tire row of buildings was swept away and
others were jammed together in shapeless
masses hundreds of yards from their foun-
dations
Everywhere are seen bodies of drowned
cattle and horses. Only stone buildings
and those on higher ground were left
standing.
Heroism of Mrs. Rookie.
To Mrs. S. J. Rookie, telephone operator,
who lost her life in the flood. many resi-
dents owe their escape. In face of certain
death this brave woman stayed in
doomed building until every method of
escape was cut off by water sending
alarms TO every resident who had a tele-
phone
1t was learned today that Mrs Rookie
had received ample warning to allow her
TO escape. A resident of Hills telephoned
10 her at II o'clock Thursday night that
the waters were rising rapidly and that
she would be flooded out within an hour
II she did not leave. Instead of needing
the warning, the little woman set her
self TO the task of saving others. Number
after number on the telephone exchange
was called up with the brief warming
Pick up and leave at once, a flood is
coming down the valley"
over forty residents, seen this morning
said that they had received the warning
from the central office and had at once
prepared for the terrible emergency. APP
parently, Mrs. Rookie mad
the list of subscribers of the exchange
when the waters reached her.
The body of the woman was found this
morning twelve miles down the canyon
The head piece. worn by the telephone
operators still gripped her ear The tele-
phone cord was broken. Division Super
intendent J. d. Slack arrived at Folsom
at noon today from California and took
personal charge of the work OF rescue and
track repairs.