Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1909-09-02
Estimated That S20,000,oo0 Prop
erty Damage Was Done in
City of Monterey.
10000 PEOPLE HOMELESS
Many Out Of Reach OF Food Owing to
High water in River-Ra,pfnIlo Of
I'M Inches in Three Days
Hundreds Of Houses
Swept Away.

Monterey. Aug. 2o.--The number OF dead
IN Saturdays flood will reach l,2DO and
may be more. The river has fallen con-
siderably and while still high the danger
is now over. n stopped raining to-day
Seventeen and a half inches Of rainfall
Is the official record during Friday, SAT-
urday and to-day. This rain was n
steady downpour and Mt no time APP
preached the status of a cloudburst. The
Santa Catarina river was higher than 1t
has ever been and at one time the plaza
Zaragoza, the highest part Of the city
was flooded to n depth Of about one foot
This was early Saturday morning and
! only lasted until the approach on the
south side of the San Lusto bridge
was washed out.
Fully 1900 people are homeless and
are being cared for by the city govern
ment In the hest way possible. AT noon
to-day 5000 people were given bread
| coffee and soup at the municipal offices
but there are many more on the south
side Of the river still out OF reach OF
| mid because the river Is still at flood
| stage. Conservative estimates of the
property loss place the figures at $2o.-
100000
All through the day and up to late
tonight bodies have been taken from
the debris and ruins in the path of the
flood More than zoo have been recover
cd. The greatest loss Of life occurred
Saturday morning between the hours Of
nine and eleven o'clock when Nhe large
buildings on the south side of the river
Of the houses had from 100 TO 200 people
on their roofs and all disappeared in
the food
NINETY LOST ON ONE BUILDING.
In one schoolbuilding on the south
side of the river 90 women and chill
dren were drowned when the walls of
the building collapsed. This was one
of the most pathetic incidents of the
Hood The women and children had
run to the school for safety. but tho
water having reached there drove
them from room to room until they
were all clustered IN one room.
Two priests were with them in the
room and while the priests We're
blessing the women and children the
walls fell and the whole 90 were
| swallowed up In the food.
Thousands OF people were standing on
the north bank OF the river unable to
render aid to the unfortunates on the
buildings on the south side. for nothing
could have lived In the current Of the
Santa Catarin0 which was half mile wide
and flowing a, the rate OF at least 20
miles an hour
Urn, h,,ij LODI !,
people collapse and the people disappear
in the waters. It was a sight never TO
be forgotten and there IL hardly an estab-
lishment In the city that has not some
story Of loss Of employees. The electric
light and power company had AZ men
employed as linemen and Of this total
ten were all that reported for work this
morning.
CITY LEFT WITHOUT WATER.
The water supply pipe from the
Estanxula reservoir was broken and the
city ia absolutely without drinking water
to-day and II will be several days before
the break can he repaired. Street car
traffic has been abandoned after two or
three Intellectual attempts 20 run the cars
Friday night the Hight and power plant
was forced to shut down on account of
tho falling wires and the danger from the
electricity The lights were turned on
Saturday night hut were again cut of
to-day. Throughout the city houses have
been falling on account Of walls softened
by the continuous rains.
Many acts OF heroism were noted dur
ing tho Mood. An American, II. II. Read
er who owns largo hacienda In the
State Of Tamaulipas. Vera Cruz station,
alone saved 80 persons. Others did all
in their power to HELM and a japanese
cook employed by he chief OF police
saved two little boys from n tree In
the middle Of the river after n fight Of
over three hours In the water The boys
Ind been IN the tree from II o'clock Fri
dav night 10 5 o'clock Saturday after
noon exposed to rain snd cold and were
almost exhausted when help reach them.
Tho boys nre and 10 years old They
soy their father, mother two sisters
and an uncle were drowned The boys
were adopted by an American family of
this city.
IN A TREE II HOURS
Romuldi Marty and family were res
cued from tree near the plaza Pursma
about five o'clock Saturday afternoon.
He is a prominent merchant. His fam
ily consisted OF his wife and three chill
dren and they had been In the tree near
ly II hours.
The story Of the flood is full of In
stances OF this nature and others OF a
more terrible character where the re-
suits were more disastrous and hundreds
were swept away in sight of thousands
of people powerless to render aid
ia 10 10
the homeless. but there are so many
and the city has been called on to
care for unfortunates so many times
In the past two months this being
tho third hood to say nothing OF a
81, 500. 900 Are that has occurred in that
period, that such steps have been In
adequate and help must be had from
| outside roints. Clothing. food and
money are needed