Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1909-09-01

1900 DROWNED AT MONTERREY.
Horrible Situation Depicted.-Seven-
teen and Half Inches of Rain.

Monterey, Mexico, Aug. 20 At
noon to-day 1t stopped raining for
the first time since last Thursday al.
| ternoon, and some idea of the hor-
rors of the flood Of Friday night and
Saturday could be obtained. 1t was
at first reported that eight hundred
lives were lost in the disaster, but
to-day 1t seems that the number of
the dead will reach 1900 and may
be more. The river has fallen con-
siderably, and while still high the
danger is now over. Seventeen and
a half inches Of rainfall Is the off,
cial record during Friday, Saturday
and to-day. This rain was a steady
downpour, and at no time approach
ed the status of a cloudburst. The
river was higher than 1t has ever
been in the history of Monterey, and
at one time the plaza Zaragozo, the
highest part of the city, was flooded
to depth Of about one foot. This
was early Saturday morning, and
only lasted until the approach on the
south side of the San Lusito bridge
was washed out.
Fully $4,000 people are homeless,
from the flood and are being cared
49, ~ WV SiIy Ill Tic
best way possible. At noon to-day
5000 people were given bread, cof-
fee and soup at the municipal Offices,
but there are many more on the
south side of the river still out of
reach of aid on account of the still
overfiowed river.
Conservative estimates of the
property loss place the figures at
$40, 100000 throughout the city.
All through the day and up to late
tonight bodies were taken from the
debris and ruins in the path of the
food, and over five hundred have
been recovered.
A Sickening Sight.
The greatest loss of life occurred
Saturday morning between the hours
Of 8 and IL o'clock when the large
buildings on the south side of the
river commenced to crumble and
fall. Many of the houses had from
ten to one hundred people on their
| roofs, and all disappeared in the
flood. In one school building, on
the south side Of the river, ninety
| women and children were drowned
when the walls of the building col
| lapsed. This was one Of the most
pathetic incidents of the flood The
women and children fed to the
school for safety, but the water
reaching 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 in the act of blessing them the
walls fell and the whole ninety were
swallowed up in the flood.
| Thousands of people were stand
| n h.a l. l..
unable to render aid to the unfortu-
mates on the buildings on the south
| side, for nothing could have lived in
the current of the Santa Catarina,
which was half mile wide and flow
ing at the rate of at least twenty
miles an hour. Watchers saw build
ings loaded with people collapse,
and the people disappear in the
waters. 1t was a sight never to be
forgotten, and there is practically no
| establishment in the city that has
| not some story Of the loss Of en-
| ployees.
The city is without drinking wa
| ter, and street car traffic has been
abandoned. The light and power
plant is shut down.
II. II. Reeder, an American, alone
saved thirty persons. A Japanese
cook saved two little boys from a
tree in the middle of the river, after
a fight of over three hours in the
water. The two boys had been in
the tree from IL o'clock Friday
night until o'clock Saturday af-
ternoon. The boys stated that their
father, mother, two sisters and an
uncle had been drowned in the flood.
Help Needed.
Steps are being taken to care for
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
the third flood, to say nothing Of a
100000 fire that has occurred in
that period, that such steps have
been inadequate and help must be
had from outside points. Clothing,
food and money are needed and
needed at once.
No statement sent out can exag-
gerate the situation as it exists here
at the present time. A water famine
threatens and the food supply is
very slow. II railroad communica-
ton Is cut off for week, as is pre-
dicted, the conditions here will as
| sumo serious proportions.