The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1909-07-13
ELEVEN LIVES LOST
IN MISSOURI FLOOD
Towns Inundated and inhabitants
Driven to Treetops.
MANY RESCUED IN BOATS
Santa Fe Train DeraiIed on Flooded
Plain and Passengers Marooned
Property Loss Estimated at q
Million and Over.

st. Joseph, Mo.-Death and de-
struction follow the sudden foods,
caused by heavy rains, sweeping over
Dekalb, Davies, Grundy, Mercer, Har-
rison and Livingston counties, in
Northern Missouri. 1t is believed
eleven persons have been drowned
and the property loss will reach more
than million dollars.
without warning torrent of water
five feet deep inundated Pattonsburg,
Mo-, and its 1900 inhabitants were
driven to treetops and roofs to save
their lives. Three persons were
drowned there. Boats sent in by
nearby towns arrived at Pattonsburg
and rescue crews set to work at once.
William Christian is reported
drowned near Chillicothe.
A spectacular accident was the de-
railing on a flooded plain of the At
Gibson, Topeka and Santa Fe passen-
ger train bound from Kansas City to
Denver. The rails spread near Po-
mona, Kan, and four of the ten
coaches rolled over into eighteen feet
of water.
coaches were empty, Laura st. Clair,
of Boston, suffered wrenched back,
and Mamie St. Clair, sister, re-
ceived bruises and cuts. The St.
Clair sisters were going to Perry,
Okla. Miss Mamie st. Clair is an eld-
erly woman, and 1t was while trying
to assist her that the other sister was
hurt.
4ra ,{1I, T., dofn
from the main line over the Emporia
branch, was running along smoothly
through the water when it began to
sink on the undermined tracks. The
coaches sank SO gradually that the
passengers and crew were able to get
into the Pullman cars before the
coaches in front toppled over. Peo-
pie from the surrounding country, at
tracted by the cries of the 800 ma
rooned passengers, endeavored to res
cue them.
Rats were hastily constructed, and
the few boats available were pushed
out, but by this time the current was
so swift around the train that only
the most venturesome were able to
reach the people. 1t was after dark
before a rescue by means of series
of boats tied with ropes was effected.
Boat trips of from one to two miles
were made to the nearest farm houses
free of the food, and the passengers
were taken to safety.
Pomona was almost inundated, the
Marias des Cygnes River at that point
being three miles wide.
In Kansas City the situation was
threatening, if not serious. In the
bottoms in the western section, where
are situated the stock yard, Wholesale
warehouses and manufacturing
plants, the waters from the conflu-
ence of the Missouri and Kansas riv-
ers were tapping the danger line, and
precautions were taken against a fur
Their rise
The food extends through Kansas
and Nebraska and part of Colorado.
Train service was demoralized in Ne
braska and Kansas on account of
washouts, and in Colorado the land
slides and floods from mountain tor
rents caused train schedules to be
abandoned, and hundreds of EastSn
people were marooned in the State.
Iowa and Illinois also were flooded
though the damage in these States
was not so great as in Missouri and
Kansas.
st. Louis, Mo.-Mrs. Bertha Cassa-
nova and two children were drowned
in the General U. S. Grant farm in st.
Louis County when they attempted to
ford Gravois Creek while it was swoll-
en- by heavy rains.
Three other children were rescued,
clinglng to the wagon when it was
swept down stream.