The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1909-09-03
STORIES OF THE
MONTEREY FLOOD
LOSS OF LIFE PROBABLY WILL
REACH 5000.
Brownsville Citizen Who Was There
During Flood Tells of Terrible
Scenes of Disaster-Houses Bur-
led in Mud Show Depth of Water.

le0 III Muu SHOW S)eptn OF water.
Three thousand would be a con
servative estimate of the number of
lives lost in Monterey in the over
flow of the Santa Catarina river at
that place on last Friday night,
stated a prominent citizen of
Brownsville who returned from
Monterey last night to a Herald re
preventative this morning. Zone
cannot picture the misery, want anu
suffering now existing in the flood
ed district of the city," he continued.
The overflow occurred between
nine and ten clock Friday night,
but few people who resided outside
/ of the flooded district were aware
/ of the fact until the next morning,
as no alarm of any kind was given.
According to The Herald's in
formant, the greatest loss of life Oc-
Cured Saturday when the homes of
/ hundreds of people that were ma
rooned by the raging flood with no
way to reach dry land, began to
crumble and fall either crushing the
lives out of those in the interior Of
them OF forcing them into the water
where they were quickly drowned
by the waves, which were at least
/ 20 feet in height The houses, he
SAYS. were not all Of adobe, rs has
been asserted heretofore, but the
majority OF them were of limestone
and Their collapse was occasioned by
the water undermining their foun-
danons
Among the many terrible scenes
OF The flood, The I-crald's Informant
saw the roof OF d house floating
/ down the river, on top OF which was
! seated a man holding a Young baby
/ in his arms and three women. He
turned to call friend to assist him
in rescuing them from their perilous
/ position and when he tuln ned back to
/ look for the root on which the peo-
/ pie were seated, it had disappeared
! beneath the angry torrent with its
1 human freight.
After the flood had receded, all
| of the buildings near the bridge
across the Santa Catarina river
were found to be buried in mud UP
to the very transOms over their
doors, showing what height the wat
er had attained The beIfry tower of
the old San Francisco cathedral WAS
destroyed by the water. and not the
| entire building as reported in the
state papers, the remainder of the
structure still standing. This is the
oldest building in the city
Not only was there a great scar
city of food felt in the city, but
the sanitary conditions are something
horrible to describe 1t was almost
impossible for anyone to approach
within a hundred yards of the mar
ket house on account of the stencil
arising from the carcases of the
many beeves and other animals in
the butchers stalls tha had been
there ever since Thursday night,
and which were still there up TO
/ Wednesday, this week, while from
almost every part of the flooded dis
trict the Odor arising from the hun
dreds Of dead bodies of humans and
animals was simply terrible
While the authorities were doing
all in their power to relieve these
conditions, yet the work was nee
essarily slow, on account of hun
dreds OF bodies being buried unde-
meath the debris OF fallen houses
and mud, added to the necessity of
attending to the thousands of help
less survivors who are Shelterless
and starving.
Every effort was made to save
with a rush finding its way across
very few boats were available and
e was impossible even for these to
cross the torrent for hours after the
perilOus situation was known on
Saturday The worst of the flood
was confined TO the lower part of the
city in the immediate vicinity of the
Santa Catarina valley, the water be-
ing only a foot deep in the ZaragOza
Plaza. Many were rescued on Sun
day by operating q cable stretched
across the flood and rugged with
large wicker basket on pulleys in
which people were drawn across the
river and landed on dry land
iAoASdAiuo VI Tie poor people VINO
had lost their all in the food were
being fed by the municipal authori-
ties, when The Herald's informant
left, frijoles and little cruel con
shutting the fare The scarcity of
supplies was such that even the
guests of the best hotels were
obliged to content themselves with
a menu comprising little more than
ham and potatoes.
However the conditions have
somewhat improved. as railroad
communications with Laredo have
been established and relief train
loaded with food is now on the way
TO the stricken city.
The Comical Side.
Even in the midst of such awful
tragedies, the observer could not
fail to note some comical features.
The returned traveller tells of a few:
One aged man was observed
standing on d street corner with an
ancient gslder under one arm, all
that he had saved from the hungry
waters, while here and there could