Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-03
AVALANCHE AND
DELUGE ISOLATE
MANY SECTIONS
HUNDREDS OF PASSENGERS
ARE MAR00NED
TOWNS AND TRAINS BURIED BE-
MEATH SLIDES
Ohio Rivers on Rampage-Death Toll
and Property Damage Incal-
cuIabIe-Numerou
Cities Suffering
tcontInued from Pare onel

vengeance on the trains standing In
its path.
Messages telling of the disaster were
sent to Everett and relief trains, with
doctors and nurses and workers, were
sent at once Owing to previous slides
which had blocked the road and swept
away portions of the track, the rescue
trains can go no farther than Scenic,
whence the rescuers have 10 make
j their way on foot over the snow. An
other train, bearing wrecking equip
ment and carrying undertakers ana
more workers, LEFT Everett late last
night.
A third train, carrying workmen and
provisions for 900 persons for ten days,
was sent today. Communication with
Scenic is frequently interrupted by
slides, and it is difficult to get COM
plete details Of the disastel
Rivers on Rampage
Dispatches from all dvel Washing
ton and Idaho from the Inland empire
tell of the most devastating floods in
the history of the region. UP to mid
night five persons had been drowned
Failing to heed warnings, two Tekoa
married men were swept away by
floods rushing over bridge four miles
from Oakesdale and drowned. together
with their team. They were Elder
Modrell and Maurice OBrien. Two
companions were pulled safely ashore.
Pullman streets are torrents, three
to six feet Deep a two-story build
ing was swept away, together with the
homes of a half dozen families
At Davenport and Garfield the riv-
ers are rushing through all the streets.
Colfax is isolated. all railway and
wire connections being cut off. with
water three feet deep in the streets.
Reports tell of the Clearwater and
Snake rivers rising rapidly, fed by
swollen creeks that are running RAM
pant through canyon towns, such as
Peck, KooslSia and Arrow Junction,
while on the Nez Perce and camas
prairies. above those towns. water
stands from a foot TO three feet deep
in the highways
one span of the Lawyers canyon
bridge. said to be one of the longest
and highest railway bridges In the
United States, is reported to have
been swept away above Kamiah.
Idaho
AT 2 o'clock this morning the floods
showed no sign OF subisdlng.
First News Brought
The first news direct from the scene
of the disaster was received here to-
night when DR.. Cox, one of the Great
Northern physicians. who went up on
the first relief train, returned from
wellington, accompanied by three of
the survivors. Ray Forsythe, r. NJ.
Lavelle and Fireman S. A. Bates.
DIR. Cox says that none Of the In
jured is i'm critical condition. Many
of the injured were only slightly hurt.
When the party left Wellington,
sixteen were I'm the hospital In charge
of DIR. Rockwell.
Forsythe and Bates estimate that
not more than twenty of the 10 per-
sons who were carried into the canyon
bv the avalanche escaped injury.
Eleven passenger cars, three locomo-
tives, four electric motors, one rotary
snow plow, the rotary shed and the
sand house were swept away by the
slide.
A M iember of the first relief party
who returned to Everett tonight said
that when he reached the scene all the
cars were completely buried. Much of
the wreckage was covered by forty
feet of snow and all that could be
seen was one partly buried electric
motor, two locomotives and the wreck
age of the rotary. All that could be
seen of the coaches was steel pipe
pullman car was twisted around
stump, and curtain lay on top.
Fear Seven Perished
Raw Forsythe. .one OF the injured
passengers, was in car in which
there were five women and seven chill
dren. Three women and two children
escaped, but the others undoubtedly
perished. In telling of the experience
Forsythe said that 1t seemed as IL the
car was lifted bodily from the tracks
and was held poised In midair. Sud
denly 1t toppled over the edge and
rolled down the steep embankment
Instantly the air was filed with the
shrieks of the injured. A fearful
storm was raging. A high wind was
blowing and there was a spectacular
electric display.
The first men to extricate themselves
from the mass of wreckage set to
work at releasing those less fortunate
They had no lights and carried on
their work by the flare of the lightning
which was almost incessant.
This morning the severed hand Of
woman was found. On a finger was
a ring bearing initials which lead the
workers to believe that it belonged to
Miss Katherine O'Reilly of Spokane,
who is listed among the 'lissing.
Men returning from the scene of the
disaster hold little hope that any of
the missing will be recovered alive,
This tends to strengthen the estimate
that the total number of dead ulti-
mately will reach eighty-four
Fireman s. A. Bates, one of the in
iured, was buried under snow six
hours. Other survivors heard his
shouts and dug him out before the first
marty of rescuers arrived.
Trainmaster A. ID. Blackburn, who
was sleeping in Superintendent O'Neil's
private car, was taken out of the
wreckage alive. His only words were
"Iook out for the Others" then he
lapsed into Inconsistencies.
Station Agent Flannery of Yelling
ton dug Blackburn out of the snow
and started to carry him to a place of
safety. A small slide struck them and
Flannery was knocked down. Black
burns body slipped from his grasp
and was carried into small stream,
where is disappeared from sight.
Latest reports indicate that the ava
lanche swept down the mountain
above Wellington at 1:45 a. m. instead
of at 4:3O. This is the latest state
ment of survivors, and is borne out
by the finding of watches stopped at
that hour
At..A rnNAJk IN nAMHER