The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-10-02

moving picture theatres. which wer.
swept away by the water Women
rocking their babies at home. and
/ preachers preparing their Sunday ser
! mons were hurled into eternity at one
and the same time before their startled
senses could realize the meaning of
It all.
The greatest loss of lite By fire oc-
CURED at sharp turn of the valley
Just below Main street. where tile de-
or!s was caught and compressed with
terrihc power by the circl!ng sweep
or the ;iood. The wreckage of the
busiest portion of the town was car
ried to that point, and from upset
| stoves and lamps caught fire 1t is
believed that scores of persons are
buried under from ten TO twenty feet
Of wreckage there. and the task of re-
, covering them will necessarily be 81
difficult one.
Rcscucrs Work In Storm.
In drizzling rain which later
changed TO a beating storm, hundreds
Of volunteers carried on the work of
| rescue to-day, while many. hyster!cal
from the fate that had overco,n.
| friends and relatives. viewed the mud :
dy corpses. anxious and fearful. to
! ones Fires were still burning brisk
~ In some portions of the wrcckage
TINS afternoon. although they had been
under control for several hours
The Buffalo and Susquehanna found
way into Austin over the rails to-
day by connecting with the Heating
summit Spur. a branch track, that fol-
| lowed the Mill. BY this route they
| landed several fire companies from
1nt4
! port. Not manufacturing industry is
left standing and not business plant
: Is intact. y few cheaply constructed
I wooden houses occupied by foreigners
and located on the hiilsides are all tina I
remain Of the residence portion. A
! fortunate exception to the general de-
struction is the fact that the little
| hospital remained practically undam-
aged on the hillside. The school build
ing was also saved.
Chief of Police Daniel Baker, of Aus
tin. one of the survivors, with the as
s!stance of Ernest Hamilton and i
number of constables from nearby
towns. maintained as good order as
could be expected throughout the
night. and until the arrival Of q COM
pany OF the State constabulary at IL
o'clock this morning. Lines we're es-
tablished and only workers and search
ed were allowed TO pass them. There
was but little pillaging.
Leave Ballots Unmarked.
primary election was in progress
, in the Town Hall at the time the flood
broke. y hatless man dashing by YELL
ed TO the crowd about the booth some
thing about the dam bursting" and
the election inspectors and voters
dashed out and took to the hills, leav-
n ~ hat hal lf,fu
capped. but many We're too late and
were whirled into the debris. which
formed dam of itself just below Main
Street. The jam of debris at this point
was at least se"enty-flve feet high.
and three or four blocks long. In this
! mass the majority of victims are, be-
| lieved tonight to lie mangled and
| burned. The halves of houses. twisted
telephone poles. huge sections of brick
wall. trees and timbers are interviewer
and locked together with such force
that the rescuers have to fight their
way into the debris inch by inch. There
were 500 or more men working in the
ruins late this afternoon
The dam OF debris which formed at
Austin saved the western part of Cos
tello. II stayed the on-rush of thu
current temporarily, during which the
alarm spread down the valley and the
residents of Costello had time 10 fee
to the hills.
The eastern side of the village.
however. was entirely DESTROYED. rend :
ering about 400 people homeless It
Is believed that only three lives we're
, lost. and of those only one body, that
of an unidentified woman, had been
, recovered at late hour this after
noon.
The work of clearing up the debris
is under the direction of Senator r.
T. Baldwin. who lost his father, moth
er. wife and home in the food. and was
himself painfully hurt in escaping the
disaster. Prothonotary F. ]. wandell
is also leading In the work During
the night the food supplies were scarce
and the rescuers toiled without so
much OF asking for anything to eat
Several Of them collapsed to-day, and
had to be given medical attention.
New York Offers Aid.
Governor Dix telephoned from AL
bany this morning that the State of
New York was prepared to send any-
thing the sufferers might need as
soon as Pennsylvania would make
known what would be acceptable.
There was no lack of willing hands.
Country women from miles around
drove to the scene. and between COM
forting the Austin women who had
lost husbands and children, and get
ting luncheons for the survivors. were
busy all day sand into the night.
Meanwhile men fought thci, way
through woods and brush for a mile
or more to get pure water for coffee.
and farmers drove In with large sup
plies of fresh milk.
Later in the day. after supply
trains had arrived, three loaves of
bread. two cans OF tomatoes and a
swo-pound can OF roast beef was is