The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-10-01
BURSTED DAM HORROR, 1000 DEAD

havoc In the little city of Austin to-
night, Burgess Murrin, who escaped
death in the disaster, declared he be-
lieved when a final list OF the dead
was made it would be found that 1000
persons had perished in the flood.
Later tonight Burgess Murrin sald
i that with the reports being brought In
4 by survivors from Costello he bellev-
ed the death toll for the entire val
ley would reach 1900. The high hills
which bound the valley in which
Austin and Costello were situated af-
forded place of safety for the sur
vivors and they picked their way
over the roads down to Austin. There
the story of the destruction of Costel-
10 and the deaths there first became
known.
Unheard From Territory.
Not only must the dead within the
cities be reckoned with Burgess Muir
rim said, but the people in the three
miles Of intervening country Of which
, no word has been received. There
may be death and destruction below
! Costello of which nothing will be
known until morning
, Having just returned from the
. stricken city at midnight tonight. l.
. j. Resener, prominent jeweler OF Por,
Allegheny, told the United Press thai
the early estimates from 800 to 50(
dead would prove far too low. He hat
just talked with Burgess Murrin
!. who was directing such rescue worl
= as could be carried on.
= Bodies Floating Everywhere.
: "I never expect to again witness
: such sight as greeted me when
. reached Austin" said Resener. 9TH,
y entire site where the town once stoot
= is under fifteen feet of water Bodice
: are floating everywhere. There ar
few injured to care for though, tn
citizens who were not drowned out
right when the first avalanche of wa
: ter struck, escaped one death only t
be mashed down under the timber
that followed.
THE entire scene was lighted u
d in ghastly fashion by the lights {
= the fires. rapidly destroying ever
portion of the buildings left aboy
water We could see men and woinel
evidently badly injured, strugglin
wildly in the water, attempting
: hold on to floating timbers. Then the
: went down.
= "The main street of Austin is 8
= narrow and so hedged in by hills ths
the water ran through as though col
fined in canal. There is no doubt
my mind, nor in others who have vi
= tied the scene, but that possibly II
persons were drowned at Costello
= only three miles away. The water
. are still pouring over the devastate
y towns.
Need No Lanterns.
y "The rescue work that is being ca
= ried on is being done only by tt
= light from the burning structures.
. will be impossible to recover vel
. many bodies until daylight. With tt
. great amount of timber turned loo'
in the flood, no boat can live in IL
waters and the workers have most
. to stand on the edge of the flood al
er, drag out such bodies as they CT
ng reach with poles.
Ire "All of the money in the Aust
for National bank may be safe. The cas-
ier heard the roar of the waters as
ar broke loose from the dam, and havi
its for the past two years lived in fe
ty. of a flood, he knew what it meal
300 The money was quickly gathered
zen gether and thrown into the vault. tt
At was locked and the office force flet
,or- Mr.. Burgess declared tonight til
hat State Senator Baldwin's sister peris
raj ed with his mother and father 1t W
first believed she had escaped wi
Baldwin and his wife, but she canr
now be found.
led
led Found Only Two Friends.
Re- Those who are alive are now cou
,ar. ing all the missing as dead. Reser
soc declared that he knew scores of p
,wn pie in Austin, but of all his old
I'm quaintances only the bank cashier a
,oh Burgess were found alive.
The property loss will run into /
, ~ millions, Resener said. Not hot
NO church or public building of any XII
his is standing, to say nothing of the Ii,
- wiped out and homes destroyed.
.i.h The River styx.
"The scene tonight with the moa
the of the dying tossed about in the ru
lied ing waters and the glare of the bu
Tres ing homes upon them is the nearest
and an earthly view of the inferno he
nty shall ever get" concluded Resen
mo. THE entire town is gone and it's p
Pile with it,
like
/ a Homeless and Stunned.
hat AUSTIN, Sept 3O.-Destitute, wi
to out home or food, many without 6
ficient clothes and almost all
lid reaved, eight or nine hundred r
,eo- sons are wandering about the Ii
ing around Austin tonight