Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1911-10-02
SEARCHERS BEGIN. WORK ANEW
OF LOCATING BODIES OF
DEAD
HEALTH OFFICER FEARFUL
PHYSICIANS FEAR DECAYlNG
BODIES WILL START TERRI.
=: Bile EPIDEMIC.
Arrangements for Funerals Of Victims
Whose Bodies Have Already Been
Recovered are Being Made-Car.
load Of coffins Impresses Survivors
With Grimness of Disaster.
10y Associated Press.)


AUSTIN, Pa, Oct 2-With the ar
rival of a carload Of coftins here thi'
morning, the grimness of the TRACED.
which has ractically obliterated th:::
town, was impressed upon The surviv
ors and considerable number of work
ers, who today began anew their ef
forts to mine deeply into the hare
hills Of debris. Twenty victims, in
cluding two at Costello, nad beer
placed in temporary morgue at the
Odd Fellows hall, one Of the few bujlt
ings standing in the ruined district.
Take Census Of Living.
Plans for funerals were being made
today. The most essential matter IN
hand here, aside from the persistent
work of cleaning away the more &C
the census Of living Austinans. II
the death Dist aggregates anything
like some have estimated, the health
officials realize that conditions de.
manding prompt attention will arise
within few days in the ruins. There
is a possibility that $50 deaths will
be the total There is little hope that
any of the bodies remaining in the
wreckage will be found intact. The
general aspect of the debris indicates
sAat hundreds of thousands of iave'in-
like splinters and shreds OF buildings
were shot through and through the
first accumulation of ruins by the
debis subsequently hurled onward
by the continued flood.
Aspect is Dreary and Appalling
The aspect of Austin, Costello, and
the valley beyond; today is as dreary
as it is appalling: Towns are pictures
of deselation: The valley side hills
in which they lie, are still Uttered
by shattered homes of their people
and remnants of prosperous places of
business and manufacturing plants.
No reliable estimate of property
loss can be made, but it is safe to say
it will not be less than eight million
dollars.
Dam Was Great Structure.
The dam which burst Saturday af
ternoon, causing the terrible catastro-
phe was a great structure $50 feet
long spanning the little valley formed
by Freeman's run and rising, and ris-
ing 10 height of 40 feet, and was built
two years ago. It was Of concrete
% feet wide at the base. and is said
to be constructed after the most i'm
proved plans of engineering. The
basin behind it had never been filled
with water until this week, but today
water was running over the top Of the
structure.
crumpIe Like Card. Houses.
1t is estimated tonight that one
thousand buildings have been torn
from their foundations and crushed in
the flood, or have been destroyed by
fffe. The water made it's way through
the business section of the town and
left only four buildings standing. The
valley of Freeman's run is narrow
and the town was built along ita
banks.
All the buildings in the lower part
of the valley were swept clear of their
foundations by the torrent and many
of those which remained quickly fell
prey to the flames. There was no
one to stop the fire and it Was allowed
to burn itself out, the survivors of
the flood standing idly on the hi)lsides
stunned beyond power 70 act. A feel
BILE effort was made in the lower part
Of the town, where the food soon
spent its force, to save property ani
lives, but it was sporadic.