The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1911-10-06
TOWNS WIPED OUT
BY Water and FIRE
BURSTING DAM CAUSES LOSS OF
$50 LIVES.
Escaping Gas Starts Conflagration Which
Cremated the Dead and Dying.
Loss $4,000, 900.

residents in the northern part of the
state, was swept out of existence Sat
urday and more than $50 of its people
were killed by a flood which followed the
breaking of the Bayless Pulp and Paper
Company's dam, a mile and a half north
of the town. Almost five hundred mil
hon gallons of water rushed over the
place in a wall three feet high, wrecking
every structure in its path.
The towns of Costello and Wharton,
also in the path of the flood, were al
most destroyed.
In Austin, the bursting of scores Of
natural gas mains, as the buildings were
swept away, added fire to the general
horror of the flood, and hundreds Of
those imprisoned in the wreckage wero
burned to death.
Contents of the great dam, which was
filled to overlooking by the heavy rains
of the last two weeks, swept through a
natural gorge in which the towns of Aus
tin and Costello were situated.
Scenes of indescribable sadness marked
the village during the early hours Of
the night. Many women who had lost
their children wandered in the darkness
crying their names in the vain hope they
would answer, while here and there a
worn and broken man stood at the ruins
of his home, dazed, wondering when the
bodies of the family would be found,
but it is the general belief that some Of
they will never be recovered. Many
were burned in the fire and others were
ground to pieces by the masses of tim
bers and stone swept down by the flood.
Whole families have been wiped out,
among them being some of the leading
residents of the town, but in the dark.
ness and confusion it is impossible to
tell who is left. The number of dead ID
now estimated from $50 to 200, the pop.
ulation of the town having been 5000
before the disaster.
Carload of Collins.
With the arrival of a carload OF cof.
fins, the grimness of the tragedy that
practically obliterated this town was
impressed upon survivors and workers
who began anew their efforts to mine
deeply into the hard hills of debris.
Twenty victims, including two at Cos
tello, had been placed in a temporary
morgue at Odd Fellows Hall, one of the
few buildings standing in the ruined
district.
Must Take Census.
The most essential matter in hand
here, aside from the persistent work of
clearing away the more accessible ruins,
is the completion of a census of the liv'
ing Austinans.
t If the death list aggregates anything
like the enormous numbers some have
: estimated, the health officers realize that
/ conditions demanding prompt attention
. will arise within a few days in the
l ruins.
5 The most careful and well informed
investigators, however, are unprepared
to learn that more than two hundred
have persisted. There is, indeed, a pos
sibility that $50 will be the total.
The policing conditions are practically
, perfect. A twelve hours %downpour o.
rain served to materially reduce the
number of incoming sightseers, and tt
this extent the police were relieved.
: The state constabulary, state sanitary
r engineers and chief officials of the stat.
health department are cooperating il
the measures for protection and relief
Scene of Desolation.
3 Ruined Austin, Costello and the valley
beyond present pictures Of desolation
t No reliable estimate of the property losi
can be soon made, but it is safe to say
8 it will not be less than 5000, 900. Tit
paper and lumber industries are utterly
t destroyed. The timber supply indeed
n was rapidly nearing exhaustion and a
the best it was thought five years from
now the indsutry would be PRACTICAL,
at an end.
) In fact, about 200 families had movet
from Austin this fall. Five hundred NOR
+ would have gone within the next yea
or two unless some industrial develop
ment came in to hold them.
Questioned as to the sudden failure o
p the Bayless Pulp and Paper Company
dam, citizens shake their heads omi
nously. They recall the scare a yea
ago last January, when a considerable
e leak was discovered in the immense ce
$ ment structure. Although two feet o
the rim of the dam was removed to re
lieve the pressure, and a fourteen-foo
patch was placed where needed tn
alignment of the upper edge of tn
dam gradually became a slight arc in
a stead of a straight line. This bulg
g caused worry on the part of the citizen
and led to a somewhat recent inspeC
n ton. Certain protective measures wer
8 determined upon, but the delay wa
q fatal.
n II never went to sleep in the hote
n on Main street here" said a visiting raj
road official today, without a might,
+ fervent prayer that the apparently inc,
" table might be delayed. l always fel
that We might be swept away durin
the night"