Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1911-10-06
HUNDREDS DROWN
WHEN DAM BURSTS
TOWN LOCATED IN VALLEY BE-
TWEEN TWO HIGH HILLS AT
MERCY OF FLOOD.
Great Wall of Water Which Swept
Everything In Front of 1t Fol-
lowed by Fire Which Roasted
Victims Pinned Underneath
Wreckage.

Austin, Pa.-Nearly 700 men, wo,
men and childrenS more than a fourth
of the total population, were drowned
and countless numbers were injured
when the mammotl dam of the
Bayless Pulp and Paper company
burst with roar SURPRISING that of
Niagara and poured it's more than
half million gallons of water down
upon this town late Saturday after
noon.
Located in a valley between two
high hills that extend east and west
for miles, Austin was at the mercy OF
the flood, which swept nearly all of
the buildings away, piling them up
at the mouth of narrow gully east
Of town.
There, as elsewhere in Austin, fire
quickly added it's terror, roasting
alive the victims who remained in the
debris.
In the valley below Austin are the
villages of Costello and Wharton
After laying the larger towns in
ruins the food swept on to them.
Caught in the NAV of the rushing
waters they, too, succumbed, but,
warned by a modern Paul Revere,
who dashed ahead of the flood over
rocky roads in a motor car, the in
habitants had time to escape.
The first alarm of the dam break
ing was given by a Bell telephone
lineman who saw the advance of the
water from the top of a pole. He
tore open a long distance wire and
notified Galeton with his test set
and then fed to the hills, barely es-
Gaping with his life.
Nearly all the men were at work
at work and the women and chill
heard the warning sent out by the
telephone girl, at least some of the
people say the fire bell rang, and
they thought it was q fire.
Some of them dashed to the bust
ness section and were caught in the
water Those not drowned were
crushed in the crumbling buildings
and others were caught in the flames.
Little children playing in yards at
home were caught up by the water
and tossed about on the flood like
playthings. Cattle and horses were
swept off and even the sidewalks
were torn up. And over and above
it all were the shrieks of the hun
dreds of people who could not e.
cape.
Property loss will exceed $4,000, 900,
and it is the general opinion that
the town never will be rebuilt. Two
OF the large plants will MOI be room
structed and majority of the bust
ness men of the place nave been
ruined financially.
The cause of the break in the
mill dam is a matter which the dis
trict attorney of the county will in
vestigate. The Bayless dam was ex-
amined by experts more than a year
ago. and recommendations were made
looking to its safety. The district at
torney has secured the names of ex-
perts who submitted the report, and
will summon them to testify at an
inquest to begin this week.
The town of Austin was built in
the Sinnimahonning valley. In the
last census the enumerators gave its
population as 1910. More than SO
per cent of these were native born.
A fair percentage had been drawn to
the settlement by the work in the
Bayless Pulp and Paper mill.
Many stories of miraculous escapes
are being told. Tommy Lawlor, is
one who barely escaped alive. Search
ers were looking about the ruins
when they heard baby cry. There
they found the infant still clasped
in the arms of his father, who, though
unconscious and buried in mud to
his shoulders. held the child above
him. When released Mr. Lawlors leg
was found to be broken. Both he
and the baby are at a hospital. Mrs.
Lawlor and a daughter persisted.
William Robinson, who has but
one arm, had the strangest escape
of all. He was stanulng at an open
window on the second floor of the
Commercial house when the water hit
the hotel, So terrific was the impact
that the air, driven out of every
opening in the building, blew Rob-
inson across the street to the roof of
another house.
Curry and Baca Nominated.