Arizona republican., 1911-10-01
REPORTS OF FATALITIES VARY, BUT II
 Is LIKELY 300 LIVES HAVE BEEN LOST
Governor John K. Tener Has Ordered the State Con stabulary to the Scene to Preserve Order and the Red Cross at Washington is Getting Ready to Give Necessary Aid to the Large
 Body of Sufferers.

COUDERSPORT, Pa, Sept 3O.-With roar heard for miles the great dam of the Bayess Pulp Paper com pany at Austin, Pa, II miles from here, at 23O thlS afternoon gave way Forty bodies had been recovered from the ruins when darkness this evening. It IS estimated that fully four hundred more persons are u- accounted for and are believed dead
 The dam was 530 feet long and 49 feet high with a 32-foOt thick base and held back more than 5OOOOOOOO gallons of water For the first time since its cOnstruc- ton two years ago. the water running over the top today and many persons went out from Austm a mile and a half away They mortified when a section, about 20 feet wide gave way the west side great volume of water poured through the hole and an alarm was quickly sounded People ran for their lives to the nearby hills but caught i'll the flood and whirled down the valley.
 moment later another break occurred, this time on the side This much greater and permitted the bulk of the mass of water behind to rush in mighty volume toward the lOwlands
 Harry Davis, locomotive engineer reached the tele phone and notified central, who called many persons possible. But the time short and the raging flood tore down the little valley carrying death the debris that covered the crest Hundreds of and children the men away at WOrk-Werc caught m their homes and drowned crushed before they knew what had happened. Houses went down before the mighty Onrsh of water Gas pipes bent broken released the dangerous fluid. Before the water had passed its terrible through the town dozen fires were burning in many places and the cries of the injured and imprisoned persons joined to the terrible thunder of the flood.
 Much debris lodged against the shops of the Buffalo and Ssquehanna railroad where the fire ragged ercest
  escaped. The floods through the business center of the village. Orty of the buildings were of wood and those which not immediately wrecked by the torrent in flames So sudden the onslaught of water that few had time flee to the hills Some, on receiving the warning, believed there a fire and hasened to the center of the tOwn only to be caught by the flood and swept away.
 The flood passed quickly leaving desOlatiOn in its wake Houses had been crushed and tossed about like toys. Hundreds of bodies carried down the surg ing torrent With the passage of the water those who fled to the hills hastened back their ruined homes in search Of relatives and friends Here and there bodies had been cast along the path of the and about forty bodies were recovered in a short time Some are badly battered by debris that they are beyond recog ntOn while others carried along with no apparent injury. Many were caught in burning buildings and it will be many days before the real extent of the calamity will be known It is believed no fewer than 400 have perlShed and some estimates higher.
 AUSTIN, Pa. Sept. 30-The little town of Costello below here has been annihated. IL had population of between 400 and 5OO survivor reached Austin at ten o'clock tonight He said there was hardly sign of life m Costello He could not say whether most of the resi- dents Of Costello perished fled to the hills He be- heves twO-thrds are dead Practically every building in the town levelled by the torrent Definite in formation was obtained later that every member of the family of State Senator Frank E. Baldwin except the senator himself had been killed They include his father, mother sister, wife and children The senator was injured Flames were sweeping the entire town at