Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-10-02

Z complished q miraculous escape. Il
was about 100 feet below the dam
when It gave way" he said. II saw the
| wall OF water rushing down upon me
and altho it poured over me at least
thirty-flve feet high, 1t threw me fiat
on the ground. Somehow I came bob
bling up to the top Of the twisting,
| gurgling mass and grabbed the branch
es Of tree as it shot past me. i was
rescued while clinging to it last night
Employees of the Bayless Pulp Pa
per mill had as thrilling experience as
any. There were $50 hands at work
! Saturday when the flood came. Fifty
of them were young women employed
on the first floor. 1t is thought that all
but FIVE Of them escaped. A dozen were
injured
| NJ A. Devereaux, who was employ
ed in the grinding room, grasped the
| shafting above him when he saw the
wall cave in The whirring counter
| shaft caused him to lose his grip and
he fell in the water rushing under him.
| He was again tossed up and caught IN
! the tangled machinery, from which he
was rescued after calling for two hours
for help. He was taken to the hospi-
tai with both legs broken.
| Emery Worth, who was working in
| the firing room, described the first
warning of the flood as a Kissing noise.
Thinking a steam pipe had blown up,
he said. Il looked up from my Work
{ just in time to see the room cave in.
/ was thrown out to the window and on
| to the roof which landed me high and
I dry on the hill" Worth is at the hos
| pital injured seriously.
| Has Leg AmPutated.
Mary BlaitZe, an employe in the
counting room, told the reporters in the
! hospital Sunday how it feels to have
! leg amputated with an AK. Il was busy
on my books she said. when sudden.
~ there lurched thru the wall one OF
the big pulp grinding stones OF the
mill AS l leaped aside to avoid ii the
ceiling caved in. and the water fol-
lowed and passed over me. Rescuers
found me later pinned beneath the
grinding stone. They tried to release
me but failed. The great stone was
too big to move and felt as II l
should surely die there.
Get an ak and cut off my leg. l
, told them But no man would volun-
teer Cut it off l pleaded. You can
stand..it If / can looked UP and saw
Joe Venarse. friend Of mine. You do
il Joe, for me, l pleaded l was in
awful pain and nothing could be worse
torture than what was enduring. II
cant do that, Mary he said.
i asked a big man back of him to
90 it. He picked up the AK. By the
lantern light l saw the descending
blade glisten. 1 think he chopped it
four or five times before they could
pcy me loose
At the hospital DR.. Ashcraft said the
plucay girl would recover.
Joseph Mckinney. an employe Of the
Bayless mill. struggled to get over the
board fence topped with barbed wire.
which proved a deathtrap for scores.
He had his little child by the hand.
Unable TO get over it himself. McKin-
ney threw his child over the fence to
safety and met death in the waters. A
score OF survivors have pledged them
selves to bring up the child.
Disaster Without Warning.
1T was a wonderful sight. said
Harry Davis, a Buffalo and Sueque-
hanna locomotive engineer who was in
the little1knot of persons near the dam.
There was nothing TO indicate that
the dam was about to give away, and ;
some one had just remarked about its
strength when. with sharp report
hcl.. appeared in the west end. In a
moment water poured thru. and il was !
inme diateiy seen that the hole was
getting larger. In a minute it was
twenty feet wide and extended almost
the entire height of the dam. Then
there was another report. and it seem
ed as If the whole structure was Civ
ing way.
with a cry Of alarm / fled to the
nearest high ground and persons scat
tered in every direction.
"A great volume OF water poured
thru the hole People ran for their
lives to the hills near by, but some
were caught in the flood and whirled
down the valley. A moment later an
other break occurred this time on the
east side. 1t was much greater and
permitted the bulk of the mass Of
water behind it to rush in a mighty
volume toward the lowlands.'
Davis reached a telephone and no
titled the operator at the exchange. |
She called as many persons as possible /
But the time was short. The raging !
flood tore down the little valley. carry
ing death on its debris covered crest.
Crushed and bleeding with both legs |
broken. q child not more than 3 months
ole was carried into the home Of Harry |
Davis at 10 p. III. The poor little suf (,
ferer had been found lying in the mud,
left there by the receding water. In |
another house half mile away its ia |
Their. an unrecognizable mass of twist |
ed and broken humanity. lay dying. |
while high along the washed out road
leading from the dam they picked up /!
the dead form of the mother and two |
other children.
Dam Was Giant Structure.
Saturday night rescue parties who |
climbed over the mountains after |
hours OF torturous travel over the rain |
swollen mountain roads looked down |
to see the wreckage Of the village in |
flames, with hundreds of bodies buried /
in the wreckage and lowering waters
how many may not be known for many |!
days.
The dam which burst was gigantic |
concrete structure which in reality was |
double dam. 1t was located on hill |
half mile above the village and span |
red practically the entire valley, which
at this point is about one-third of q |
mile wide and banked by high hills !
The dam held back wall of water !
fifty feet deep and three quarters Of
mile long normally as reserve power !
for the great pulp and paper mill |
which nestled at its base.