The Jones County news., 1911-10-05

4 In ten minutes dozen other gas pipes
had burst and were pouring their deadly
inliammable fluid into the air Men who
had rushed forward ia the hopes of doing
some good, were overcome and fell, while
others were caught in the flames aud in
cinerated
4 The street became a glowing hell, and
there was no salvation for those who
CHANGED TO be near How many perishe
at this point is not known, but one es,
innate places il at score.
Austin had little fire protection at the
best, and with these swept away by the
/ food and no one left to man the little,
/ apparatus the town possessed the prog.
ress Of the flames was uninterrupted,
Rapidly they swept from house to house,
leaping streets and alleys, and, fed by
( the continual spray from gas mains,
there was no staying their progress.
They licked up what the water had left.
! Many persons, crushed and helpless in
the wreck of buildings only partly de-
stroyed by the water, were consumed in
the flames Their shrels could be heard
by the helpless ones, who, awakened from
their paralysis by the scenes about them,
endeavored TO save life here and there
where il seemed possible They were
driven back by the deadly fumes of the
gas or the beat of the flames and half an
hour after the food had passed they
stood on the hillside, pitiful in their ina
blity to do anything but bemoan the
fate of their friends, Women and chill
dren there were among the wounded aud
dying, but among the scores of men who
might at other times have brayed death
to save the lives of the unfortunate
there was none to dare.
Wreokage Heaped in R. r. Shops
Down at the shops OF the Buffalo and
Susquehsnna railroad, history was in the
making. The buildings were below the
banks of Freeman Run and were more
substantial than most of the houses
which had been swept away. When the
great mass of crushed and broken tinl-
bers, representing the homes of few
minutes before, came crushing down they |
lodged against the s!ions. r, Ila.l.a...i-sva
s;,ss sss - : s,.au ItlQ. Hzssse ftnpu7F
-~nA NJ grunf That the buildings shiyered
and the walls We're crushed in, but the
frame work stood and formed barrier
against which fotsam and jetsam of the
flood found lodgment
Here, as elsewhere, the natural gas |
pipes burst and as the shops were in op
GRAFTON, fire was quickly communicated
TO the heterogeneous mass. Men we've
caught before they could leave their
machines. Some of them were crushed to |
death without a warning, but Others less
favored OF fortune were pinned down |
and met most horrible death in the |
rapidly kindled flames.
Nearby was the plant of the STANDARD |
Lumber Company. IL had ON hand a
large stock OF stove wood ready for ship |
ment, 1t was the fuel the flames most ]
desired and when the pipes burst there
and the burning gas broke through the
building it was soon destroyed. Here
too, debris had been piled and the luck
less ones who had been swept down
stream met death at this point.
For hours the machine shops and the
lumber plant burned and the odor OF
burning flesh was so strong as to drive
many persons from the scene How
many died here will never be known, but
counting the employees of the plants and
the persons in the flood il win not fall
short of 200.
Tons of Lime Stacked.
Here the first organized effort at relief
was made. Maddened by the sights about
him, one man, with tears streaming down
his cheeks, cried for volunteers to save
We're gradually growing fainter. The
wreck Of the Austin Hardware Company
had been swept from its location on Main
street TO the lumber mill Here were
buckets in abundance, and there was the
lime stream. still swollen, although the
force OF the flood had passed. Seizing
a bucket, this unknown hero dashed into |
the stream, filled it with water, and,
calling for help, ran toward point |
where it appeared one man might be
saved Others followed his example. But
to no purpose. Gas and heat combined |
to drive them back, and they eventually |
gave up the battle.
The blazing pile continued to burn
through the night, the most conspicuous
and most deadly spot in this valley of |
death. Gradually the cries for help and |
the groans of dying men grew fainter
and finally the great mas of debris and
the remnants of the burning buildings |
became nothing more than huge pile of :
glowing Goals.