Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-01
RESCUERS IN PERIL
WaShouts Delay Arrival OF Re-
lief Parties.
GOT BUT LITTLE WARNING
Alarm Sounded by Whistle, But
Most Residents Were Trapped.
FIRE REVEALS FLOOD HORRORS
Scores of Bodies Found in Piles
Where Escape Had Been Cut
Of-Survivors Terrorized.
GOT BUT LITTLE WARNING
FIRE REVEALS FLOOD HORRORS

CORNING. y. Y. September 3O.-"The
dam has burst. We are going to fly for
our lives
IhiS message. flashed by the telegraph
operator in the Buffalo and Susquehanna
railroad station at Austin to Galeton.
forty miles away, this afternoon. was
probably the first news of the great dis
aster to reach the outside world. The op-
orator at Galeton, the division headqua, :
ters of the road, when he caught the
portentous fash lost TO time in calling
the trafnmaSter to action and in less than
half an hour the Buffalo and Susquehanna
had three relief trains on the way to the
stricken valley.
The trains found the track washed away
six miles this side of Austin. Communi-
cation. except O. the hills and in a
roundabout manner. was impossible as
the whole valley was seething flood.
Automobile parties from a radius Of forty
miles around volunteered to make the at
tempt to reach the village. None of these
parties. which went up over the noun
tains. had UP to a late hour this evening
returned to their starting point. A tower
man twelve miles north of Costello a lit
tie village reported also swept away,
telegraphed shortly before o'clock that
no relief parties had yet reached Austin
The towernian could see the red glow of
the fire which had broken out in the fated
village.
Prominent as Lumber Town.
Austin, which is 1O4 miles south of
Corning, is the terminus of a branch of
the Buffalo and Susquehanna Railroad
The relief trains were made up and dis
patched from Addington, n. Y, and Buff
falo, n. Y.
Austin was prominent as a numbering
town in the old days. and while the busi-
structures We're wooden. There was
room in the narrow valley only for two
streets. The houses of the workmen in
the Bayless pulp and paper mill We're
perched on the hillSides and some of
these may have escaped
The frantic shrieking of the big whistle
of the Bayless pulp and paper mill at
3:1O this afternoon startled the throng
of people in the main street of Austin.
The mill is on fire." was the general
shoGt.
An instant later a mountain of water
broke over the hill crest and swept down
the half mile intervening between the
town. The cry went up from the horror
stricken crowd: Run for your lives.
The big dam has burst
Village Swallowed in Two Minutes.
In less than two minutes the pretty
little mountain town of 900 Inhabitants
had disappeared, swallowed by the sea of
water. The telegraph operator at the
Buffalo and Susquehanna station, as he
saw the flood coming. hastily licked out
the last message to be sent from the
town of Austin, for Austin is no more.
Tonight rescue parties who climbed
over the mountains after hours of tor
tuOus travel over rain-swolen mountain
roads looked down to see the wreckage
of the village in flames with hundreds
of bodies buried beneath it, How many
bodies are buried in the wreckage and
lowering waters may not be known for
may days; estimates range all the way
from 800 to 1000.
concrete structure which in reality was
double dam 1t was located on a
hill half mile from the village
and spanned practically the entire
One-third of a mile wide and banked by
high hills. The dar. held back a 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. January ~ of last
year week of severe weather. accom-
panied by cracking ice. SO buged the
dam that residents hurriedly deserted
many of the buildings. moving their
household goods to the hillside. where
they camped out for several days. The
water subsided and Il few months later
the second concrete dam was built a half
mile further back. This 1t was thought
would make the whole structure secure.
Week of Heavy Rains.
This has been week of heavy rains
in the Potter county hills. and all the
"a heir
banks. The mainstay of the Bayless dam
was a branch of the Sinnemahoning creek
known as Freeman creek. The back
water this morning was over five miles
long and more than a mile wide at tie
head. In the past watchers had been
employed in times of high water. 1t is
not known whether this practice has
been discontinued since the reinforcement
of the dam.
The employees of the paper mill evident
ly had received some warning OF the
breaking of the dam. for watchers saw
men seurrying to the hillside the irst
blast of the whistle sounded. This Whis
tie also was used as a fire alarm for the
town of Austin. 1t proved death sum-
mons to many who haStened to the main
street for the water was upon them be-
fore they could turn and See.- safety on
the hillsides. 800 yards from the center
of the town.
The town nestles at the bottom of a
tiny valley. and pretty homes and busi-
ness places We're situated on two long
streets. The resident street was directly
in the path of the flood. while the busi-
ness turned right angle. one end reach
ing up into the eastern hills. AS the ava
ianche of water bore down upon the
town it entirely engulfed the resident
section and tore the brick structures on
the higher main street whirling from
their founda tions. Tonight. of the hun
dreds of homes and two score business
structures. but two chimneys, and the
first story OF a brick store are standing.
The residences were crushed like egg
shells, and fell in heap Of tangled
wreckaSe.
Rescuers Wade in Mud.
As soon as Galeton received the news
the railroad telegraph operator notified
officials of the Buffalo and Susauehanna
line and special relief trains were rushed
to the scene. Orders also were sent to
Addison and Buffalo. directing that spe-