Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-10-02
PUNISH THOSE:
RESPO NSIBL 6
FOR The FLOOD
Loss Of Life at Austin, Pa.
Placed Be- tween 100
and 200.
INVESTIGATION STARTED
Dam Which Burst Had Been
Reported Unsafe, 1t Is
Now Claimed.
Special BY United Press W.rs.

1 Austin, Pa, Oct. 2:-With the
! restoration of order here today un-
/ der the direction Of the state police
i and health authorities, cry for
| justice is being raised by the hum
dreds of grief-stricken and destitute
men and women camped on the hills
4 overlooking the ruins of what forts,
i eight hours ago was their home lJnI
1 der the discipline OF the state police
the work OF recovering the victims
bodies is progressing steadily. and
/ today's estimate OF the total number
| OF dead has dropped from the wild
figures given out by the locag officials
Saturday night To nuas- ran ging
from 100 to 200, the latt0f ssin1Irns3-
culation OF the state poiieo.
While Mayor McNicholl Murrin
still believes that the death list Will
mount up to at least 1,0oe, his
figures being based largely on the
number OF missing, o. g. Cocharana.
the census taker, believes that the
| total fatalities will not exceed I50.
Criminal Responsibility.
That a criminal responsibility ex-
lists Ia the one thought In the minds
Of all the citizens here today. and
even before the Bites of the graves
Of the victims have been marked the 4
survivors are contemplating reti-
| ton to Governor Tener which VIII
insure speedy punishment OF those
persons believed to be responsible
for the continued existence OF the
Bayless dam after 1t had been pro-
nounced unsafe by engineers
Thirty-six Bodies Recovered.
At . A. M thtrty-six bodies had
been recovered and placed In TONI
porary morgues In the school Fouse
and the warehouses Many Or the
victims have been Identified, the
bodies for the most part being
women and children 10 the fact
that the mills and shops, employing
most Of the male population in Ans
tin. are located on the hillsides
above the range of the food, is duo
the escape OF the men of the town.
Two Investigations to fix criuihafN
responsibility for the disaster will be
started today The district attorney
| or Potter county win conduct one
and John Birkinbine the state
l4farn missioner Will tnaugura
Tothef,
| The property loss In and about
Austin Ia estimated Mt s3.a0nYnna. cs
which $1,000 900 was sustained by
| the Bayless Pulp Mil which was
completely destroyed.
| From every point In the country. Ms
wen as from more distant parts OF the
state, crowds focked to the seene,
| which resembles In every detail tho
/ disaster at Johnstown years ago. The
work OF affording the homeless refuge
/ was forwarded without delay.
| Ernest Bignel. director of the Red
| Cross, arrived from Washington with
an emergency fund Of $4,000. which
will be disbursed as occasion mny
| warrant. Food and supplies were rush-
ed from Buffalo and Harrisburg on
special trains and every case of dis
tress was relieved as far as possible
Hundreds of women and children are
without clothing, and scarcely dozen
blankets are to be found
Brick and steel gave way almost, as I
completely as did the less solid coh~
struction. But the wave was hiadered
long enough to pile up to the height
of three story building the mass OF
/ torn debris. Then the food rInpled
| ahead, swirling over the few small
buildings that lay below until iteams
! to the railroad shops, where cars and
locomotives were dipped on to their
sides and stripped of their wheels and
roofs and where the natural gas pipes
in the engine rooms were stripped off.
Then came the fire chat finished thor
! job In the nearby kindlipg shops
el that the wall OF water kepa
ing through the valley until ~ -
! brought down all but four OF
houses In Costello, village that
| three miles below.
Counting the Survivors,
The loss of life is still ':ncerfaiu but
| the estimates place it between $50 and
300. Enumerators OF the last censns
have begun the task of going through
the houses upon the hillsides where
/ the homeless ones have been taken It
is only by the elimination. the authori-
! ties believe. that anything like un ac~
curate count can be made The work
of eIearaga has begun, but it viii he a
long task, and even the census takers
! work cannot be completed for maay
days.
The state physicians and nurses,
who came supplied with bandages and
medicines. have found nothing TO do.
They have turned their efforts to feed
ing and clothing the population that
had every grocery store ana meat mar-
ket wiped away. Tne break Ia the
dam that brushed OF the one business
street and crumpled up four churches
did NOT injure or MAIN 1t stamped
out life or left survivors untouched
Many Children Victims.
AS the quiet men and women tramp
over the fat plain where the water
rushed thirty feet deep the question
that comes to so many minds i.
Where ara the children7 Here ana
there was bog who scrambled oyes
the wreckage or q girl who stood 1t.
lentIy looking on, but there ia nothing
like the curious lot Of youngsters haa
the authorities expect at the place of
a disaster. All these milling town. of
this state are plent'fuilx supplied Nifh
children. The only answer seenea IL.
be that hshen those heaps ara ole
continued % paes