The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-04-23

|
phone communication Interrupted,
railroad schedules disarranged by
washouts, soft track and threatened
bridges was the known result early
today of a rain, electrical and wind
storm general over practically all of
Texas and the eastern portion of Ok
! lahoma yesterday, last night and
which continued in some localities
lions of the storm zone reached al
most cyclonic proportions, while there
were reports of numerous fires be-
lieved to have been started by light
ming.
The Known Dead.
| Christoval, Texas: H. C. Goldwire,
killed by lightning
| Ramsdell. Texas: w. L. Boynton,
killed in train wreck caused by soft
/ track.
| Austin, Texas: Six negroes, drowned
in Waller creek.
The storm was especially severe at
Austin, Texas, and that city. was in
da rkneSs last night. 1t was said about
! twenty houses had floated to and
were packed against a bridge, threat
/ ening the structure. Rescue squads
were busy all night taking endangered
persons to higher ground, while the
| rain continued to fall in torrents.
! In the Thral oil field, near Taylor,
Texas, tanks containing 10000 bar
| it is said, will be $4,000. Lightning
! is believed to have started the blaze.
| Lightning started fire in an oil
warehouse in Dallas, causing a loss
| of 100000.
In Oklahoma, the Canadian river at
Chickasha has cut a new channel two
miles from its old bed, and ten pas
senger trains were marooned there.
The Santa Fe railway has lost 1000
feet of track at Purcell and bridges
are threatened at several points on
that road by swollen streams.
Bursting of a gas main at Alvord,
the line, has left Dallas and Fort
Worth without natural gas since 8
o'clock Thursday afternoon and it was
not known early today when the
break would be repaired.
Seven Persons Injured.
Shawnee, Okla, April 23.-Seven
persons were injured, three of them
dangerously, in tornado which last
night destroyed the home of S. L.
| Whitley, a farmer near here. While
telephone and telegraph wires are
down it is reported that the property
damage in this vicinity was heavy. No
deaths were reported.
Fort Worth Out of Gas.
Fort Worth. April 23.-Fort Worth
| is facing the most novel experience of
it's history today. Its citizens are
without gas. Breakfasts could not be
| cooked this morning; many big plants
which use gas for fuel were unable to
| turn a wheel; newspaper plants were
compelled to return to early day meth
| DDS in issuing their editions. All of
| this was because of two breaks in the
| natural gas lines between here and
| the Clay county fields.
Two Inches of Rain.
Waco, April 23.-During the night
the Brazos river here rose eleven feet,
the stream being twenty feet deep
here today. Within the past twelve
hours the precipitation here has been
two inches. Tracks are washed out
and trains are indefinitely delayed.
| Homes Swept Away.
| Austin, April 23.-Floods that swept
down Waller and ShoaI creeks Last
night swept away scores of homes and
cost from fifteen to twenty lives.
Houses were damned in masses
against bridges and many business
houses were flooded. Eight people
I in one house were swept down Waller
creek and all but one are believed to
have persisted. G. S. Ezell, a barber,
escaped. The dead in this house are:
Mrs. c. s. Ezell, Elbert Edwin Ezell,
aged 9: Martha Virginia Ezell, aged S;
Harvey King, aged 20; Mr.. and Mrs
King, parents of Harvey King, and
Helen King, their daughter.
Others who are believed to have
been drowned are Mr.. and Mrs. Win
kler, an aged couple living on Shoal
creek, near Twelfth street; Tom
Quinn, a fireman, engaged in rescue
work; William and Rachel Curtis,
who were found on the International
II & Great Northern railway bridge; two
Leonard brothers, in Travis Heights,
and a number of Mexicans and ne
! groes.