Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1915-08-04
FEAR SIXTY LOST
IN FLOOD THAT
SWEPT ERIE, PA.
With 27 Bodies Recovered Cor
oner Estimates Greatly In
creased Death Toll.
HUNDREDS OF HOMELESS
PERSONS IN DISTRESS
Mayor Asks for Troops and
Makes Public Appeal for
Money.

ER1E, Aug. 4.-With twenty-sevei
bodies recovered from the debris o
the worst flood this section has eve
seen' Coroner d. S. Hanley at moor
To-Day stated that he feared from
forty to sixty persons had perished
seventeen of the twenty-seven bodies
nave been identified. Rescuers ar,
finding additional bodies as the,
delve into the wreckage that blocks
the streets.
Mayor w. J. Stern has made a re.
quest for a company of the Sixteenth
Regiment of the Pennsylvania Ma.
tional Guard to patrol the ruined
section of the city. He has also made
a public appeal for money to relieve
the distress among the hundreds o1
homeless persons.
The flood, caused by the overflow Of
Mill creek, following the bursting OF
| the GlenWood dam, swept through q
section of the city a block in Width
and mile long, causing property
loss estimated at $4,000
The identified dead are:
Emma Osborne, forty-four, of Pa.
rade street.
John Donovan, city fireman.
Sweeney Anderson, sixty years old
of East Ninth street.
John Higgins, forty years old, d
printer.
James Higgins, seventeen years old
son of John Higgins.
Mrs John Higgins and infant.
Mrs. Cora Anderson Main, twenty
eight years old, East Seventeenth
street.
the entire police and fire forces oil
the city worked throughout the night
on the ruins, recovering the fourteen
bodies from an area that included ap.
proXimately one-half of the de-
Vastated district. The men worked
! under the direction of Mayor w. j
Stern and the four members of tht
City Council.
Wave Five Feet High Sweep City.
The district swept by the flood ex.
tends from TWenty-siXth street ant
French street, in the uptown business
section, to Tenth and State streets,
distance of about a mile. The re
lease of the water held back by tn
dam sent a huge wave five feet higl
toward the city, and by the time /
reached the first buildings ol
Twenty sixth street it was crested
with mass of debris, and acted lik'
a huge battering ram on everything
in it's path.
After almost an all-day rain
heavy thunder shower eliminated il
cloudburst. For an hour residents
along the course of Mill creek
through the east center of the city
watched the slow rise of the stream
due to a rainfall of nearly thre,
inches in six hours.
h.
miles above the city, burst and &
huge wall of water swept dowr
through the city, carrying with i
the homes of those who had waited
until the last minute to leave. and II
several cases the families still re
fused to seek safety.
Factories Swept Away.
The Loemhuis Wagon Works anc
the Nelson machine shop, each oc
cupying nearly half a block, were tn,
largest structures to be swept away
The Jarecki & Lowell wood working
plants, two of the largest manufac
tories in the city, were covered will
fifteen feet of water.
Early this morning gas mains al
over the city were cut off and tele.
phone, street car and electric light.
ing service were paralyZed.
hotels and hastily organized shelter
clubs gave refuge to hundreds whC
| saved but their own lives and a few
meagre belongings. The darkness
the danger of broken electric wires
and the twenty y-five-mile current OF
| the flood made work of rescue ex.
tremely perilous and even details oi
the drowning of a quarter of a hun.
dred, thought lost in the food, were
obscure.
Fire Chief Near Death.
The narrow escape of Fire Chief
Mcmahon with four firemen in O. sue
cessful attempt to rescue three womer
led to the report of their death, but
they jumped to safety from second.
story windows as the house was wash.
ed away from under them.
Only three serious accidents had
been reported at the hospitals up tc
an early hour this morning. Two
would-be rescuers were struck by
floating debris and sustained broken
| legs. while a third was nearly drown
ed when the Fourteenth street bridge
was swept away.
The washing out of the main line
of the New York Central and the
Pennsylvania railways stalled dozen
| or more passenger trains here, with
no prospect of their departure for q
couple of days.
One crowded train bound for New
York was brought to a stand on the
viaduct forty feet over the path OF
Mill creek, and those on board for
hours watched houses and household
goods swept down the torrent.
The rush of the water down State
street flooded nearly every store on
the thoroughfare, and floating wreck
age added to the damage by smashing
hundreds of display windows.
Debris Heaped High.
Throughout the night the torrent OF
rain continued with only brief inter
walls of clear weather. Only the wide
mouth of the creek at the lake shore
prevented a much more serious devas-
| tation. Piles of debris on the streets
| intersecting the path of the flood were
heaped up fifteen feet high in some
cases, and similar filth washed into
| homes along the course of the stream
caused perhaps the greatest items oi
damage.
A dozen of the largest plants in the
city will be closed down for ten days
or two weeks, until the machinery In
the first floors can be cleared away.
Stretches of Mill creek had been
covered over in several places and
homes and factories had been built
over the ordinarily quiet stream
Wreckage lodged in these culverts and
caused the water to back up unit
1t spread far over each bank.
Early this morning as details of the
(Contipued on Page 4, Column 81