The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-08-10
Many Supposed Drowned,
Found at Friends Homes.
Life Loss Probably so Is Estf-
mate Today.
$4,000 PERSONS HOMELESS
Hundreds of Houses Washed
Away by ClOudburst.
$2,500.0O0 Property Loss; VAL
ley Swept for IA Miles.

Charleston, w Va. Aug 10.-Scores
of persons. reported missing early to-
day as the result of the cloudburst
that swept the Cabin Creek. Paint
Creek and Coal Creek districts. we're
accounted for in later dispatches.
which greatly reduced earlier estt-
, mates of the number of dead
Many of those first reported MISSING
have been found at the homes of rcla-
| tivts or friends. whence they fled at
| the first rush of waters.
Stream Carries Houses.
The kanawha river was receding this
morning but was still several feet high.
running swiftly and carrying down on
| its crest houses barns, chicken coops
| pianos and hundreds of pieces OF fur
niture. One house that swept along
on its current carried on top the body
! of a boy. Boatmen went out and re-
covered 1t. The number of homes
| carried from their foundations was not
definitely known early today But
| there were hundreds of them. At least
5000 people were camped through
the night shelterless or with poor COW
er on the drenched ground back OF
! their former homes
| At least eight villages and mining
( settlements in the district We're either
wholly or partly destroyed while many
Those practically destroyed or badly
| damaged were Acme. Ronda, Dry
Branch, Miami, Sharon. Dawes. Kay
| ford and Eskdale. Between Acme and
Kayford sixty persons are reported to
nave been drowned.
Scores of Bodies on Raft.
Gallipolis, o., Aug. 1O.-Many
| bodies of victims of yesterdays flood
were seen today in huge masses OF
wreckage floating down the Ohio
river here.
Intellectual efforts were made to
Il reach several bodies iff-orfc-3aTge-raft
/ of debris at Damno, south of here.
There were about a score of dead yis-
ible IT was said at the lock- .
Late estimates indicate that the roll
of dead may reach fifty and it is the
belief that others may be dead in the
Paint Creek and Coal River valleys.
| Fourteen bodies have been recovered
from the debris between the mouth of
Cabin Creek and Lee Wood. ten miles
| up. All except one are those of wom-
en- and children. william j. Mcbride
| made his way down the creek from
| Ronda to the junction today and later
Charleston.
Everything has gone and investsga-
ton can only reveal how many are
| dead. The little towns near the mouth
| of the creek have been swept clean.
Everywhere 1t is a mass of debris
| Houses. trees. mine tipples, railroa
cars and telephone poles are thrown
| together in heap, miles long, and
there are dead beneath. Men and
| seen
ously to, houses borne down the
| stream toward Ronda were never seen
to pass that point and we fear they
are now part of the mass of wreck
age lodged against the railroad bridge
| there" he said.
A million feet of lumber is piled
mountain high at that point and II
will take days to pull it down.
The loss to the coal companies cper-
ating the Cabin Creek coal fields will
reach $2.000,000. Five members of
the family of John Likens, who 'syed
at Giles. were drowned. The bodies
of the wife and mother and three
children lie in morgue at the mouth
of Cabin creek.
| National Guards to Rescue
| Huntington, w. Va, Aug. 10.-Gov-
ernor Hatfield ordered two more conn
panies of the Second regiment into
when reports of terrible loss of life
and suffering apparently confirmed
early estimates.
More than thirty bodies have been
death list Is placed at more than 100
Amon~ the bodies ta--en from the
swirling waters were twenty-three re-
covered at Cabin Creek town. Others
were being taken every little while
from the creek above that town.
Town Washed Away
Huntington. w Va, Aug. 10---A re-
port reached here this morning to the
y
800 inhabitants in Boone county, at
the head of Coal river, was washed
away in yesterdays cloud burst and
that IS of its populace had lost their
lives.
That section of Jarro1ds valley be-
tween Fields and Joes creeks was
swept clean by the waters, according
to reports here. 1t is said that at
least 500 houses were washed away
Inhabitants had no warning of tie
approach of the water and IL is be-
lieved the loss Of life may be even
greater than that on Paint and Cabin
creeks More than 1900 residents are
peTched on the hill tops the ma foritv
of them without sufficient clothing
and all Of them in danger OF starva-
tion. =
Estimate One Hundred Dead. s
Charleston. w. Va, Aug. 10-R
| Jaco a Hneman of the Chesapeake &
Potomas Telephone company. reached
Cabin Creek Junction shortly before
noon after a walg of over 13 miles
of the company's lines between Miami
and De Sofa. He declared that forty
| persons have. been drowned and half
that number of bodies recovered. Jaco
was unable to get up the Kayford
. branch of the Chesapeake & Ohio rail-
road but expressed the belief that
damage and loss of life in that dis
trict was greater than in other sec
tions.
! Soon after IL O'Clock the soldiers
reached Ronda, where headquarters
were established. At that hour an es-
innate of the dead remained at 100.