New-York tribune., 1921-09-11
Cloudburst Sends Flood
of Water Down River.
1nundating the Business
and Residence Districts
Troops on Guard
To Foil Looters
Majority of Victims Thus
Far Accounted For Are
Women and Children
Special Dispatch to The Tribssns


SAN ANTONIO, Tex, Sept. TO-
With a death toll estimated at one
hundred and fifty and property loss
totaling close to s20,000,000, the
business district Of San Antonio is
mass of muck and wreckage, the
result of a cloudburst and food
which swept over two different Sec
tions of the city late last night and
this morning. Meager reports from
outlying districts indicate many
others have lost their lives there.
This city tonight is in total dark
ness. Federal troops from Camp
Travis and Fort Sam Houston are
aiding the police in patrolling the
streets, and condition of semi
martial law prevails.
At 8 o'clock bodies of forty-two
of the food victims had been recov-
cred.
Telephone lines are out of commits
sion and the city is without water
for drinking or fire-fghting pur-
poses. Most Of the streets in and
leading to the downtown section are
impossible because of the chaos
wrought by the water.
1000 Dwellings Wrecked
Many of the bodies recovered up
to darkness tonight are those of
women and children, helpless victims
of the deluge as it swept everything
before it in a two-mile strip in the
western part of the city.
More than 1000 dwellings, in the
Mexican quarters were smashed to
bits by the wall of water that swept
down upon that district early this
morning, and about 5000 persons
made homeless in that section aye
tonight being sheltered in tents pro-
vided by the military authorities.
approximately twenty blocks Of
downtown stores are almost total loss
from the twelve to thirty feet OF
water which swept into the business
district, filling Easements where stores
of merchandise were being kept and
converting the entire district into ruin.
The estimate of dead is believed 10
be exceedingly conservative.
Police Warming of Danger
Two hours before the fury of the
food broke, the Police Department
notified residents of the threatened
district Of the impending danger, but
these warnings were generally disre-
garded by the Mexicans in the devas
tated territory. San Antonio had been
flooded before and the waters had
never reached that district. They would
stay, declared many of those who were
warned by the police.
Their refusal to leave cost many of
them their lives. In the entire district,
about twenty blocks, there is not
the one thousand that were there have
now vanished, and are twisted heaps
of splintered debris, piled high In
many places along the area encom-
passed BY the waters.
What the final death toll will be
when the wreckage has been searched
by the military and the gangs of men
pressed into service by the city author
tiles is a matter of conjecture. Esti-
mates of the dead have been placedsas
high as one thousand by city autheri-
ties. but these can be confirmed only
when the ruins yield their victims.
Whole Business Area Inundated
There was small loss of life in the
downtown district and the sections sur
rounding it, but the property loss there
was enormous. The city is situated on
the banks Ct the San Antonio River.
which twists and turns through the
main streets, with fftytwo bridges
within the city limits. The raging
water of the river found easy access to
the business buildings in the heart Of
the city. The swollen stream, its prog
ress impeded by the numerous bridges,
backed up and inundated the entire
business section. After tearing away a
number of the bridges iii the down
town section the water continued to
rise, carrying ali before il.
Refugees from the devastated region
in the western part of the city say tho
wall of water that swept down upon
them in the early hours before dawn
was ten feet high and half mile wide.
Soldiers Clash With Looters
Federal troops have been assisting
the local authorities in guarding the
ruined business section from hooters
since early this morning Free'ssnt
clashes between looters and soldiers
occurred to-day. Late this afternoon
Thomas NJ. Petty, Goth Acre Squadron,
Camp Travis. on duty on one of the
main streets, shot and killed Robert
Cleveland The latter refused to obey
command to halt.
Heroism of enlisted mon from ths
army camps near San Antonio saved the
lives of many imperiled perso0s. More
than 300 were pulled from Tx torrent,