Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-06-07
LIGHTNING SETS FIRE
TO BUSINESS HOUSES;
COUNTRY INUNDATED
CONTINUED from Page ID

l
| safety. The Colorado rangers, the
| police and troop c of the Colorado ma
! tional guard bent to The work of res
| cue. Scores of persons alive in Pu-
| bravery of the men of these organi-
cations and scores of volunteers;
| Then came the fires. A flash of
lightning bursts. There was a crash
| and in the light of the next flash
building was disclosed in flames.
| There was no water to combat the
blaze. So it swept on. 1t swept
through the Florman Paint company,
the gas plant, the ice plant, moved
down two big, garages in it's path
! Investment and Lumber company.
All were laid waste.
In the grip of disaster, all Pueblo
seemed stunned today. All day long
refugees, dazed and seemingly not
knowing what to do, struggled about
the undiscovered streets. Mothers
with babes in their arms, mothers
whose arms were empty, old men and
women and people of every descrip-
ton wandered about until gathered
up and taken to a headquarters es-
| tablished this afternoon by the Red
| lowed to rest.
Refugee Scenes
With everything swept away, bvt
| the clothes on their backs and the
few things they carried in little bun
dies, many moaned and cried, while
others tried to find relatives and
friends. The courthouse was thrown
hospital. st. Marys hospital, one Of
the principal hospitals in the city,
was cut off by the Arkansas liver
! waters and volunteer workers today
| brought equipment from it to the
courthouse, where aid could be given
the injured and dying.
All morning motor cars moved up
main street carrying bodies on the
tenders, each body covered with mud.
Narrowing experiences came to
rescue parties as we'll as those they
tried to reach. Friday night w. S.
Hopkins, of Denver, state Y. M. c.
A. secretary, here to open member
ship drive, and Clark Jantzen, assist
ant boys secretary, attempted to
reach two negro women stranded In
tree top five blocks from the heart
Of the business district. Their boat
was caught in the swift current and
both men were thrown into the
water. Jantzen succeeded in getting
out quickly, but Hopkins was in the
water more than an hour.
J. B. Roberts and Robert Wayland,
prominent business men, volunteered
to take a boat and attempt to reach
two women whose calls could be
heard in the darkness. After much
difficulty they found one, girl OF
nineteen, Mary McAllester, clinging
to a power wire and suspended in
the swirling water. She was taken
into the boat. They succeeded in get
ting the older woman into the boat,
but she gave a lurch and the occu-
pants of the boat fell into the
waters. After a struggle, Roberts
and Wayland, with the girl, managed
to scramble on to the roof of float
ing house. The mother was lost. The
trio floated until they reached water
in which they could wade with
safety.
Among the refugees, an aged Mex
lean woman cried for some one to go
after her daughter, stranded in their
home In her hands she clasped a
bundle of clothes and pound of but
ter. The house was nearly covered
with water and no one would risk
the attempt at rescue.
Typical Cases
Mr.. and Mrs. A. G. Verhofstad, far
past middle age, were typical Oh
many of the unfortunates. Fleeing
nothing but the clothes on their
! backs and a small box of valuables.
And 1 just bought $135 phono-
graph yesterday" walled Mrs. YER
hofstad.
Joseph Rosen, clothing merchant,
narrowly escaped death. Like most
| Of the merchants, he was in his shop
at Main and Second streets attempt
| ing to save his stock. The flood
waters from the Arkansas river
rushed up main street so quickly ne
could not escape. In desperate ef-
fort. Rosen broke through a transom
| over the show window. Men across
| the street shouted to rescuers on the
| second floor, who lowered a rope and
hauled Rosen to safety.
Deputy U. S. Marshal, H. B. Nc
! Intyre, of Denver, was another who
had an exciting experience. At II
| D. M, he returned to the federal
building after having filed a news
| paper dispatch to a Denver neWspa-
| per- AS he had waded water an inch
or more deep, he attempted TO
change foot-gear, but before he
| was inside the building. In few
| minutes more he and Postmaster S
| S. Bellefield, waded water waist deep
in the lobby to safety.
! Twenty-Five girls are marooned IN
the Y. w. c. A. building, which was
| in the direct path of the water. One
whole section of the Pryor Furniture
store, in the downtown district, was
carried away when struck by the
Atchison. Topeka & Santa Fe rail-
way loading sheds, which were swept
from it's foundations by the flood.
| L.
ing refugees and issuing food cards
Nothing is being sold without per-
The military force continued in
| charge of the situation tonight
| Prisoners in the city Jail on the
ground floors were hauled to safety
by ropes dropped from the second
| floor.
/ Scores of persons We're detected
| lotting stores as the flood poured It's
way into the streets last night; A
hundred shots were fired at the loot
ers by soldiers
Tt was impossible tonight to es-
| innate accurately the number of dead.
Two morgues tonight held 1872 bodies
and scores of dead were discovered
in wrecked buildings, where their
recovery was impossible because OF
| the mass of mud and debris
The force of the flood carried en-
| tire buildings, down the stream and
| it is believed many of the dead
were carried far down the river and
| may never be recovered.
Railroad officials were pesslmistc
about resumption of train service
All the lines in Pueblo either we're
washed away or the tracks were
so twisted and torn that it will re-
quire entire new construction of road
| bed and tracks.
Tonight relief measures were I'M
| der way. The city council had APP
propriated a fund of $4,000 and the
| bushes men had contributed $125,-
600 to relieve the suffering.