The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-06-06
GRAPHIC STORY
 OF FLOOD GIVEN
 BY WITNESS
Marooned foy Twelve Hours, He Saw Waters Rise and Heard Death Walls as
 Many Lost Lives
By Associated Press

Pueblo. June 5.-A graphic story ot the flood was given to the Associated Press today by M. J. Valley of Denver, Colorado and Southern railroad en- gineer.
 Valley was marooned by the flood with four other men for 12 hours. At one time his companions had to rub his limbs and body to keep his blood in circulation so that he could stand alone.
 T had heen in garage with q friend to get his car, Valley said, when the flood waters swept into the garage. We climbed into the car, then on top of it.
 The flood waters reached us even there, and we climbed >into the second flood of the building and when that became flooded we smashed a hole iE the roof and stepped out on it.
 'The water. crept on us there and it looked as if the building might go so we stepped out on pile of debris which had been stopped by telephone wires. For three hours we stood in the rain and darkness which was light ed up only by several fires
 Within three hours the improvised raft gave away and we climbed baci, ontos the garage, finally getting on to a higher building.
 Prom here we rescued the three men who were being swept past us by the current.
 Houses Swept By
 Houses were being swept down the street past us, many of them with peo- pie inside crying for help. l don't know how many of them there were or how many of them escaped
 We were rescued by boat crew at g o'clock Sunday morning."
 In the Union garage one man was rescued Saturday. He had floated with the flood to the ceiling of the building and had then pounded a hole through the roof big enough so that he could stick his head through and get air. The water came within three inches of the second floor. Another man with him might have saved his life if he had kept his face up. His body was found damned between the rafters. His name was Schoeble. He was the owner of large shoe store.
 c. l.. Kerns was caught in the flood and swan into 8 building where he saw many tragedies. He saw three buildings on Union and Santa Fe streets caved in by a string of box cars which came floating down the street. People apparently were in the upper floors, he said, as he heard cries and saw lights there just Defore the hsiilding gave away. He could not say whether any were saved.
 Kerns swan from his first place of reguge along the stream to hotel building which was flooded almost to the second floor.
 T had to turn my head sideways to get under the top of the doorway. l stayed there all night.
 Out in the railroad yards near the state hospital the correspondent found a freight conductor who had slept in a caboose through the flood
 T didn't know there had been flood until I woke up Saturday morn- ing and found the floor of the ca- boose covered with mud" he said T had heard the rain once or twice dur ing the night as it beat on the roof but I rolled over and went back to sleep.
 .1n the morning I got up and went out into the yards. People were talk ing bodies out from under the freight cars. I don't know how many there were They damned in between the trucks and cars so tight that we could hardly get them out