Arizona republican., 1921-09-11

spread and women and men rushed to the bridge in fear the child. whose identity was not known, was their own. As the police grappled in the murky water around coal and ice barges. the crowd grew Suddenly a cracking sound was heard and one end of the footpath gave way. Those who fell into the water first had no chance to escape, as others came tumbling upon them.
 Police believe some bodies are inn bedded In the mud.
 At g o'clock more than a score of bodies had been recovered. As the dead were carried into the mogue, men, women and children surged about the place. Mothers sought children and husbands were looking for their wives or children. The sit uation became such that police were summoned
 The accident occurred just as the tide was at ebb. Fire department ladders were stuck into the water to form a screen and prevent bodies from going out with the tide. Fish ing nets also were used. Only the footway on the bridge collapsed. On the river thirty launches and rowboats worked under searchlights as the tide flowed out The scene of the accident is near the business section.
 James Emerbe was standing near the bridge when the accident oc- cured. He dragged 23 men, women and children from the water Nine of them were found to be dead.
 In the western part of San Antonio, where flows the Alazan creek through the thickly populated Mexi- can district, there were enacted the scenes similar to the flight of refu- gees before advancing armies in the world war;
 Only in San Antonio the flood vic tims had less warning than the booming of distant cannon. Stories | told by flood sufferers seem to make it clear that the Alazan creek, usu- | ally a placid stream, became rush. ing torrent in a short time. | The water, it is said, rose eight 1 feet in approximately 20 minutes. It 1 was not long before houses near the 1 creek floated away and it was these l that hurled themselves against the International & Great Northern rail- road trestle.
 | By midnight between 40 and 50 | houses, from which few minutes l before men, women and children had l issued pell mel in all stages of dress, were being churned into a shapeless | mass agalnSt the railroad bridge. Tne pressure soon cracked the trestle in l the middle, which pushed against a l second trestle that soon broke. | Many of the conservative residents I expressed the belief that many must l have been lost, so rapidly did the l waters sweep away houses from the | low ground. Others told of miracu- l lous escapes.
 l Two or three halls in Fl Paso street l were at once turned into houses of I refuge. The victims who lost every | thing but their scanty attire and I possibly a blanket or so, were hud- l dled together in groups, speeches. 1 from the night of terror. Many of the children had been hastily snatehed from tiny beds or cradles and some were naked.
 A little girl had rescued a dog and a huge tomcat. And these deadly rivals quickly forgot their hatred, for soon they and the little girl were wrapped in a blanket someone had contributed
 Just how much of the West Side had
 been inundated neither officers nor
 civilians estimated. On Fl Paso
 street the width of the creek ex-
 tended the length of approximately
 five blocks.
 Boundaries of Flooded Area |i Beginning at north end of Brack- enridge park. the flood extends the