The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1923-01-05
HERE'S MORE ABOUT
KELS0
STARTS ON PAGE ONE

1 u
ploymrnt. hotel registers and
lodging house lists thru the city
and yicinity. Included In this 80
timaied IS dead l. the list Of y
missing. In the opinion NJ Van
>otsn there must have been st
least dofen unknown wurhmen
on the bridge af the time.
Thes. men had been lettering ahou,
IN. employment office In West Kei~o
thruout the day and had started for
East kelso AZ about the tim. Of the
disaster. inquiry has revealed. There
may have been more than a dozen.
Coroner Van Sotsn insists that his
estimate OF the dead II only an esti-
mate Of an eyewitness. holstered by
official inquiry. There may be
scores buried under the bridge wreck
aga or scattered along the bottom Of
tho Cowiitx and tho Columbia. he
suEgesss
Truman Nowfhrup. who Wa
reported to have been lost. was
ln Aberdeen. WASH. this morn
Ing. according 20 authentic ~
ports received hero. II. told .
story Of Krrat hardship and dan
ger. Amer being hurled from
the collapsed bridge he grNsped
n piece Of wr~eknEc and fioated
for IS minutes In the roaring
current. lie was picked mp far
down the Cowlitx near an old
mill. fumb~r workers saved
him from being swept Into the
Columbia
Charles sunfqui.t. westiake Con.
struction company stnpfoye. reported
In tho list Of missing. has been
found. There was rurnor this
morning that Emil Johnson and his
three sons. Lloyd. Norman and Earl.
reported lost. were at their home
several miles from here. No com.
munication could ba established 10
the place and the rumor could not
be checked.
Hansen. the diver. who knows the
Columbia and Cowiitz rivers almost
as well an he knows his own back.
yard. said ~ was with the greatest
difficulty that he could remain up
right In the sucking eddles near the
bottom Of the river.
Not until thu bottom Of the Cow
litz for two miles below the city and
the Columbia river at the confluence
OF the two streams have been
dragged viii the total number Of
dead be ascertained Lowering
water In the spring may reveal stiIi
further bodies. and numbers OF them
may never be found. The Cowlltx
river is swift and treacherous and
the Columbia AZ the confluence and
below that point also IL full Of
tricky currents. Sloughs and back.
waters are numerous.
Today the work Of tearing
loose the wrrcksgc. matted UNI
der and below the now steel
bridge. continued. The Pacific
Bridge company's floating der
rick and gang Of dozen men
sought to wre-f from the tan
Elcd debris its secret Of death
and toll Of disaster. Chris Han.
sen, Of kaIama. said 10 be the
only man IN this vicinity who
would have n chance In the swift
water, was to probe The wreck
age thoroIy today.
From the surface ssarchers can
see many objects which have aroused
curiosity and II In believed that a
diver may be able 20 assay the con
tents OF the debris and possibly iden.
tify q few bodies. Several more
have bsen soon and
these may contain some Of the miss
ing. trapped In closed cars and cur.
tanned touring cars when the bridge
was torn away beneath them.
Stories OF hsroisrn and OF thrilling
experience during the fearfully brief
period OF disastrous confusion and
terror which Immediately
followed the crash continued to be
told today. Eyewitnesses 10 tho col
lapse are increasing IN number and
In the embroidery Of their nara.
tives. Tn actual story OF tho crash
has been told and the trimmings are
now being supplied.
Many OF the anecdotes, such ss
that recounting the experiences OF
the s-year-old baby who SWAN a mile
and crawied 20 the bank
unaided In only one OF them.