Evening star., 1924-06-15
Z DIE IN TORRENT
AFTER CLOUDBURSI;;
LOSS IS $1,00,0D
Six in One Family, Three in
Another, Victims of Flood
in Tennessee.
THOUSANDS OF ACRES
ENGULFED; CROPS LOST
Four Persons Seriously Injured;
Child, Trapped in Tree Three
Hours, Is Saved.
BY the Associated Press.

hours, Is Saved.
By the Associated Press
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn, June II
Twelve known dead, four seriously
injured, more than dozen houses,
barns and mills demolished, twenty
miles Of the Appalachian division of
the Southern railway made impase-
able, with parts washed away, and
thousands of acres of farm land ruin
ed, with the total loss estimated at
S1,00o,000, constitute the toll of the
most disastrous cloudburst ever re-
called in this section It appeared to
have it's center near Hunter, Siam
and Gardens Bluff and on Little Stony
Creek and Blue Springs Creek, where
house in which were two families
went TO pieces, taking nine lives
The dead are: Mrs Cecil Lewis and
five children, aged fourteen, ten, four
and two years and four months; s.
". Smith, his wife and seyen-year-
old son. Willard, all of whom were in
the Lewis house; six-year-oId
daughter of y. G. Ellis. an unidenti-
fed sawmill hand and A. B. Trick or
Fish Springs, Tenn.
Four dwellings, a storehouse and a
mill, with considerable live stock.
were washed away in the vicinity or
Siam; four small houses at Fish
Springs went with the tide
Houses destroyed in the Hunter
section include those of P. F. Smith.
A j. Oliver, D. P. Lewis. Ellen Nor
ton, Mrs. c. W. Smith and 7.
vaughan, Ed Smith, Bruce Smith.
James Lewis and Cecil Lewis; also the
mill of Alfred Bowers and four small
houses at Fish Springs.
Injured Boy Trapped In Tree.
The storm came without a warning
last night and early today, and its
fury was graphically told by Cecil
Lewis and his sons, Walter and
Charles, seven and eleven years OF
age, who were brought TO a hospi-
tai in johnson City, suffering from
bruises and cuts, the younger boy
having his cheek cut open through
into his mouth, in which condition
he remained in a tree top three hours
Lewis said that he was thrown
from his house when a wall of water
he estimated to be twelve feet high.
filled with rock, earth and trees.
struck the house. After being washed
down the valley a short distance. he
reached the bank, and made his way
to the house of neighbor, Edward
Smith. AS he entered the house. it
was struck by the torrent which
turned the house completely around.
Lewis was again thrown outside, but
| landed against a barbed wire fence
and escaped. His two sons, Charles
and Walter. escaped by catching the
branches of a tree, almost submerged.
The younger boy caught the tree. and
pulled his brother up and there they
remained until the receding waters
allowed them to climb down. a neigh
Dor, attracted by their cries, came to
their aid and they were hurried to a
hospital.
Bodies Are Recovered.
| The bodies of Mrs. Smith and her
/ son have been recovered; none of the
| bodies of the Lewis family have been
recovered.
| a six-year- daughter of y. q
! Ellis was washed away while her
father was attempting to rescue other
| members of his family from their
home. Her body was found later
/ with the dress caught against
barbed wire fence.
! The unidentified sawmili hand was
swept into the river, and likewise no
trace has been found of the body OF
! 4. 3. Trick. who was swept away
| while attempting to walk from flsh
Springs to Butler. All comnunlca-
! tion out and east of Hunter, six
miles from Elizabethton, and from
! Hampton, four miles 10 the south
was cut off with the destruction Of
telephone lines, washing out OF rail-
roads and demolishing OF roadWays.
Information as to the extent of the
| storm was not received until parties
who walked a distance of about
twenty miles reached Elizabethton.
Tracks Washed Out.
! The tracks of the Southern Rail
way, Appalachian division, were
washed out in seven places between
Hunter and Gardens Bluff. About
four miles beyond that point the
tracks were deeply covered with
earth. boulders and trees; an en-
| bankment between Fish Springs and
Butler was washed out for a dis
tance of 200 feet, and several tres
/ ties were made unsafe.
| Residents Of Fish Springs, fleeing
| from the storm, abandoned their
houses as the water rose, and first
took refuge in box cars. A number
gathered in a church, remaining
there the remainder of the night.
The highways were strewn with
boulders, logs. trees and earth.
Waters of the Watauga are said
to have risen eight feet in \ single
hour. forcing campers to higher
ground.
Power lines of the Watauga Power
Company, whose plant is operated at
a fifty-fve-foot dam across the
watauga, near Siam, were put out
of commission. Water which had
been flowing over the dam at a depth
of three inches, suddenly rose until
| Sue