Evening star., 1924-05-09
SIX IN FAMILY DIE
IN AUTO IN FLOOD;
RAILWAY BLOCKED
Rains of SO Hours Do Great
Damage in Maryland and
West Virginia.

A family of six was swept to death
when flood waters carried away
bridge near Martinsburg, w. Va, a
west-bound Baltimore and Ohio pas
senger train from Washington was
tons of rock early this morning by
landslide near Harpers Ferry, the Po-
tomac River is again over it's banks
in western Maryland and much dam
age has been done to property and
crops as a result of thirtysix hours
Of continuous rainfall in Maryland
and West Virginia.
The dead are Mr.. and Mrs. Will
liam Miller and their four children,
ranging in ages from two to eight
years. Miller was an orchardiSt liv-
ing about ten miles south from Mar
tinsburg. He drove his automobile
along a mountain stream yesterday
on a fishing trip when the storm
broke. The entire countryside was
'deluged and the Miller family was
trapped on bridge by the rapidly
rising waters. Their automobile had
1t was swept away, drowning the six
in the machine.
All Bodies are Found,
The tragedy was discovered this
morning when nearby residents found
the overturned automobile near
shore. They instituted a search for
Miller and soon located the body of
search resulted in the finding of the
other bodies
But one member of the family re-
mains, young boy, who escaped the
fate of the others by going on
visit to relatives instead of on the
fishing trip.
Rail Tracks Blocked.
without warning, hundreds of tons
of rock and dirt tumbled down upon
the main line tracks of the Baltimore
and Ohio railway about o'clock
this morning from the high noun
tains surrounding Miller's Bend, be-
tween Harper's Ferry and Weaver
ton. A passenger train of twelve
coaches was just rushing through the
cut when the landslide began and one
of the first falling rocks struck the
side of a coach, badly damaging II.
No one was hurt, however
Two enormous stones which blocked
the tracks were nearly fifteen feet in
diameter and were estimated to weigh
100 tons each. Resumption of trafhc
was not expected before late this
afternoon. In the meantime trains
are being gent over the Cumberland
Valley to Hagerstown and thence
more and Ohio line.
Rainfall Four Inches.
One of the heaviest rains in many
years fell in the western Maryland
section. In severaI localities the
downpour was nearly four inches AT
Cumberland the Potomac River is four
feet over it's banks and Wills Creek,
which flows through the heart of the
city, has flooded many homes along
it's course. Wills Creek caused mucn
of the trouble of the flood of March
29, but repetition of this damage is
not feared. At o'clock this morn
ing the water was at the same height
as at the same hour Of the Saturday
of the March flood. Up to noon, how
eve-. there had been a slight fall.
Every precaution is being taken to
rary bridge between Piedmont and West
ernport. A force of men have been
placed on the bridge, and with long
poles are stopping the driftwood Aum
lodging against the structure. This
bridge takes the place of the one washed
out in March.
The rushing waters about Cumberland
have washed out completely the new
work under construction in the abut-
ment below the Potomac River dam,
causing the river to run into the Chesa-
peake and Ohio Canal in a regular tor
rent. The section torn out is about
thirty by forty feet. Other repairs to
the breaks in the canal caused by the
March flood have been weakened, and
this will mean 4 delay in the beginning
of canal traffic to Washington. The
time for this opening had been set for
May Is, but this will now be consider
ably postponed.
At Williamsport the Potomac was
reported as being seven feet above
normal Early this morning the wa
ters rose at Sthe rate of ten inches
an hour. At noon, however, there
was no further perceptible rise. At
Harpers Ferry the river also was ap-
food stage as. the waters
from the west were finding their wa~
downstream.
From many localities come reports
of heavy damage to spring crops.
The overfowing of many of the
tributaries of the Potomac has in
undated the low farm lands and
washed away the crops
John Williams, nineteen, son of R
Gray Williams, prominent Winches-
ter lawyer and bank president, who
was struck by lightning last night
on the Stuyvesant School campus, at
Warrenton, Va, during the storm
which swept Virginia, recovered con-
sciousness this morning and is ex-
pected to recover. School authorities
reported that a classmate found Will
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