| OCR Text |
Show "CALL FOR ' AUSTIN, Pn.. Oct. 2. Twenty-two known dead, SO missing and bollcvcd to bo burled beneath tho debris, is tho official cciiBiis tonight of Austin's loss of life In the Hood of Saturday. It Is conceded, however, that several visitors wero in town that day and undoubtedly perished. Including them and allowing for errors er-rors In compilation, tho total dead will probably reach 150. Twenty-ouo of the 22 bodies rocovered have been Identified and, of the missing, hope Is entertained that Bomo may bo accounted ac-counted for. The problem is to recover the dead from the thousands of tons of debris choking the narrow valloy. To do bo before It becomes necessary to burn tho ruins- and save the living from an epidemic, an army of laborers must reach tho town within tho next thirty-six thirty-six houis, officials say. Otherwise the torch may transform the wreckage wreck-age Into a pyre. The single wire between AVistln and tho outside world carried an urgent ur-gent pica for workmen to Buffalo, Pittsburg and Philadelphia. Encouraging responses are hoped for early tomorrow. "Give Us Our Dead." "Give us our dead," is Austin's cry, voiced by State Senator Baldwin, who ,lost his father, mother, sister and other relatives. Only the body of his father, John E Baldwin, has been recovered tonight. Tho othors are locked In the ruins. "I speak for tho people of Austin," he said. "Pennsylvania owes us the bodies of our loved ones. For 48 hours they have been in the ruins; how much longer will the commonwealth common-wealth leave thorn there? Tho state should havo a thousand men r.'orklng here now." Austin stands to a man against the suggestion that It may be necessary to put to torch her ruins. Feeling runs high and should the health authorities au-thorities bo forced to this extremity, there is no telling the result. Tho Pennsylvania state constabulary holds the town In its grasp, however, and the troopers will remain here until Health Commissioner Dixon gives tho word to go. The flood-swept valley offers no shelter for the laborers expected ex-pected tomorrow, and unless they come In bunk cars they can not bo cared for. Food and clothing reached Austin in carload lots and there was enough to eat for all. Arresting the Looters, Across the street from the morgue Hfo Insurance companies nailed their shingles to a treo near a small shack today, topp'ng thorn with a sign "Inquire "In-quire within." A file of weoplng women wo-men took turns at recording their claims A call for aid came from flood-swept Costello, three miles bolow Conditions Condi-tions there parallel the situation hore, the distinction being that that town is much smaller and less damaged than Austin, while the death list remains re-mains at two at Costello Eight men charged with looting were arraigned tonight before a magistrate mag-istrate and committed to the Couders-port Couders-port jail for grand jury action. Sightseers Must Keep QuL Shortly beforo 10 o'clock today, State Commissioner Dixon Issued an order that no one but officials and employes em-ployes of fhe state health department, other officials, an 1 newspaper correspondents corre-spondents should be allowed in tho flood zone. This order was issued because news of the disaster had attracted at-tracted thousands to Austin. Fow sightseers brought anything to eat and they. had applied to the public pub-lic commissary In such numbers that flood victims were crowded out and but for the citizens' committee tho deserving would have had to go hungry. hun-gry. To Care for Orphans. Officials of the stato board of charities chari-ties and the children's aid society nrc arranging to care for tho children orphaned by the flood and place them In proper permanent homes. The first effective step toward an organized movoment to extricate tho community from Its desolation was taken today. Dr Samuel Dixon, stato commissioner of health, called a meeting meet-ing and appointed a committee, which immediately started to work on a systematic sys-tematic basis. A stoam derrick nnd a hundred men were put to work to clear the Buffnlo & Susquehnnna tracks down the valley val-ley to Costello. Another hundred men started work at Costello to meet tho crew from this place. A hundred brldgeraen are constructing two bridges to replace the steel structures washed away. A bread line was formed for the fir3t time In Austin today Hereto-fo're Hereto-fo're relief had been extended to tho. needy by neighbors and friends. Stato Sanitary Engineer Herbert Snow, who Is In charge of getting tho bodies out and clearing away the wreckage, has sejU In a requisition for several hundred carpontcrs, and they are being rushed here on a special spe-cial train with tools Sheds and kitchens and other buildings build-ings to care for tho homeless will be erected. Jn taking the census on which tonight's to-night's estimate of the dead and missing miss-ing was based, care was taken to trace as far as possible survivors who loft town after tho disaster. One woman applied to rellof workers work-ers today for food, showing a copy of Tennyson's poems and a box half full of nnlvcrlzcd chocolate. "This Is all I saved," she said: "I slent Saturday night on the ground with the hook for a pillow and the chocolnto mixed with cold wator Is all that I had to eat." A gaunt old man, clad only in shirt and trousors, appealed to an officer of the state police. "Can't vou lend me an overcoat for my wife?" he asked, "She just loft tho hospital Friday had been there six months and I am afraid she will die If I can't got some clothes for her?" "How about yourself?" qucstlonod Ue officer. "I Just want, to borrow a coat for my wife." he old man replied. "Here," answered tho ofilcor, removing re-moving his own overcoat, "take this to your -wife: and hero," as a trooper pear him removod his, "is ono for you." ., |
