Show I AUSTIN SWEPT BYA FL9ODO Texas Capital Visited by a DisasterWhich < i v Causes Great Loss of Life 0 x if S > and Property + lil Great Dam Across Colorado River BreaksForty People are Known to Have Been Drowned While the Lower Portion of the City is Inundated Inun-dated mlIundreas of Homes Wrecked I I j Austin Tex April GThis city Is to f hlght in pitch darkness with a raging river ono mile wide and swollen far beyond its natural banks roaring and mirglng through all the lower portion of tho town having spread destruction and death In Itfl wake In addition to the vast loss to property Interests It Js calculated that between thirty and forty lives huvp been sacrlllccd and the reports coming In from the tributary tribu-tary country tonight do not tend to Improve Im-prove matters LIKE JOHNSTOWN Tho flood Ju not unlike the disastrous Johnstown flood some years ago In that a raging river already swollen far beyond itK oaparlty born too heavily I upon an Immense dam spanning the river here breaking it and letting loose L reservoir of water thirty miles long half a mile wide and sixty feet deep to aid In cuinylntc destruction down the valleys of the Colorado river I GREAT DAM BREAKS The great dam In the Colorado river Suva way at noon today fiom the enormous jm > ptMlre of water and de brie and with IL roar and cutsh swipt Hie valleys below the city wrecking the ImmoJise light nnd power plant und I drowning eight Workmen Following IH u list of Hit known dead Including I thcuc killed In the powerhoubc JHJ DEAD lrrnJ11 KI p Frank Kinney 1 t Walter Flower 1 Walter Johnson < ff TE > > 1J Frank Fitzgerald f 0 t Walter BloHsman > e Joseph Newman v Dick Morcla colored F John Proes Charles Burchard Six negroes TREMENDOUS RAINFALL 1 I Last Wednesday night It began to rain very hard at this place the storm extending north of here along the watersheds I wa-tersheds of tho Colorado river The 1 precipitation continued until this morning the downfall averaging six I inches within an hour All this vast quantity of water all along the watersheds water-sheds ot the Colorado river rapidly swelled the current until at S oclock this morning the river which had been rising steadily 1 since last evening was a raging torrent having risen forty feet within ten hours SITUATION SERIOUS After daylight this morning the situation sit-uation became serious The river began I be-gan to rise HO rapidly that it became evident that the dam powerhouses anti contents costing one and a half million dollars were In Imminent danger dan-ger ro add to the danger of the situation sit-uation small frame houses trees and debris of every description commenced descending the river and plied up against the upper face of the dam This weight wa augmented every moment mo-ment until by 10 oclock there watt amass a-mass of debris lodged against the dam which threatened the safety of the structure In addition millions of gallons I gal-lons of water muddy from Its long Journey was whirling and plunging to the Hlxtyjfoot fall and It was evident that no wall could withstand the Immense I mense prosure Tho crisis name shortly after 11 I < toclock when suddenly with a report like tjic roar of the ocean the great wodgcp2fi feet high f 00 feet wide and about feet thick rolled out of the center cen-ter section of the dam down the face of tho slxtyfoqt fall deep Into the river below This left a hanging gap In the very middle of the dam through which the debris and water fiercely poured while the flood already raging was thiCiitenlng everything III Its path DROWNED IN POWERHOUSE The reloascd water poured into the powerhouse catching eight employees at work there drowning all of them Thc breaking of the dam caused wild excitement In the city The telegraph companies at once wired to places below be-low here to look out for the great wave and runnels were dispatched on horses to notify those living In the valleys below the city The telegraphic messages mes-sages nerved as a timely warning to I many but the rushing waters outstripped out-stripped the horsemen ajitl many houses were picked up and swept away lcYorc Lhc occupants could get together their valuables VALLEYS INUNDATED Within a short time the valleys to the south and west of Austin were filled to overflowing with water and the 1 southern portion of tim city tributary tribu-tary lo the river was inundated Large CIOIVJK collected on the river hunl < san s-an several persons were swept Into thu river when the dam broke but all were saved by boatmen uLIrQ IEQrJ A LA A crowd of white people numbering about thirty living Jusb below the daiii lit tents were seen at their habitation just before the dam broke and nave not been accounted for since It Is generally believed that all of them were swept away One man attempting attempt-ing to cioss the roadway lending to the I bridge across the river Just as the big wave rolled down wan caught and he and his horse and buggy went down with the torrent and were heard of no more A HUNDRED HOUSES WRECKED A family oC six negroes living In the valley south of the city arc known to have been drowned Il is estimated that more than one hundred houses have beer destroyed and the loss to property will be great the light and power plant costing one and a half million dollars The breaking of the dam engulfed the old water companys plant below the city and Itls i tonight lying 1 fifteen feet under water while the city is In darkness nnd without waterFLOOD FLOOD MOST DISASTROUS Reports from polntn below here are to the effect that that the flood has been most disastrous The surface of the river thoughout the day has been dotted with small houses or fragments of houses and drowned animals along with trees and debris all of which boar testimony to the rcvarccs of the flood in the mountainous region above Austin Aus-tin In addtlon to the losses here the International In-ternational Great Northern and the Austin Northwestern railroad I both entering this city have suffered severely severe-ly I the firstnamed having a very se rlnus wreck by reason of the Hoods this morning I FAST TRAIN WRECKED The southbound Cannonball train from St Louis on the International Great Northern was wrecked at Mc I NeW nine miles above here as a re stilt of a washout The engine and cars plunged Into a culvcilj demolishing the engine the mall baggage ear Iwo day coaches and one sleeper The cars left the traclf and rolled over on their skins In four feet of water but fortunately no lives were lost nor were any of the passengers badly hurt This is attributable at-tributable to the fact that there were nol mary on th I tI aln and it i was running run-ning slowly in the time owing to L the bad track I trackTKAINAIEN HURT The mall clerk Ora Davis I of San Antonio wa seriously bruised and 3in glnocr P K Mayhan of San Antonio and Fireman t M Stanley were slight I lyjMnlured 1 The Austin Northwest era road orerat d notialns today duet tiS due-t the fact that live of their bridges wejc washed away during the night POWERHOUSE WRECKED The increased volume oC water which came down the river tonight undermined under-mined the powerhouse at the dam at 130 this Sunday morning and It fell itilo the rKor 1 cairylng with It 300000 worth of macIllnerv I |