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Show II DEATH ROLL IN !! FLOOD UN ! IS INCREASING i Now Estimated More Than J Fifty Persons Have Lost Lives in Rushing Torrents Tor-rents in Texas. t j RAILWAY MANAGER DIES FOR' OTHERS l Thousand or More Refugees Marooned and Suffering From Hunger and Cold; Loss Is Great. ' BRYAN, Tex., Dec. 5. A death roll of moro than fifty persons and possiblv- a thousand others maroonod and suf I fering from prolonged hunger and cold Iijj was Indicated by tonight'n reports from ijj' tho Hooded Brazos rivor bottoms in jjt this section of south central Texas. For jl over fifty miles the Brazos was threo if to fire miles wido and running with 31 mill-race speed. Scores of flood rofn- ; gees aro believed to bo in poriL II 1 Tho known dead in Texas floods num- I i bercd thirty-tbroo beforo reports from I ' tho innndatod territory in this district l j bogan cominc in lato today. Tho late I J reports wero brought by men on horse- I back; and indicatod at least twonty I i more persons hnd been drowned. About I' ( two-thirds of the dead wero negroes. I ' Loss Will Reach Millions. I The couriers' reports Indicato that I ' tho property loss will total $4,000,000 i or $5,000,000 when losses along the r Brazos aro added to tho already heavy I: damage in other portions of tho state. j Henry Martin, vice president and I general manager of tho International & Great Northern railroad, was drowned at Valley Junction, noar hero, lato today whilo attempting to rescue ' marooned fjood victims. Mr. Martin ' wont to Valle3' Junction, rwhoro tho confluence of the Little nnd Big Brazos ' rivers mado a swirling lake six miles acrofs, to 1 direct personally tho roliof forces. He was attempting to navigate navi-gate a boat alono when tho frail craft was upsot. His body had not been recovered re-covered tonight. I Work of Rescue. Six members of the life-saving crew stationed at Galveston and a trainload I of motorboats from Houston on the i way to Bryan late today were stopped hy high water at Navasota. Tho boats ' were launched at that point shortly bforo dark, and started upstream tonight to-night over tho flooded bottoms to rescue res-cue persons reportod clinginc to trees, I house tops or occasionally standing in shallow water, cut off from shore. 1 Bryan had twenty boats out all day, which brought to high ground several hundred persons, the majority torrified and half-clad nogroe3. A trainload or provisions and blankets blan-kets was sent from hero tonight to Ko6arek, on the edge of tho bottoms, whero 100 of the refugees wero unloaded. un-loaded. Throughout the bottoms, oven whore tho wator did not endancer Hfo, it ruined provisions in stores, destroying destroy-ing the food supply. Night of Anxiety. Anxiety was folt tonight for scores of negroes whom boatmen reported clinging to trees. These negroes, wot, chilled and hungry, already had boon in the trees for twenty-four hours. Lost night eight miles from Bryan, Michael Cortmelha, an Italian, was heard calling call-ing for help from his half submerged cabin. This morning tho cabin had disappeared, as had Cortmollia, his wifo and sovoral children. Several plantors in the bottoms have sent out their wives and children, but remained behind themselves, hoping by improvising platforms to save their stock. Anxiety is felt for their safety. Mudvnlo, a hamlet near Brownsville, was flooded from a depth of ten to twenty foot. No doaths wero reported from there. Farmer Drowned. San Antonio today roportcd its first flood death when John Gonsho, a farmer, farm-er, was drowned in tho Loon river. At High Bank it wa3 learned that six negroes ne-groes Jost their lives instead of two, as formorly reportod, when the rise struck there Wednesday night. At Hearno only seven ooats -wore avnilablo to cover tho miles of land covered by the Brazos. These perBonB number several white people and numerous nu-merous negroes. Tonight two of tho boats had boon swamped. The fato of their occupants was not known. Reports Re-ports from tho Colorado rivor -wore meager. Elsewhere throughout Toxas immedinto danger seemed past, although al-though Waco raced a serious cleaning tin problem. Thousands of convicts of the 6tate farms south of Houston were being moved to high land tonight. Heavy losses of cut sugar cane on these farms was expected. One drowning was reported tonight at Bastrop, a South Toxns town. |