Show HUNDREDS BROWN WHEN DAM BURSTS TOWN LOCATED IN VALLEY BE TWEEN TWO HIGH HILLS AT MERCY OF FLOOD great wall of water which S swept we p t everything in front of it followed by fire which roasted victims pinned underneath wreckage austin pa nearly men women and children more than a fourth of the total population were drowned and countless numbers were injured when hen the hammot i dam of the bayless pulp and paper company burst with a roar surpassing that of 0 niagara and poured its more than halt half a million gallons of water down upon this town late saturday after noon located in a valley between two high hills that extend east and west tor for miles austin was waa at the mercy of 0 the rood flood which swept nearly all ol of the buildings away piling them up at the mouth of a narrow gully east of town there as elsewhere in austin fire quickly added its terror roasting alive the victims who remained la in the tha debris in the valley below austin are ara the villages of costello CoB tello and wharton after laying the larger towns in ruins the flood swept on oil to them caught in the maw of the rushing waters they too succumbed succumb edi but warned by 6 a modern paul revere who dashed ahead of the flood over rocky roads in a motor car the inhabitants had time to escape blame for the disaster Is being placed upon the bayless pulp and paper company which owned the dam the dam stretching from ull to ball and imprisoning freeman run just before it reaches honing creek was feet long and 50 feet high it was waa completed on thanksgiving day 1909 in exactly two months it began to leak and the inhabitants of austin fearing such a flood as swept away the town saturday fled to the hills bills repairs were made to the dam detal at that time but detects defects in th construction which made possible the iho disaster were not remedied the first alarm of the dam breaking was given by a dell telephone lineman who saw the advance of the water from the top of a pole tie fae tore open a long distance wire and notified galeton caleton with his test set and then fled to the hills bills barely es ea caping with his life nearly all the men were at work at work and the women and children 1 were at home alone they had heard the warning sent out by the telephone girl at least some of the people say may the fire bell rang aud and they thought it was a fire some of them dashed to the business section and were caught in the water those not drowned were crushed in the crumbling buildings and others were caught in the flames little children playing in yards at home were caught up by the water and tossed about on the flood like playthings cattle and horses were swept on 04 and even the sidewalks were torn up and over and above it all were the shrieks of the hundreds of people who could not es cs cape it la Is estimated that of the houses in tho the village have been swept away neadly all were dwellings property loss will exceed and it is the general opinion that the town never will be rebuilt two of tho the largo large plants will no be acon strutted ted and a majority of the business men of the place nave been ruined financially the cause of 0 the brenic in tho the mill dam Is a matter which the district attorney of the county will investigate vesti gate the bayless dam was examined by experts more than a year ago and recommendations were made looking to its safety the district attorney has secured the names of exports who submitted the report ard and will summon then them to testify at an inquest to begin this week the town of austin was built in the S valley in the last census the enumerators gave Us its population is as 2910 more afore than 51 per cent of these were native born A fair percentage had been drawn to the settlement by the work in the bayless pulp and paper mill |