Show FLOOD u r WIPED r TOWN FROM F ka al THE MAP aap few houses left standing in austin pa after the mighty kush rush of water precipitated upon the town by burstin bursting of a bi big dam AU arbtin atin pa oct 2 21 near nearly f five iva hundred men women and children vitro were drowned and many injun d when tuo mammoth dant of the bt less pulp and paper company burst burs t with ath a roar surpassing that of niagara and anti poured its more that half a million gallons of water down upon this town lite saturday afternoon when the flood came women anti children tied fled screaming tho the strong pushing the weak aside animals ran wildly about with the instinct of 0 preservation guiding them to 0 o points of safety scores upon scores of persons of all ages were seen floating wading and anti scrambling around in the witter citer of water while more than a hundred are believed to have been swept to their deaths by tho the first onrush of the flood mothers with malea in their arms were ere seen kneeling and praying aloud for rescue as n tho the water mater cured and eddied about their recumbent forms forma lvery telegraph line and all but ono one telephone line wont went down miller tho the tr and sudden impact of the deluge Rail railroad roid tracks were washed out as it they were spider weba webs the towns tiro fire department buildings were amonn among the first to go austin Is thus completely cut oft off from the outside world the scene of death desolation and hopeless despair la is complete in austin the bursting of scores of natural gna gas mains ns as the buildings were swept away added tiro fire to the general horror of tho the flood and hundreds of those imprisoned in the wreckage were burned to death the contents of the dam which was tilled filled to overflowing by tho the heavy rains of two week weeks swept through n natural gore gorge la in which austin and costello weld situated hile many residents dente of austin JIB escaped to the hills the warning agven by the blasts of tho the bayless mills whistles was too brief for hundreds of others the catastrophe paralleled in many respects tho the destruction by flood of johnstown pa ila in in which more than 2800 lives were lost the intense heat of the fire sweeping from the natural gaa gas mains made it impossible for rescuers to visit the scene of destruction for many hours looters were among the first on the ground and governor tenor tener dispatched a it large force of state police to the town to protect the victims the valley of freeman hun run la Is narrow and the town vaa was built along its banks all the buildings in the lower part of the valley were wept swept clear of their foundations by the torrent aud many of those which remained quickly fell a prey to the flames there wag was no one to attempt to stop the fire and it was allowed to burn bum itself out the survivors of the flood standing idly on the hill hillside sides stunned beyond the power to act A feeble effort was made in the lower part of the town where the flood soon noon flood eoon soon spent its force to save property and lives but it was A as sporadic the full force of the catastrophe could bo be seen better from that point than trim any other it la Is reported that some lives were saved at this point many women who bad had lost their children wande ed in the darkness sa crying their names in vain hope they would answer while here and there a vom and broken man stood at the ruins of bis his home dazed wondering when the bodies of his family would bo be found dut but it is the general belief nomo some of them never will be recovered many were burned in the fire and others were ground to pieces by the masses of timbers and stone swept down by the flood the terrible force of the water la Is shown show by the story of one man who declared he had seen a two story brick building aruin crumple pie like a house of cards while no correct estimate of the damage can cai be made it Is stated that there were are not enough louses left in the tile village to cover the sur ivon the the or six alx lx churches church ca in tl town are ill 01 gone tho the only public institution institutions left standing being the hospital ami anti th hi above tho flood lino line th principal places destroyed waa was the plant of clu the tho emporium lumber company A part ut of the plant of the bayless pulp and anti paper company almo dia die appeared appear pd and the commercial hotel and the davis alouse vont mont down ahe lito house a lintel was na burned and it Is raid staid a number of persons perished in tho building one ot of the spots where the force of the flood was wits most severely Bev orely felt was at tho the June junction tion of freeman atun with another small in the middle of the business section A primary election was in progress and many men were ero in lit the vicinity all of them are believed to haa been carried away uway with tho the building went all the records harry davis nil nit aged engineer whey wild was stand hig near tho the dam when it 11 broke found that hia his faro fam lly had been saved kven whilo while 6 ear Lhing tor for them distracted by the te fe ir tr that they had been lost ho he found time to answer tile tele tole and reassure frightened persons I 1 living at a 0 distance who feared 1 4 for the ninety of loved ones k 41 |