Show DEATH I 1 in IN ITS WAKE FRESHET IN CHINESE RIVER SWEPT AWAY THOUSANDS error and delay in transmission of warning telegram responsible for disaster shipping swept before irresistible flood 1 how a telegraphic error was responsible for the loss of thousands of lives is told by a shanghai correspondent the disaster occurred during a freshet on trio han river in the beginning of april says a london dispatch to the N new ew york sun owing to heavy rainfalls rain falls in the mountains in northwest hupee it frequently happens that a torrent of water rushes down the mountain sides into the ilan han a tributary of the great yang tse hitherto warning of the freshets fresh ets has been telegraphed from slang yang miles away from the mouth of the han and on receipt of the news men have been hurriedly sent out equipped with gongs to warn the boats at the mouth of the river to find a sate safe anchorage 1 I 1 on the evening of april 6 messengers were sent around with the ne news w 9 that a freshet six feet high was on its way down the inhabitants and the boating population considered a six foot freshet to be of little consequence and took no precautions whatever believing that as in former years its arrival need not be expected tor for another 24 hours unfortunately the telegram announcing the oncoming torrent was delayed for 24 hours and by an error in the wording the height was reduced from 26 feet to six feet the freshet arrived at lightning speed at midnight on april 6 the night was pitch dark the inhabitants were asleep suddenly thousands of boats boata in the han river were torn from their moorings and hurled together in a confused mass on the breast of a raging torrent deep laden boats were sunk immediately others were pounded to pie pieces e and some catching fire lit up a scene n ee of appalling destruction the people on shore were powerless to assist and the cries of the pe perishing 9 rent the heavens and were painful to hear as a native newspaper described it those boats that escaped the initial 0 onset of tho the torrent were swept out into the yung yang tse where a strong northeast gale completed the work of destruction lifeboats were sent out to the rescue but could render little service the terror of the night was increased by three huge junks which w took fire and drifting toward the foreshore of j the british settlement endangered the hulks mored along its ita front the native papers state that a sm small all steamer large junks and innumerable small craft were destroyed the loss of life at first estimated at 2000 probably exceeded double that number eighteen hundred bodies were picked up at one bend of the yang tse alone A number of women and children were among the dead thirteen hundred masts were recovered at the same spot |