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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (June 17, 1903)
THE MORNING OREGONIAN, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 103. N VALLEY OF RUIN Dread Scenes of Misery Along Willow Creek. FARMS RUINED; HOMES GONE Fantastic Freak of the DcIhkc Railroad Track Lifted Bodily Clin relies Smash To gether. , (Continued from First Page) "W1110-&" Creek -will content themselves Kith moving their houses to the more ele vated spots, and It Is safe to say that In the future no new dwellings will bebullt any closer to the creek banks than Is absolutely necessary. Railroad Trade Gone. The railroad track between Lexington and Heppner Is practically destroyed, while a number of bridges are still stand ing, many of them are badly wrecked. All of them will probably need careful In spection and repairs. Not only have great sections of the trackbeen carried bodily down the stream, the ties stripped from the rails and the long rods of steel twisted so that they can never be used again, but for a considerable distance out side of Heppner the fills In the roadbed have been swept away, while in other places the cuts have been densely packed with debris to such an extent that the work of exca-zatlon will all have to be done over agalru, Nor Is this all. The. great erosive force of the flood has cut new channels for TVillow Creek through the soft loam of the meadow lands, and it remains to be seen whether this little river will return to Its original courses with the subsidence -of the water. "While the O. R. & N. Co. Is understood at this end of the line to be making every pos sible endeavor to restore railroad com munication. It will be probably many days before a locomotive is seen again- in Heppner. Not only have some of the bridges and culverts to be reconstructed, and a new track laid practically from Lex ington, nine mllea from here, but a new roadbed must be built to go considerable distances and the line of track may very possibly have to be slightly changed. Superintendent's Vigorous Work, j. P. O'Brien, superintendent of the O. R. & N. Co., can see no difficulties In the way of reconstructing the railroad track that cannot be quickly overcome by the force of 300 men he will liave at work tomorrow morning. "I shall be-badly disappointed." said Mr. O'Brien at Lexington tonight, "if we are not running trains Into Heppner on Sunday next. "We have now five bridge gangs at work rebuilding the dam aged bridges, and I find that we will have only about 4 miles of new track to lay. I know- that the roadbed to a casual ob server seems badly damaged, but the In juries are superficial only. I may pos sibly be delayed, but at present I expect to reach Heppner on Sunday." In the meantime the residents of Hepp ner are figuring on the establishment of a stage line, which will bring them into contact with the Iron horse, certainly at Lexington, and perhaps a little on this side of it. Delnse Moved Ponderously. The slow movement of the flood after passing Heppner is a matter of general astonishment. At this point the hungry torrent raced through the town In swirl ing eddies that tore and sucked at every thing within reach. But the deluge gath ered no speed as it progressed down the valley. The immense quantities of mud, timber and wreckage which It accumu lated on Its way seemed to Increase Its densty and to retard Its progress. Cour iers who were not In the saddle until the crest of the flood had passed their starting point had no difficulty in "overtaking and passing It. "The slowness with which the -water moved down the valley," said an eye wit ness, "was astonishing. In places it seemed actually to roll forward like a stream of molasses, and it seemed also to be of about the same consistency. The partially demolished houses . which were carried on top of the flood appeared to roll slowly down the incline of the wall of water as It turned over, and re appeared later in the rear. The whole thing looked to me like an Immense re volving barrel." At Heppner the appearance of the flood was practically simultaneous with Its origin on the hillside, but the other set tlements in the valley had ample warn ing of the approaching menace. For sev eral miles In advance the tumult of the coming flood could be distinctly heard. The noise was likened by many to the mights diapason of Niagara. "Did you ever hear the roar of Niagara from a distance of some miles?" asked cne man. "Well, that was the way the flood sounded. Just like a distant water fall." "Window Panes Remain Intact. The freaks of the flood were many. At one spot on the outskirts of Heppner, the front of a house which had been torn In a body from the rest of the buildings had been hurled against an Inclined telegraph pole and Impaled thereon. While the wood was splintered and badly twisted, every window pane remained unbroken. In every earthquake or similar catastro phe there is always some badly wrecked and tilted dwelling- In which a clock or fragile vase remains serene and undis turbed upon the mantelpiece.. In this re gard Heppner was no exception to the rule. The residence of E. J. Slocum, a druggist, was lifted bodily by the torrent, carried down the street, and tossed some distance up an alley. The water rushed through the lower floors of the house, tearing a portion of the back wall en tirely out and completely demolishing most of the furniture. Nevertheless the Heppner vase, filled with choice flowers, remained erect and unbroken upon its stand. In another case the flood made a fa vorite of the home of Herbert Barthol mew. "While the houses for blocks on either side of Mr. Bartholomew's resi dence -were without exception .smashed into kindling -wood, this dwelling was merely moved a very short distance and gently deposited uninjured la a location whence it can be moved back at compar atively no expense. Sorry Halnn of a. Home. A few miles down the valley a mass of ruins was piled in a gigantic mound SO feet high. At the top of the pile a lone plnak jutted forth and. balanced on Its end. stood a child's doll carriage. Dotted hero and there amongst tha wreckago was a baby shoe, a broken Noah's ark and a rag doll, sad and eloquent tale tellers of the annihilation of a home. At lone, the nearest telegraph station, cour iers continually brought In pathetic mes sages. Of a ghastly sameness were, .these brief "telegrams. "Papa was killed, but Johpnys safe," said one. "I am alone, wife and children drown ed," was another; and still came two more: "Papa Is dead," they said. Though there is no family in. Heppner but has lost a friend there are a 'few of whom the dread angel has not brought a keener grief. The people go dry eyed and silent through tho streets and leave unsought the solace of tears. Here and there a woman stands weeping In a doorway, and, as wagon after wagon arrives, a husband or a father, bereft of those whose places he can never fill, may for a mo ment turn away his head; but in general the disaster was too comprehensive to .permit a very sharp realization or sting or personal loss. Over and over again, upon the sidewalks, the groups of men and women stand discussing the catas trophe, one hears it likened to a dream, and , even heart hopes expressed half in earnest that the speaker may wake up and find that It was indeed a nightmare. For this mental attitude principal factors SWEPT AWAY BY DWELLING OP C. A. RUE A, are responsible the suddenness of the calamity, its unusual form, and the rapid restoration of the natural conditions ex isting before it. Strong Swimmers Sncenmb. The chance of a strong swimmer to escape In such a catastrophe as a- cloud burst, 'while it Is "naturally commented on to some extent, seems, in the light of .the Heppner disaster, not to be a matter" for conjecture. The passage of the main body of water occupied only a short time, a little over an hour, but It Is evident that a man might as wel) SCENE AT THE RELIEF HEADQUARTERS AND MEN PROMINENT IN THE WORK. The men in the background are gathering at the Bank of British Columbia, Front and Vine strepts. in response to the call of the Merchants Protective Association for laborers to go to Heppner. In the upper picture Is shown L N. Flelschner. chairman of the general citizens! relief committee. Below, reading from left to right, are the theatrical managers who are planning a benefit in aid of the sufferers: George L. Baker, of the Baker and Empire Theaters; Calvin S. Helllg of the Marquam Grand Theater, and Edward Shields, who represents the Shields Vaudeville Company and' -Messrs. CordW and Rusaell, of Coraray's Theater. ' have tried to swim In the whirlpool of Niagara or the Norwegian maelstrom as to live more than one brief moment in the raging torrent tha devastated Hepp ner. Not only did the circling eddies defy all laws of gravitation "by carrying on their current great masses of stone and iron, but the bodies of the dead so far recovered bear unmistakable signs of the varlbus dangers that lurked be neath the waves. Some of the livid corpses that lay stretched upon the rude slabs of the Improvised morgue bora a nass of purple bruises that told how use less any effort of the strongest swim mer would have been. Some who ye re drowned like rats in a trap within the confines of their rooms, and were thus to some extent protected from the dash ing mass of wreckago outside, were as badly, or even worse, marked than thone whose bodies were .swept by the current far down the valley. These facts give substance to tho theory that when a mass of water is dropped unconflned upon the surface of the earth the currents and eddies so generated are far more powerful than would readily "be believed, and that they more resemble the marvelous- forces of a cyclone than the .simple current of a river, no matter how intensified. One remarkable circumstance In connec tion with the flood Is the fact that the HEPPNER FLOOD. WHOSE WIFE WAS DROWNED. hurrying waters seemed to have the abil ity to denude entirely a body of Its cloth ing in a very short space of time. It Is not easily understood how a rushing flood, or even the constant lapping of the sea can strip a corpse of its textile apparel. A cloudburst seemed also to be quite able to untie the knot of a tightly laced shoe. Every body recovered so far from valley points has been almost absolutely naked, while those bodies which were found In and near Heppner were at least partially undressed. Flood Sonndt a Warning. At this point (Lexington) the roaring of BS James Matlock, cx-Sherlff of Morrow County, one ol the Victims. the Heppner cloudburst was heard some time in advance of its arrival. As a direct consequence of this, no lives were lost, and the property loss Is confined to build ings, which could not. of course, be moved. The largest individual loser is probably John Hill, a rancher, whom the flood stripped destitute of all his possessions except the ground on which his dwelling stood. His stock, cattle, horses, hogs; wagons, house and furniture were all caught In the rising torrent and swept to unknowi! destinations down the valley. While the flood was not as high here as at Heppner, the surface of Willow Creek rose 15 feet above Its normal level. The Methodist Church- was lifted up, twisted around and then swept like a giant can non ball against the Congregational Church, 1000 feet away. Both places of worship were completely wrecked. Immediately after the passage of the water, rescue parties were organized to aid the stricken citizens of Heppner. The first parties, which made a rapid journey from Lexington to Heppner, found in their hurried search six bodies. The sllme-cov-ered faces of the corpses were washed, the mud rinsed from their clothing, or such clothing as still remained on them, and the bodies were then sent to Heppner for Interment. There are undoubtedly many more of the missing hidden In' the piles of wreckage above the town. It will be impossible to search thoroughly all of this wreckage, and many bodies will, in all probability, never be recovered. HOW PEOPLE WERE RESCUED. Survivor Venture Heroically Into the Flood. PENDLETON. Or., June 16. (Special.) R. D. Ball, traveling for the Portland Soap & Chemical Company, arrived In the city today from the scene of the flood at Heppner. In an Interview he gave a full account of tho work of rescue. "When the flood struck the city I was In the Palace Hotel." he said. "The water came without warning, and before we knew what had happened, the houses -were being' swept down the street and lives were being lost. Across the street from the Palace Hotel stood another 'hotel. "We ventured out in the flood to warn a cou ple of brother" traveling men stopping in this hotel. A store belonging to a Mr. Gelger was sitting fn the middle of the street, and a cow was standing in the cen- ter of the store. We reached the hotel just as a bouse came around the corner and knocked the building off its founda tion. The hotel settled down and did not float away. I broke in the front door, but could arouse no one. Then the party entered the building. Imt could not find the stairway, and returned to the out side, where we broke In the upper-story windows with a long pole. There was nobody In tho building'. We then secured a -quarter-inch rope and started down the street. "At the Matlock property we met an other party, who were afraid to venture Into tho house. I went In. but found no one. 1 then passed out through the rear dftor and discovered Elizabeth Matlock huddled under a pile of boards, stiffened by the Intense cold and barely able to move. Picking her up on my back, I car ried her out to safety. Merchant Gelger was discovered under a pile of debris about two blocks from his store. In en deavoring to pull him out. the quarter Inch rope was snapped three times, and we were forced to secure an Inch rope. "We continued the work of rescue until after midnight, ard resumed It again next morning at 3:30. Nine bodies were found before midnight, and placed in the bank. We cannot realize the truth. We say It Is terrible, but that does not express it one-half." Mr. Ball is six feet three inches tall. SWEPT AWAY BY DWELLING OF DR. M'SWORDS, WHO WAS DROWNED. and was swept away by tho rush of wa-i ters several times while trying to cross the street to rescue people. MORE MEN ARE NEEDED. Representative Phelps Appeals to tho Governor. SALEM, Or., June 16. (Special.) A mes sage was received this evening from G. W. Phelps, of Heppner, and addressed to Governor Chamberlain, saying that the principal need of the sufferers at Hepp ner 13 200 "men to help clear up the wreck age! and money with which to pay them The message also expresses appreciation of the Governor's proffer of assistance, and says that the people of the state are contributing generously to the sufferers. Governor Chamberlain is In Corvallls, and the dispatch has been forwarded to him there by Private Secretary Gatens. Mr. Gatens this evening received a tele phono message from Adjutant-General Gantenbeln. asking for permission to send a quantity of tents belonging to the Na tional Guard to Heppner for use of the sufferers and rescue workers. Acting for the Governor, Mr. Gatens gave the per mission. Mr. Gatens tried to communi cate with the Governor tonight to Inquire whether a call will be made upon the peo ple of the state for assistance, but he was unable to reach the Governor by phone. Mayor Bishop has consulted with resi dents of Salem concerning the probable needs of the people In the region devas tated by the cloudburst, and he has not deemed it best to make a request as yet that a public contribution be taken In Sa lem. He thinks that what is needed most Is men, and these will be supplied by In dividual volunteers. Whenever It appears .hat a, general contribution is needed he will take action, and has no doubt that the people of Salem will respond. The, local Knights of Pythias lodge has pledged $100 for a relief fund. BAKER CITY GIVES ?SOO. Relief Committee Goes to Scene of j Disaster. BAKER CITY, Or., June 16. (Special.) At a meeting of citizens tonight, called j by Mayor carter, over mm was raisea for the relief of Heppner. A committee composed of Mayor Carter. E. P. McDan iel. Fred Mellls. A. T. Harris and E. A. McDaniel were naraeel to take charge of the funds subscribed and direct the re lief expedition sent from here. A large number volunteered to go tonight. E. A. McDaniel was selected to head the relief expedition from here. It left on the even ing train. At a meeting of the City Council tonight $500 was raised for the Heppner flood suf ferers. The County Court will appropri ate about as much. The citizens raised $750, the Elks $200, the Knights of Pythias $100, and the citizens' committee will work tomorrow. About 30 men from Sumpter, with tools, left here tonight for Heppner, the O. R. & N. furnishing free transporta tion. FUNDS FROM OREGON CITY. No Difficulty Foand in Raining: Over Tito Hundred Dollars. OREGON CITY, Or., June 15. (Special.) Bruce C. Curry, City Recorder, today cir culated a subscription paper and raised over $200 for the relief of the Heppner suf ferers. It was first proposed to abandon the Fourth of July celebration and ap propriate the fund that had been raised for the demonstration to the relief of the Heppner people. Subscribers very gener ally agreed to such a transfer of the fund, but It developed that the arrange, ments for the Independence day celebra tion had progressed too far. Fdllowlng this conclusion, an independent subscrip tion was started, with the. success noted above. HIS WHOLE" FAMILY LOST. Bererreraent of Mr. Andrews, Now In Alaska. SEATTLE. June 1$. Mrs. Clarence An drews and her three children, of Seattle, were among the lost in the Heppner dls-. aster. Mr. Andrews Is now In Skagway, Alaska, as an official of the "United States customs service. Not only hia -wife, but her entire family seem to have perished la ike sa.m-6 catastrophe. Her maiden. name was Ida B. Swaggert, and the dis patches give the .names of "George Swag gert and family" in the list of dead, and George Swaggert was Mrs. Andrews father. It is also reported that two of her mar ried sisters were among the; victims of the flood. The Andrews children, who are reported to have perished are: Mabel, aged 12; Vasuti. 11, and Annie Clare, 4. GIVE TWO TONS OF FOOD. Generous Citizens, of Arling-ton Pro vide Mem and Supplies. ARLINGTON; Or., June IS. (Special.) The citizens of Arlington have contrib uted two tons of food supplies to the suf ferers irom the cloudburst on Willow Creek. Provisions and men with tools who are willing to work for pay are in demand. These Three Are Safe. BOISE, Idaho, June IS. A dispatch was received this evening by Mrs. Phil Cohn from her husband at Heppner. saying he and Henry Heppner and Lee Blackraan were safe. He had been mourned all day as dead. Suropter Ac.ts Quickly. BAKER CITY. Or., June 16.-(Speclal.) A telephone message from Sumpter says Mayor McCulloch called a mas3 meeting HEPPNER FLOOD. of citizens this, afternoon to secure assist ance for the Heppner sufferers. The City Council appropriated $100, and Inside of five minutes citizens subscribed $500. A relief committee of 25, in charge of Coun cilman J. W. Cowder, left on tfils after noon's train for Heppner to assist In any way possible. COLD SWIM FOR SOLDIER James E. Henry Too. Intoxicated to Walk, Kalis Into the Willamette. James E. Henry, a soldier, who was out for a time last night, became so Intoxi cated that he could not navigate, "and fell from the Burnslde-street bridge into the Willamette River. The Icy cold waters sobered lhlm up enough that he was able to swim until help could reach him. Henry was In a very dilapidated condi tion last night when he was brought to the station. He had been on a prolonged drunk, and had lost most of his apparel. One shoe and sock was gone, his coat and vest -were missing, and. his shirt and trousers looked like they had been' through a threshing machine. He was still so dazed from his experi ence that he was not able to give much of an account of the accident. The men who rescued him said that he started staggering to cross the bridge, but that he had gone but a little distance when he leaned against the rail, then lost his bal ance and fell overboard. They do not think he intended to commit suicide, and last night at the station he said that the fall -was accidental. Weak Spots. In Brave Men. Kansas City Journal. It Is related of a Missouri 'engineer at Atchison that he does not hesitate to drive his machine at full speed through the blackest storm at night with washouts alt around him. but that he is afraid to go home alone In the dark. If someone is not at the roundhouse to go with him he sits there till daylight. It is the old story "of every man having his own pe culiar fears. There is In Topeka a doctor who will cut a man to pieces and smile the while. He is an old soldier and often faced the cannon's mouth. But he will betray the most abject terror if one of the harmless lltle elm tree worms hap pens to drop on his person. . iWM aW&W&M3k fm snapely,.pretty figure, and M m m FS many of them deplore the . loss or their girlish iorma W7 after marriage. The bearing B SW3& EFB f cKildren is often destructive B m Mm L&m Ml to the mother's shapeliness. All of this can be avoided, however, by the use of Mother's Friend before baby comes, as this great liniment always prepares the body for the strain upon it, and preserves the symmetry of her form. Mother's Friend overcomes all the danger of child-birth, and carries the expectant mother safely through this critical period without pain. It is woman's greatest blessing. Thousands gratefully tell of , the benefit and relief derived from the use of this wonderful remedy. Sold by all JHI JBB B. -9 SviQtnei s book, telling all about this liniment, will be sent free. "mn jiw -TEL. - B Tie BrriflM RtgtUlw Ct,, AM, Gi. M BWmW(& 1 jt:xii vW trnt-hlAd. with nlijnt emissions, dreams, exhausting drains, bass- fulness: avpfKion ti .eclety, Whjca deprive you of your manaooo, uxmtxs XUU MlBBlAokDKNWbo from excesses and strains have lost their MANLTT BLuuD AND 8K1N DISEASES, Syphilis, Gonorrhoea, painful, bloody jwlae. Gleti smctuter Enured Wft.g! YfiS Sfeiff "ffiftTS and Liver Troubles, cured without 34ERCTJRY AND VHix.il . POISONOUS DHDGS. Catarrh and Rheumatism CURED. Dr. "Walker's methods are regular and scientific H uses no patent nostrums or reedy-made preparations, but cures the disease by thorough medical treatsaeat. His New Pamphlet on Private Diseases sent freo to all men who describe tair trouble. PATIENTS cured at fa o Bee. Term reasonable. All letters sswre4 i Plain envelop. Coaalts.tlon free and sac redly confidential. Call or sr address DRc WALKER, 151 First Street, Corner Yamhill, Portland, Or BICYCLE THIEVES CAUGHT SERIES OF CRIMES TRACED TO TWO ALBINA BOYS. Clever Child Detective Puts Police on Right Tr nil One of the, Ac ensed Confesses. A large number of the bicycle rob beries that have been reported to tho pollco within the past few weeks were accounted for last' night when Adrian Heller and H. Davis, boys about 17 years cii age. were arrested on a charge of stealing- a bicycle from Joe Kowalsky. Heller, upon being questioned closely, admitted having stolen seven or eight bicycles within the past few weeks. Davis still maintained his Innocence, but the detectives say they have evidence that the two boys have been working together. Both of the boys had valises filled with stolen articles. Silver spoons, choice tobaccos, toilet articles of every description and other articles that had been missed from various stores about the city were among the collection. Hel ler, when questioned as to how he came into possession of the articles, admitted that he had committed burglary at a number of houses during the time that he was not stealing bicycles. Detectives Kerrigan and Snow have been, working on tho case for several weeks.. The first clew was when they found a stolen bicycle in a second hand store on Fourth street owned by Philip Stein. Stein said that he had bought the bicycle from Davis and Heller, and since that time the detectives have been looking for the boys. Davis was first arrested, and his ar rest was due to a clever piece of work on the part of a small boy giving his name as Edward Kane- Davis and Kowalsky were both staying at the Vic toria Hotel. Yesterday Kowalsky found his stolen bicycle in the pos session of Davis. It did not occur to him to have the boy arrested but he took the wheel away from him. Davis, after he was accused of taking the bicycle, was afraid to go back to the Victoria to get his baggage, but did not want to leave It there. When he met young- Kane on the street, he offlered him 25 cents to go to tho hotel and get the baggage for him. Kane was willing enough to make tha 25 cents, but was suspicious of his cus tomer. Accordingly when he got to the hotel, he Inquired as to the financial and other standing of the man who owned the baggage and was surprised to learn that he was none other than the ona who had stolen the bicycle, and further that the owner of the hotel would not allow the baggage to go out of the house. "He will wait at the corner for mo to arrive with the baggage," thought the boy, and hit upon a plan for his capture. His next step was to find the man who had lost the bicycle and the two went to the police station. The case was laid before Detective Frank Snow, and tho three set out to find the slippery Davis, whom the detectives had been looking for so long. "The wheel was given to me by Hel ler," he said, expecting to clear himself of the charge. The detectives knew that the boys had been working together but professed ig norance of this fact. "Where is Heller?" they asked, making the boy believe that he would be free If he would but produce the man that had given him the wheel. Davis promptly disclosed the whereabouts of Heller and both were landed in jalL Davis, when questioned, professed to be innocent of every charge against him. but Heller could not resist the .confiden tial assurance of the detectives that "It was the best thing to confess all, and In a moment was giving a complete history of his criminal career. He said that he had stolen seven or eight bicycles, and told the detectives where he had disposed of each of them. He also admitted that he had robbed a number of houses and told where he had disposed- of mo3t of the plunder. Heller and Davis are both Alblna boys, and their parents aro said to be respect able citizens. Turned Ills Hair Gray. Kansas City World. The hair of the editor of- a little country sheet in an equally small Southern Mis souri town turned gray in a single night. In his paper he found occasion to say that "two young men went with their girls to attend a church social, and a3 soon as they left the girls got drunk." But In setting up the Item the mean, good-for-nothing little comma which, going down the line, should have slipped into place after "girls," stopped short at "left." and the conclusion drawn thereof is what caused the before-mentioned ca lamity to the editor man's locks. tits Decline Will Come. St Paul Globe. The one thing, of course, that, will make for a decrease In the popularity of the automobile will be the lowering of tha prices now asked for the machines. Thera Is nothing that so quickly pulls down a fashionable idol as the knowledge that the hoi pollol are also privileged to wor ship at Its shrine. TWENTY YEARS OF SUCCESS la the treatment of chronic diseases, such as liver, kidney and stomach disorders, constipation, diarrhoea. Aropslcal swellings. Bright' s disease, ate KIDNEY AND URINARY Complaints, paitiiut. diiucult. loo frequent, milky os bloody urine, unnatural discharges speedily cutcd. DISEASES OF THE RECTUM Such as puea. listula. Usaurt-. uicer.Uon. mucous and bloody discharges, cured witoout . the knifs, p&ta or coBSuesoent. DISEASES OP MEN iJIood poloou. jucs tfiri-ii-.c, Uiiua..aral losses. Lra poVcucy, thorougtuy cured. failures. Cures guaranteed. V