Evening Star Newspaper, March 14, 1928, Page 4

248 FLOOD DEATHS LISTED IN RECHECK From 300 to 600 Residents Still Missing in California. to forty houses . and 15 at As the torrent receded. mountainous te from the dam were or more from th ers, not doctars, as put_it,. that were | aith officer - Te- injured persons. | maclstrony of ped hed e said most of the one Red Cross needed. A co marked upon the Those caught s eithe: H few ted by bowlders a from their own st Heroic Tales Recounted. m | er of some | the miss- ing per Scotty Gordon, bearded rancher. at the valor of his fellow m Women Watch Over Bodies. ‘The improvised morgues, whe! dead we! ered at central points, | brought their .doors dry-eved. saddened { huddled % ers or brothers | d in the debris. | One frantic rancher. father of three | h ldly searched the muddy | He had piled his family into| small automobile when he heard the warning rush of waters. For one fatal fe he stopped to warn a| neighboring family, rousing them to fln’e; with him: When he turned back to the | road. his machine, family and all, had | gone, caught in the swirl of waters | which tossed him onto a bank. Fate that snuffed out lives in the dark also worked mimacles in saving a few in the path of destruction. Out! of the swifd it lifted some: survivors to | place them on adjaceht hills, where dawn and rescuers found them. | Girl Saved by Board. One 15-year-old girl, thrown from her bed into raging waters, caught a life-saving plank and breasted the tor- Her scanty clothing torn from ch%}. she ng herself with the pas the torrent. Three rescuers found her, but she re- fused to emerge until oné man pulled off his shirt to clothe her. _For 45 miles along the Santa Clara | Valley the torrent from the broken St.| Francis Dam cut a new channel nearly a mile wide and 20 feet deep. One! ®esult was that every bridge over the | ver, except that at ticoy, was| demolished or damaged, ' | Coast highway traffic was detoured | 8t El Rio to Saticoy, the coast route being open froma thege-t thus out of Main ‘Line Service” Delayed. The Southern Pacific Ralway's main | line service” was sfopped for 10 hours, | while repalts were made to its Montalvo Bridge and a portion of undermined track. Four coast passenger trains| which up at the point, pro- | yesterday. { oad brid n 200 feet of | west of Saugus. | e, 150 feet | Aty c taic and Pardee track was tossed way bridges and under- | “ut near Castaic will pre- ! the ridge route, ich was probably locaved would | * THE E Pictures made in wake of the death-dealing flood, resulting from collapse of 'St telephoto from Los Angeles, show how the great torrent swept through the huge structure. Ruins from different angles by the pictures at the top, while that at the bottom shows rescuers at work r ha our | tms. aperin- imates tial the Jo than 20 or 25| B many unusual sight FPRESIDENT OFFERS AID, fessage to California Governor Follows Conference Here, wiegram to torsia expressing s ’n from erect s 18 on there payed od pieut the correspondent f the Associated Press saw on a fiight clsquito | evidence je ltde moun the s barriers List Reported Dead or Missing FRANCE SENDS SYMPATHY n m Fuoreign Cable Cyndg PAIUS, . od, Fresident wlences un March [ oteh “Tin Kirk" to Go Davide, b o e Tt 1 part al: Gl Corrugand o i Hisued by iy ws the "Un ik e reehy ! undee Ui, wind 1t £ L nearhy. | yopund § ” Holu Ceies 1 1 reed ¥ wde of } snbe eupper in Hu ‘ 1 u partial list of identined Francts Dam disaster | morgues | Gueller, fre Dead, m ares yid ey Ca e e " vl ) Improv My Fuy Math Mathiew Selana Kevetchun, 14 months wri fiz, 46 Munick inid ith Iee Kennedy el Hot ar i el 5 seen a donely untotchied by the swirl of water: mighty |of the canyon it a thiat the a % Eddie n il Child shoul of the Hsing 6, Johi Ml n, W n around only cd between the clutci- 5 homes € tortunate dwellers Gurcla, Hunick 2] Kenneay, sthiel Cochie | posted 1 Mervli € Suchard Pike v, Vida Muthiew S ‘ hi " i tunt Feurl Casper, Juy e jo et din, Wil A biail Mr, an s d Mis. || i 11 Mis el “ Vot i ik, | Mrs, | nedy | ‘Narrow Escapes m Flood-]‘ii; Area. Noted in Airplane Survey of Valley especially stood out as n oasts in the vast déert of and destruction below, Al round, for & mile on both sides, re mained the telltale st and mud, mute the waters had cut off sape by flight When the s wirplane, the first to canyon by Toute ‘ nall ound the dwelling, than liven ir- | hiad been spired even though all they d w epL nway. 5, perched atop the wally where the waters had I (ot reached, seemed to have mocked an | the grasping flood by the very nearness o the fountain of i Home of f | these houses showed the stratn of yel- Viow splashing billows the all pos pes | Assoclated Py g |enter the 1 | went so | M. 3. Gareta, Edward Tocke, Clinton Anderson, Oncar Doty, Olive Grageher, [ ol Kingston, Nicholss Modlock, Paul | Masepty, 1 Peterson, Paul Masepty, 1 | Peterson, Istug (hahy), Gearge Mann, Williamm Mann, William 1t Nielon, Jr.; €. N Anderson, Ediwon Co, camp, terson, Mussitts, Edison ¥ Edison camp,; Edison camp; Knlgfton Edison cump; Dee Cowden (hoy), Kdi- son camp, Mis, ‘Tapley, Pira Chiester’ Wogers, PAid; Dorls Rogers Ve 1achmd Juigers, Pira; Mangarel [ stogers, Pirgs "M Mizacht, Filliore; iotter, Bardsdale, - Hilva, Phu, Castammiign (girl), Pirg cuinp 2 M o Minsing. shewlff's office at Newliull, today fullowing an w partial fiet of mdssing W the BL Francs Dum ter K| The [ A G Maclutyre, Billy M oo Mcityre. Lo Kennedy, 1 Henry Mathis ) it Unee ehlldien, Oto Helnrieh, Howe, Henry tker, J. K Leln Lanan, Fedio Mivers, Lymion Cuaiis. mnt | ghe Curtis, Made Curtls, ‘Cony M niseh 3 deger, Coder @iy Hardolifoger i M Nleger, Bert Lo o Luey K Jones, Bdale 1chie, K a | Husnrd “Chompson, Jesss 3. Iice, 65, sl b, i [ wite southern Caltfornin | D. ., WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 1928. o B —— ’ A WIDE WORLD, i Dam in California, sent by { the dam are shown PRESIDENT IS INVITED Chief Justice Taft and Gov. Smith Also Asked to St. Patrick's Affair. President Coolidge, Chief Justice Taft |nd Gov. Smith of New York have been nvited nd the 8L Patrick’s day binquet of the Anclent Order of Hiber= (ntans, 1o be held at the Willard Hotel It was announced to= McCarthy, chaliman ammittee. Speakers of the oceasfon will include | Representatives Murphy of Ohlo and Douglis of Mansachusetts, Rev. Tenatiug [Smith of the Dominlcan Hou of Studies, und Kev, T, Vincent Fitzgerald, chaplain of the order, Patrick J. Halti- gan of the natlonal directorate of the Hiberndans will act as toustmaater i ertalnment program will ine George O'Connor, Paul McGovs [ern, Billy Green, Bernard Fitzgerald, [Mys AWee Whelnn McLaughlin and | Miss Nellle Ronan, SENATOR WALSH TO TALK | AT POST’S ANNIVERSARY rgeant Jasper Leglonnnives Celebrnte With Banguet Mo morrow Night, Henator Walsh of Massuchusetts will be one of the speakers ut bnquet of Hergeant duspor 13, the American Leglon, in the La Fay- ‘e Hotel tomo; night. Other n]n'nh(lfl will b ator Heatton of New Moxteo, Gen ik 1 Hinen, di rector of the U, B Veleruny' Bure Bort M. Parmenter ney ¢ 1and dteps ] of Boutly Caroling and Chisg of Penn sylvania Comdr. John wn tomstmuster, and the commanders of e varions vetermns' orgindations U DIstct of Columbli will be guests of honor, Muste Wil be furnished by the U B, Navy Band and a program entertaiiment will e The hangiuet commitiee y, chaln Thomas ) crdinand G Fosser, James 1 Plinothy ¥ Daley! Kinest J, WL Jncyues wnd Marehiall Mulivbing to w Hel i o iposed I W hd overing bodles of vic- | TO HIBERNIAN DINNER| Orlosky will preside | MATTRESS SAVES FOUR FROM FLOOD Mother and Three Children Carricd to Safety on Feathers. By the Associated Press, NEWHALL, Calif, March 14—An old feather mattress yesterday saved the lives of Mrs. Sisto Luna and her three children, when their home on the outskirts of Santa Paula collapsed with the first rush of water from the broken St. Francis Dam. With her three children, the young- est less than 1 month old, Mrs. Luna clung to the mattress and was swept down stream more than 2 miles, until her feather-borne ark came to rest {in a tree top sticking up through the flood. Willlam Spring. a neighbor of the { Lunas, swam a mile to safety with his | 6-month-old child clinging to his neck. | Mrs. Spring hung on to the branches of an orange tree until rescued by workers from Santa Paula. Chester Johnson, Louis Hepkin and Jack Peiper were asleep in their cabin in San Francisquito Canyon, when they were awakened by their house tossing and_tumbling about. Johnson' said: “One wall of the cabin was torn jaway and we leaped into the swirling stream, trying to fight our way across the short space to the canyon wall |The first burst of the flood had passed, but a short distance up the canyol | roaring and tearing along with a terr ble noise, we could see a wall of water { about 75 fect high bearing down upon i | _“We clutched at shrubs and twigs | and fought our way up the canyon | side, the rising tide licking our feet. We ‘were barely out of its reach when the water wall passed.” Flood Sid, By the Astociated Press NEWHALL, Calif,, March 14—View- ing the havoc causcd by the St. Frar cis Dam break from the air, it 1oo like a streak of No Man's Land. Sticks thrust upright in the muck mark the places where bodies of the victims were found buried in silt. The sticks make them easily found. | Airplanes which soared over the stricken area In great numbers aided | the searchers by dipping low to indi- cate the positions of bodies. It is easy to spot human beings from a consid- erable height if their faces are up- turned. The acrial view of the wrecked dam s like a picture of a broken toy. Both | right and left wings of the structure | were broken and sweptway, the cen- tral section remaining upright. Noth- ing remained in the wreckage that re- | motely resembled a building. _Railroad | tracks were twisted like spaghetti, C. E. Phillips, Los Angeles water and | power official, who superintended the buflding of the big dam, expressed the | belief that only some external force, | such as an earthquake or a dynamite | blast, could have caused the break. It | was pointed out that a slight earth- quake was registered in the neighbor- hood last Saturday night. A girl who saved herself from the | flood by grasping a plank and sticking | to it until it deposited her in the quaj | mire at _the water's edge, buried her- self in the mud after her clothing had been torn from her body. When lo- cated by rescuers she refused to emerge until a man gave her his shirt for | drapery. Fate played cruelly with one rancher who foresaw the danger and thought he was out of its reach. He loaded his | three childrenl into a small automobile {and then stopped for a moment to | warn a_neighbor. When he turned I back to his car it had been swept away, human cargo and all. A curous feature of the disaster was the fact that less than 50 persons were | treated for infuries at the Newhall Red Cross Hospital; none of these was seri- ously injured. ' “There’s little that doc- | tors and nurses cgn do; it's a job for | the undertakers,” nurses said. ~“They escaped—or they died | Newhall's appe: unheeded. Trucks were | hour with food and clothing of every | | description. The littie hall that was being used by the Red Cross as tem- | porary headquarters was crowded to | capacity, and no one who applied for |food or’ clothing went away empty- | handed. First word to rcach the outer world jof the collapse of the dam was carried ito the sherifl’s substation, at Newhall, by R. E. Starbard, Edison Co.’s patrol | helpe Shortly before 1 o'clock yesterday | morning Starbard rushed into the Isherif’s substation and told Deputies | Story and Doran that the big dam had broken and the flood waters were rac- {Ing through the entire country around | them. All' facllities of the local telephone company were enlisted to evacuate the thousands of residents in the path of the torrent. ‘Two trucks, d were mute rled on the highway, svidence of another of many tragedies enacted In the di ter. Their drivers, caught in the midst of the torrent, were thought to have been swept away in the swirling waters. “That's Ramona’s home,” pointed the driver of a which took two As- soctated Press correspondents up the valley, in passing the ranch houses made famous in the California romance. The low, tree-shaded adobe butldings were untouched by the torrent, but huge slice was tuken out of the orange crchard of the vanch on which Ra- mona’s home stands and which sold, only four years ago, for $700,000. Pete Labara. 16, shouted to his par- ents to run when heard the roar of the approaching water. He was told the nofse was just the wind. It is not nccessary to have had an Ac- count at this Bank to Borrow. lasy to Pay Monthly it Loan $120 $180 $240 $300 . $10.00 $15.00 $20.00 $25.00 $360 $30.00 $510 §45.00 $1,200 $100.00 §6,000 §500.00 e THE MORRI PLAN BANK Undes Bupervision U, 8. Troasury 1408 11 SIREET, N. W, . SUMMARY OF FLOOD SITUATION C; By the Associated Press. LOS ANGELES, March 14.—A summary of the situation in the area stricken as the result of the St. Prancls dam break follows: ‘Available figures this morning showed 231 bodies recovered and 300 to 600 persons still missing and belleved to have Property damage ‘The affected area Whed. estimated at from $10,000, to $30,000,000. is 65 miles long, beginning with the floor of San Francisquito Canyon, which is half a mile wide at the dam site, and ex- ',mdlnzqmm a g!adullly widening valley about 20 miles before reaching the old bed of the Santa Clara River and running into the Pacific. Some city officials declared a preliminary examination indicated the break had been caused as the result of an earth movement or some ex- ternal force. Passing motorists and valley residents declared seeping around the buttress might have been the cause. The few persons who escaped after being engulfed in the racing waters were for the most part uninjured. There was little demand for relief work and medical supplies. It was said the aid of the State would not be needed. Orange growers of the stricken district said they were threatened with enormous losses because of disruption of communication at the moment when the crop was ready for shipping. ‘A gigantic rescue organization was made up of sheriffs, policemen, American Leglon members and valley residents to search through the thousands of tons of silt for bodies of the vict| Pack trains were formed to move bodies out of the guagmire where automobiles and other methods of transportation failed. The canyon bottom and valley were swept clear of all sfgns of clvili- zation for several miles. In the silt deposit, which in some cases was 30 feet deep, remained the uncounted bodies of the victims, houses, live stock and other ruins. grabbed his 10-year-old sister with one hand and his 12-year-old sister with the other and fled to the hills. The children escaped the flood, but their parents perished. «“There goes C. C. Elston,” said the driver. “Just last week he paid $102,- 000 for his ranch. The flood just about wiped the orchards out.” Sixteen-year-old Thelma McCauley of Fillmore, who was ill in bed with the measles when the flood struck the town, was in the water 12!5 hours buried in silt when found. Doctors who gave her emergency treatment said she probably would survive. Her mother and father are among the missing. Nick Naxter of Santa Paula saved two lives and recovered three bodies. He plunged into the raging torrent early yesterday to rescue Xledad Luna from a tree. Then he plunged back again to rescue Magalene Luna from a roof. Mrs. Luna and three children floated out of a wrecked home on a feather mattress to safety. Rosa Samango battled the flood two hours with her aged mother in her drms. She won her fight and reached shore. The mother was dead. Her father is missing. A colony of citrus growers who for- merly lived in Missouri was wiped out southwest of Santa Paula. A four-room house floated a mile without one piece of its furniture be- ing disarranged. Even the table lamps were found upright in their places. Ben Dornaleche was in a ranch house below the dam with his sister and her husband. All three were thrown from the house into the flood. Dornaleche, who is a strong swimmer, helped the other two, but his brother-in-law was swept away, while Dornaleche and his sister reached safety on the canyon side. The great dam sounded its own pe- culiar warning to some of those below it. There were two big flashes of light as electric power lines snapped. Some canyon residents saw this and escaped. C. H. Hunck, 80, was swept out of his bed and into the torrent. After a wild ride through the escaping waters he was about to collapse when a famillar voice spoke to him out of the darkness |and a strong hand drew him to safety. It was his son. The valley through which the flood roared was one of the most beautiful mountain residence sections of southern California. It was speckled with orange trees and lemon trees in bloom. Now the orchards are but shrubs covered with silt. — ‘Tenter-hooks originally were the rows of hooks on which tapestry was hung to walls. NEWLY-WED GOES TO JAIL. Man Arrested Few Hours After Wedding Gets 100 Days. Special Dispatch to The Star. FREDERICK, Md., March 14—Roy R. Rippeon of New Windsor, Md., who was arrested last week a few hours after he was married and has been confined to jail since, will continue his brideless honeymoon in jail for 100 days. He was found gullty of driving an automobile while under the influ- ence of liquor and given his choice be- tween $155 fine and jail term. Rippeon was to appear for trial on a statutory charge in Circuit Court Mon- day, March 5. Instead he got mar- ried and a few hours later was ar- rested when his automobile struck a young woman on the street. His GEDCOPLESHTE MENFROMFLODD Sleeping Drillers Aroused and Aided to Safety by Man and Wife. By the Associated P NEWHALL, Calif, March 14—But for the thoughtfulness of an aged man and his wife, who drove their au bile over ditches to warn six oil wo: these men might today have been am the dead in the St. Francls Dam aster. E. K. Eaton, rancher, east of F. was warned of the flood by telephone. With his wife he started in the car for the hills. Then he remembered the six drillers on his land in the river bottem. He and his wife arrived to find them all asleep. They went to safety in E: car, and a few seconds later a w water crashed down the derrick where the men had been working, sweeping it along with the flood's tangled debris. George McIntyre, whose broth sounded like high tension wires co together. Then with a rear the wa struck the house. My father, who & Billy and Joe, but they were evide: sound asleep and did not hear him. made our way outside together and soon were swimming side by side in the tor- rent. I managed to catch hold of tree limb and pulled myself into t upper branches. Father disappeared in the current. When the waters had gone down somewhat, I swam half a mile to reach shore. bride returned to her home and the Mclntyre was given first-aid treate ment at Red Cross headquarters. You Are Never Disturbed when examining the contents of a Box which you rent in our Safe Deposit Vault. ‘We provide enough Coupon Rooms for the accommodation of all renters, so that you have not only exclusive but also private use of the Box. year. 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