Newspapers / The News-Herald (Morganton, N.C.) / July 18, 1916, edition 1 / Page 1
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. s X - S ' . ; (BMlBlPMBMMllMlMBMBBWlMllBllB, B ' " " '. . G. COBB, Editor and Owner, The Burke County News ) n ' ., A , XT The Morganton Herald f Consolidated November 29, 1901. Subscription Price 1 Per Year in Advance. L. XXXII. morganton; n. c, july is, 1916. NO. 9. IriJgB and Biiiigs Swept km ylyleJSi iVater nog rom. Outside test in History of Cm nty9 and Reports Which Have Come now i hat . Sen (greater Dartiage Has Been Dooe further IDowra fte Catawlba-teiiroacil Bridges GorieNo Maols No Tellegraplhiac Commectioin! ituabon Alarming ft the terrific rainstorms which vis- this section Friday, Saturday and day and which by Sunday morn had caused the rivers and smaller lams to flood the surrounding ter- Jrv as it had never been flooded be- , and to sweep before their migh current almost everything that ie within their path, Burke county experienced the greatest calam- I i Ti I A in ner msiory. 11 is impussiDie 10 mate in dollars and cents the ncial loss.- So far there has been tenort of loss of human life in the hty, but at this writing it is im tible to get into communication any but a small section immedi- y surrounding Morganton, and it ossible that there has been loss of Telephone connection with Hick was never cut off but that was the nearby town with which any munication at all could be-had. the seven steel bridges over the Ca- 3 a river in Burke county were lit away Saturday night. This iso- s large portions of the county and les it difficult to get food supplies fMorganton, the situation all the e serious because there are no ns running. tte Saturday afternoon it was seen the loss of the bridges was Citable, as the waters were rising rapidly. Watchers say that the near Morganton, known as the ier and lower bridges, went very y Sunday morning, the latter go first. It is said that the creaking groaning of the steel as it broke n the supports sounded almost like e animal in great despair. hen these bridges were built af the freshet of 1901 they were ed over 10 feet above what was h thought to be the record break water mark. Judging from high K" we have had in the past, it was -c' ue improoaDie mat tnese :.aia steel structures would ever pept away. f-e railroad bridge over the Ca- ji'a near Catawba station suffered I-P fo n r, J.L.- 1 1 1 l 1 ici.c as uLiier onages ana tnis off the whole western section of "tate irom railway connection J the outside world. It is not p when it will be possible for fts to run. Guesses vary from four ive days to a month or six weeks, first based upon the belief that Southern will probably arrange a transfer by boat or ferry of at f of mail and passengers. Likely it be more than a month before ments of freight can reach us. ! DARING RESCUE FROM TOP OF STORE BUILDING REAL HEROISM SHOWN. EN TEEN FEET HIGHER ' THAN IN 1901. T- W. E. Walton made measure rs yesterday afternoon of the ht reached by the water at the jer bridge' and found it to have 41 feet above normal, this 17 feet jer than the highest water mark had been reached previous to this . - h-in 1901 the water was 24 feet N normal at this point. At the er bridge the measurement show 4 feet above normal. V : H ! When the water began rising so rapidly early Sunday morning the lives of a number in the Quaker Meadows section were greatly en dangered. So suddenly and surpris ingly did the water rise, many feet in a few seconds time, that several fam ilies were caught and but for prompt work would probably have been drowned. Shortly after midnight Sat urday night the family of Mr. McK. Kincaid, living near Fleming's ford, saw that they would be compelled to get out. So surrounded even then was the house by the water ,that they tel ephoned for help. Thereupon Messrs. Leith Gordon, R. W. Pipkin, Thomp son Gillam, Steve Lowdermilk, John Small, Charlie Moffit, Ted Gordon, Webb Estes and probably others built a boat as quickly as possible, the lum ber having been secured at the plant of the M. M. & T. Co. ,and about six o'clock Messrs. Leith Gordon and R. W. Pipkin went after the danger threatened family. They made sever al trips and finally succeeded in bring ing them all to safety. Guests at the Kincaid home were Mrs. Kincaid's sis ter, Mrs. J. J. Hefner and her chil dren, of Hickory. Also Mr. John Fox was one of those rescued from the Kincaid home. He had gone there to telephone to his son and while in the house the water rose so rapidly that he could not get away. He was the last one brought away by the rescuing party. Fearing the house might go he climbed a tree and was found there by Messrs Gordon' and Pipkin when they made thejast trip. j The water reached the second floor! of the home and though often it seem- j ed that nothing could keep the house! from moving it remained at the same! place. - j The most sensational rescue of the I day was that of Mr. Fons Duckworth, who was brought to land about 10 o'clock Sunday morning from the top of his father's store where he had spent the greater part of the night. Early Saturday night water began ris ing in the store, which was probably 200 yards from the original bank of the river. Mr. J. L. Duckworth and his two sons weue in the store andde cided they should leave. The father and one son got out but Fons remem bering some chickens which he thought ought to be let out stopped to attend to them and the rapid rise of the water caught him. When day light came he was seen by those on the shore to be signalling for help. A reward was offered for anyone who "would go to his assistance, the amount reaching about $1200. ; Gordon and Pipkin who were exhausted from their rescue of the Kincaid family were not able to go. The w'ater was angry and dangerous looking. Duckworth seem ed doomed to death and an effort to save him meant a risk of life. Will Clark volunteered to take the chance. He went quite a distance up the stream and came down with the cur rent at which was judged to be about 20 miles an hour, and let his boat, the same in which the Kincaid family had been rescued, hit the store building in such a way as to halt it. He succeeded in bringing Duckworth to land, amid the cheering of the spectators who were lined along the water's dege. Very unselfishly he 'refused to accept the reward that had been offered, and received the praise of those who had witnessed his deed in a very modest manner. He has been acclaimed a hero, and his name will live as long as the memory of the 1916 flood. The home of Mr. J. H. Parks went down the stream about 7 o'clock, the family leaving the house just about 20 minutes before it began to move. Miss Bessie Parks, the last to leave waded out in water several feet deep. The house was owned by Mr. J. T. Perkins. It is reported to have washed to Rocky Ford and there dashed to pieces. Those suffering great loss in the Quaker Meadows section were Olin Avery, George Kanipe, Henry Mc Ghinnis, Mose Corpening (col.,) Char lie Clark, L. A. Clark, Durant Wil liams, Joe Allman, John Parks, C. M. McDowell, McK. Kincaid and J. T. Perkins. The Edmonson farm at the lower bridge suffered considerable damage and large sections of it are still under water. EVERY EFFORT MADE TO GET OUTSIDE NEWS UNSUCCESSFUL. SITUATION IN CATAWBA AS BAD AS IN BURKE. Telephone messages and a few trav elers from Hickory tell a story that is just as fearful as that of Burke's loss. Every bridge in Catawba county is gone except one over South Fork" riv er. The cotton mill at Rhodhiss has been damaged possibly irreparably. It is said 500 bales of cotton were washed out of the mill. A number of the mill houses went in the flood, and water in the company store building reached to the second floor. The Brcokford mill was damaged to the ex tent of eight or ten thousand dollars, possibly much of the machinery com pletely ruined. Hickory and Newton, like Morganton, have been cut off since Saturday from . communication with the outside world. Yesterday af ternoon connection was re-established between Hickory and Newton, there by connecting Morganton and Newtoa The News-Herald Tried Unsuc cessfully to Get Outside News But Morganton is Yet Cut Off . Completely. This special edition of The News Herald was begun in the hope that last night communication could be estab lished in some manner with Charlotte or Asheville and telegraphic news from the outside world be obtained to act as a substitute in the absence of daily papers on which our people have learned to depend. Every effort that could possibly be put forth was made without any success whatever. We had hoped to get through the Hickory Daily Record messages from Char lotte, but it was found that no con nection at alj could be made. The Record sent to Lincolnton but a mes sage from Editor Farabee last night stated that they had to content them selves with local news exclusively. . We hope to get messages sometime tomorrow; in fact, we feel sure we can get them tomorrow night and an other special edition will be issued to morrow morning which we feel safe in promising will carry news from the out side world. We want to serve the community as best we can and shall do everything in our power to get for our people the best news service pos sible. Manager Matthews, of the Bell Tel ephone, is sending out a squad of men this morning to work on the line be tween Morganton and Marion. It is said 31 poles are down at Bridgewa ter, but even at that we may possibly get in communication with Asheville late today. Trainmaster Leonard was here yes terday and said probably a train could be put through from Asheville to Mor ganton by Wednesday noon. AN EXCITING TRIP. THE FLOOD IN LOVELADY. For The News-Herald: " The flood struck us heavily. Hoff man's bridge is gone.' At Mrs. J. H. Hoffman's two out houses and a barn were moved about 200 feet, and the water was in 3 feet of Mrs. Hoffman's dwelling. The entire crop of wheat and hay on the place was lost and there will practically be no corn made Mr. H. P.Holler lost his wheat crop! Water was up in his Barn and in 3 feet of his house. I hope our county commissioners will issue bonds at once sufficient to replace- the bridges in the county. 1 hen the member of the next Legis lature can pass: an act covering the same. By so doing employment can be given many men and teams now out of work. We must Vet speedily! ' S, M. ASBURY. Mr. R. W. Pipkin made a rather ex citing trip to Hickory yesterday af ternoon. The shower about noon caused one of what are known as the Double Branches near Valdese to get up considerably. He decided he would not try to ford it and for part of the distance between Vajdese and Connelly Springs his Ford traveled the railroad back. Mr. Pipkin says that as he came back he saw some unknown mo torist who had not used his caution in the stream with the water above his wind shield and he making a desper ate effort to get the machine out of the stream. Mr. Pipkin made the trip to bring Judge Lane to Morganton, but in some way missed him and Judge Lane came by horse and buggy to Morganton. Judge Lane also had to use the rail road track as a highway. Judge Walter Clark and Miss Eu genia Clark, of Raleigh', are spending several days with Judge Clark's daughter, Mrs. J. Ernest "Erwin. HOW THE MERCHANT Can Encourage the Farmer and What the Farmer Can Do.' Air. Merchant and Business Man you now have before you the greatest opportunity in your life to help your farmer friends. The fact that have fallen is not what counts, but how you take it. There's no question but that the farmers of Burke county, and especially those, on the water courses, are in a very distressful sit- j uaticn. The farmers as a rule are the I ( easiest people on the face of the globe ; ; to become discouraged when a calam-1 jity such as the flood has befallen them. ! : For this reason I am writing this in- j iist on the business men to take an in- j terest in the farmers and cheer them ' up just a little. In cases of this kind ' , the initiative part of the farmer's mind j "fails co work. As a rule he simply' gives up when he could go ahead and ; make good. j ' The writer lives on Johns river and has gone through conditions very sim ilar to the conditions that now pre vail on the river today. One of my ; neighbor's farm was in a way de stroyed from a visionary standpoint and he made a bigger howl than a man that lost his fortune in a mind. He was almost heartbroken. It seem ed that he was broken up, and to hear him tell it, you would think that there j would never be another chance for jhim. We bought millet seed and j sowed the lands that looked as if they 1 were destroyed for that season, and the yield from the millet hay was something enormous. The neighbor was so discouraged that he could notj be persuaded to spend a few dollars! for seed to make a crop that would! take the place of the crop that he had ; planted in the spring. He spent thej summer growling about how nature; had broken him up. That fall and win- ter this neighbor bought ton after ton ! of the-millet hay that we had grown on j the land that was seemingly destroyed ' by the overflow of the river. j Now there is still a chance for the ! farmers to grow a heavy crop of hay. j ! If millet is sown by the first of Au- j gust and even a little later it wilLI make a very fair crop to take care of the live stock on the farm this win ter. Peas and oane will also make'a heavy hay crop yet this year. Sudan grass is one of the fastest growing grasses we have, makes an excellent hay, and will make a good crop sown as late as" the middle of August. ; Now I think it behooves the bus iness men to take this up with every farmer they come in contact with, and not only cheer them up, but give them a little real advise in regard to get ting them to. sow some kind of crop to grow feed to take the place of that which was washed away by the river. In fact you should press the question so strongly upon their minds that they will go right home and do some thing. They .can even make a good crop of. forage by sowing corn for hay if they should be unable to get the seeds as I have named above. v As I have described above, will take care of the live stock till next spring, and if they will sow a liberal acreage in winter oats to be cut next spring for hay, will carry them far into the aummer. Crimson clover.- and r Vetch will also make an early hay crop for next summer. -:; : . 1 "-. Now le'; every business' man jn town get right in behind the fanners in the flood rone and make this proposition to them so strong hat they will take right hold and make next summer one of our nioct prosperous years. Opportunities are scarce in this world, and remember that a neglected opportunities never come back again. There should be about 45 to 50 pounds of millet seed sown per acre. Sedan grass should be sown at rate of 20 to 25 pounds per acre. E. L. PERKINS, County Agent. PLANS FOR RELIEF. In a Union meet held Sunday even ing, July 16, on motion Rev. E. E. Williamson, a committee was appoint ed to devise ways and means of pro viding for the needs of those who suffered loss of the necessities of life by reason of the recent storm and flood. The following were chosen on this committee: Messrs. B. F. Davis, A. C. Kerley, E. M. Hairfield and J. Ernest Erwin. The committee wa3 asked to meet Monday at 10:30 a. m. The committee met at the. appointed hour and elected .Hon. B. F. Davis, chairman and treasurer, E. M. Hair field, secretary. After organization and a brief dis cussion of the situation E. M. Hair field made the following motion which was passed: Resolved, that a sub-committee of three be appointed to make full inves tigation and to ascertain, as nearly as possible, the damage done and loss sustained, and the actual needs to be met in specific and individual cases; and to report the same to the public meeting to be held in the Court House on Thursday evening at 8 o'clock. The chair appointed the following committee: I. T .Avery, Chm., R. T. Claywell and E. M. Hairfield. On motion of Rev. E. E. William son a Publicity Committee was named as follows: Rev. J. R. Williams, Rev. E. E. Williamson and Miss Beatrice Cobb, aided by the Boy Scouts. On motion made by I. T. Avery that a Farmers' aid committee be appoint ed. The chair named on this commit tee, J. Ernest Erwin, E. L: Perkins, J. C. McDowell. On motion offered by J. E. Erwin a committee on household needs was ap pointed as follows: Mesdames A. C. Avery, Jr., I. Lazarus, J. Ernest Er win, H. L. Millner, W. A. Leslie. Meeting adjourned. B. F. DAVIS, Chm. E. M. HAIRFIELD, Sec. July 17, 1916. WHAT WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO LEARN FROM OTHER COUNTIES In talking with the Hickory Record last night we learned that the Monbo mill in Iredell has been swept away. The old Turner mill is gone and the report is that the new Turner mill was submerged and damaged considerably. Morganton people are especially in terested in the last named mill, dif ferent individuals here owning $17, 000 worth of stock in the mill. Over 100 feet of the Lookout dam, near Statesville, is gone, and over 300 feet of the embankment was swept away. . AH the bridges to Charlotte, the railroad, interurban end highway were demolished and it is impossible to reach Charlotte by any route.
The News-Herald (Morganton, N.C.)
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July 18, 1916, edition 1
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