'" """' ' - ' ' '
"" " mm'm ' "
rcOBB, Editor and Owner. ,.. '
' y The Burke County News n . , XT ,
The Morganton Herald Consolidated November 29, 1901. PRICE FIVE CENTS
XXXIL MORGANTON, N. C, JULY 21, 1916. NQ 9
Reports . Gmmlly CoftoI
ydbiarsls on Mountains Washed Gean Stops on Sides-Guards-
Water Eront in Asheville Mountain Districts
mem
a n
Suffered Greatest 'LosesAshevilie --Without. Lights ,and
Water-Other Notes of Interest
DT 0NE,BUT
MANY CLOUDBURSTS
ide Clean Swept Roads Trex-
Ier's Funeral First Held Re
norts Sav Toxaway Dam Held.
jheville Dispatch, 18th (Delayed in
ransmission.)
ome of the sorowful features of
Asheville flood disaster were pres
todav in poignant form. The first
leral service trver the remains of a
!(i victim, Walter Trexler, was
d today. The young man, togeth-
Iwith a negro boy, lost his life Sun-
while rowing a boat to the Glen
tk hotel with food supplies for the
.nded guests.
it can be no longer any question
I this terrible thing happened. To-
1. i.i iji i i
f it was discovered tnai xnere nau
in water-spouts or cloudbursts, not
It here and there but in groups
loughout all this country. Driving
or 15 miles south newspaper men
e shown what looked like new
is cut from top to bottom of the
ktively low mountains. These
Inly swept roads were nothing
ie than paths but as the result of
erspouts that struck the top of
mountains. The great walls of
:er rolling down carried trees and
iything else before them.
Ill reports indicate that the Tox-
ky dam held.
SS FOISTER'S
BODY FOUND.
ther Details of the Great
avoc and Loss of Life in
Asheville.
leville Dispatch, 19th.
he body of Miss Mabel Foister,
of the Biltmore nurses who was
ATicd with Miss Charlotte Walker,
ither nurse, her sister, and. Cant.
, vas found this afternoon in a
U) Ot hushes nn the Kiltmore es-
aboui one mile from the entrance
he t lute. All efforts to locate
it. Line's body have been in vain.
fal novices were held today over
roniains of the Walker sisters
he bodies will be placed in a vault
ft Asheville cemetery pending re
al to the family burial plot at
k Mountain.
ftween Asheville and Henderson-
the railroad track in many
jes was daamged to a great ex-
I Trestles and fills have disap-
ed. Ihe highway is in a very
''cnuiticn.
free stores, two dwellings, sev-
s:iialier buildings and the post-
f were carried away at Bat Cave.
e who drowned were Isaac Con
tflarie FiLeiran, a young son of
-n Freeman, of Fruitland, Mrs.
ir Huntley and two children and
ughter of Henry Hill at Bat Cave
r had a chance for their lives. It
before daybreak Sunday when the
gates of heaven were opened
and oceanlike waves began to
JWn the mountains. M.' D. Hall,
peen Hill, was drowned in an ef-
r swini the river on Monday.
p bodies of men were seen floats
AUTO. MAIL LINE
TO BE ESTABLISHED
IN FLOODED DISTRICT
Will Supplement Mail Service in
Mountains Federal Aid Re
quested. Washington Dispatch, 19th.
At the request of Senator Overman
the postoffice department late hits af
ternoon authorized the establishment
of an automobile mail service be
tween Asheville and Hendersonville
to handle all mail matter between
the-id two points until the railroads
ar eable to resume train service.
Senator Overman. and Representa
tivePage are getting requests from all
over that section of the State which
was hit by the rWd of last week for
the establishment of some kind of
mail service.
It is understood that the department
contemplates putting an automobile
and hack schedules between all points
where the railroads are unable to op
erate trains and before the end of
this week probably every section of
the State will be furnished with some
kind of a mail service.
Reports of destruction wrought by
the rains in Wilkes county ' continue
to reach Washington. Representative
Doughton received a letter today from
J. H. Berkley an attorney of Taylors
ville, asking that he ask the federal
government for at least $10,000 to
put the road between Wilkesboro and
Taylorsville in condition so that sup
ply and mail may be sent into the
county which is cut off from the out
side world.
According to Mr. Merke the food
supply in Wilkes county will not last
more than a week, while it will take
100 men about 30 days to put the road
between Wilkesboro and Taylorsville
in conditions to he used by trains. The
railroad between Wilkesboro and Winston-Salem,
Mr. Berke says, will not
be in shape for train service within a
month.
ing down the river on Monday and it
is believed that they had lived in Mc
Dowell county.
The coffin containing the remains
of Miss Hill who was drowned at Bat
Cave had to be carried by men and
boys for a distance of six miles to the
burial place.
Orders were issued here today by
the Commissioner of Public Safety,
placing 50 armed men o,n guard on
the river front with instructions to
shoot anyone passing the police line
without permission or using match
es, cigars and cigarettes. This stren
uous measure was taken as the result
of several barrels of gasoline burst
ing and spreading to large piles of
lumber and driftwood along the front
in the manufacturing district.
Conductors and motormen of the
street car company have been sworn in
as officers to guard the residential
section of the city at night, this pre
caution takeiKowing to the city being
in darkness.
TRAIN TRAVELS
740 MILES
TO MAKE 141
Goes From Salisbury via Greens
boro, Lynchburg, Bristol and
Knoxville to Reach Asheville.
Wednesday night the Southern rail
way ran through Greensboro an un
usually interesting train, for it was
bound for Asheville from Salisbury,
and carried aboard it about 200 pas
sengers and great quantities of mail
and other matter. The train was run
as second 32 and put on "to relieve the
congestion at Salisbury and on the
Salisbury side of the broken connec
tion with the western part of the
State. From Salisbury to Asheville
the distance is 141 miles and in order
to get there the people passing
through Greensboro went 164
miles to Lynchburg, thence 202 miles
to Bristol, thence 131 miles to Knox
ville, thence 120 miles to Murphy and
the final lap, 123 miles to Asheville.
The marooned people from Salis
bury mde this entire grand tour
of 740 miles for the price asked for
the 141 miles. However it is not a
pleasure trip but it is the only solu
tion offered of getting the people to
their mountain destinations. The
train traveled in four States, return
ing to the State of its beginning, and
will patronize the rails of . several
roads.
PEOPLE ALONG CATAWBA
SEEM DAZED BY LOSS.
Southern Has Only Right of
Way Left in Sections Loss of
Life Grows.
Statesville Special, 20th.
Days and weeks must pass before
a complete audit of flood damage in
mountain country from here to Ashe
ville can be made. And when the to
tals are reached the chief damage, the
major suffering is going to be found,
not to cotton mills and other indus
trial plants but with the plain people
the farmers, merchants and all who
owned land or business property
along the mountain streams.
The Southern, of course, and in
dustrial plants have suffered heavily
but the people are proportionately
greater sufferers. Instance after in
stance could be recited wheer loss is
absolute. The land is in such shape
that its preparation for a new crop
is said to be impossible at this late
season. The condition is all the more
unfortunate because drought had cur
tailed the crops of the high lands.
These losses are not confined to the
Catawba. Every stream was a party
to the rampage.
Among those leaving Statesville in
an attempt to reach Asheville was
young Lipe, whose father Jmet death
in the flood waters Sunday. Despite
railway reports it is quite evident
that several days will elapse before
the Southern will be able to work out
transfer arrangements.
When the writer crossed the Ca
tawba late yesterday afternoon noth-
iFROJI KNOXVILLE
TO HICKORY
Trip Under Many Difficulties
The Great WTashouts On the
.Mountain.
Mr. J. C.Kinkaid (he spells his name
a litle differently from our Kincaids)
spent last night in Morganton, and
the story he tells of a trip from Knox-
ville here is a most interesting one.
Mr. Kinkaid is manager of the east
Tennessee territory of the Fleisch
mann Yeast Co. He made the trip
through the washed out mountain re
gions to supply yeast customers along
the route, bringing along with him 95
pounds of yeast, packed in sawdust
and ice.
He left Knoxville at 5 o'clock Tues
day morning and in order to get to
Murphy went around by Copper Hill,
Tenn., thence by Blue Ridge, Ga.
from Murphy to Asheville he made
the trip by rail, but in more than
double schedule time.
At Asheville he found dreadful re
sults of the flood what the news dis
patches have given and more. There
has been no ice in the city, and they
are without lights. Along the river
the damage was very great. Water
rose above the second floor of build
ings near the Asheville station.
Leaving Asheville Wednesday af
ternoon Mr. Kinkaid came part of the
way by carriage, but reaching the
mountains had to come across on foot,
walking in all 24 miles. Three men
helped him carry the yeast and he said
often they were ready to give up but
as he kept pushing ahead they fol
lowed. The ravages in the mountains
are indescribable. Miles of hills and
trestles of the rilroad are washed
away. At one place Mr. Kinkaid saw
the rails suspended 50 or 60 feet, the
trestle which had been beneath wash
ed completely away. In some places
he and his men had to crawl along on
the ground to get by. To hear him
describe the trip makes one feel that
the statement that it would likely be
six months before the Southern could
run trains into Asheville over this di
vision is very probably correct.
ing had been done, no workmen were
at the river and no start made to
ward inaugurating a ferry service
Telegraph linemen were making a
bold attempt to throw a wire across
the Catawba which at this point has
cut a new channel and formed in ef
fect, two separate streams. A nar
row strip of land, the old bank of
the river, stands between. The new
channel has put a new river here about
the size of the old in normal times
This is going to cause extra construc
tion difficulties, it would appear. We
yalked up the right of way for prob
ably a mile after crossing the river
before turning to the dirt road. For
this d'stance "all the Southern has left
is the right of way. On up the track
toward Statesville we could- hear a
work engir t and it vas said 200 men
were at work on the track.
N. G. COMPLAINTS
TO BE INVESTIGATED
Washington Dispatch.
The numerous complaints that are
being received by U. S. Senators and
members of the House to Represent
atives from the officers and men of
the national guard relative to the
quality of food and other supplies be
ing furnished them ,as well as the
miserable transportation facilities,
are causing considerable flutter in
Congressional circles and constant
talk of another scandal similar to that
of 1898 is heard at the Capital. It is
predicted by prominent Senators that
an explosion is likely to occur in the
near future if these complaints con
tinue much longer. Secretary Baker
has ordered a thorough probe into the
matter.
AT BRIDGEWATER.
The desolation at Bridgewater
seems to have been almost complete,
according to every one who has come
from or visited the place since Sun
day. Mr. Henry Witherspoon, return
ing from there yesterday, said that
the bridge was stranded possibly a
quarter of a mile below its original
site. The whole town and neighbor
ing bottoms are covered with several
feet of white sand. Muddy creek
bridge is broken loose from its pier
on one side and. will need considerable
repair. Evidently when the water
came rushing along the creek its rate
was faster than that of a freght train
which was moving across it, for the
train was washed away. One of the
Southern Power Compny's engines is
gone and the other is buried in sand.
Boats are being used for passage
across the river.
FLOOD BRIEFS.
It is estimated that a thousand per
sons in Salisbury and 'Spencer are idle
on account of flood. Several cotton
mills are closed down.
Tremendous property damage in
Alexander and Ashe is reported but
nothing definite can be learned from
these sections.
Three children of Lonas Russell
were killed in Alexander county Sat
urday by a landslide.
The whole face of the country in the
Hickory Nut Gap section is said to be
completely changed.
Ninety-six families are destitute in
Wilcox county, Ala., as result of flood.
The steel highway bridge at Cam
den, S. C, was washed away.
A young woman and a 10 year old
boy both unidentified were fished from
the Yadkin above Wilkesboro Wed
nesday af ternion.
PATTON REUNION
CALLED OFF.
Owing to conditions brought about
by the flood it becomes necessary to
abandon the idea of holding the Pat
ton Reunion and the entire program
is called off. Letters will be sent to
old students as early as possible to
this effect.
CLOUDBURST
NEAR BURKEM0NT
Thursday a cloud burst near Burke
mont caused all the streams from
that section to rse higher than they
were last Sunday. Mr. W. M. Wood
bury's plantation suffered heavily,
his land was damaged and crops
washed away.
NO WITHDRAWAL
OF TROOPS FROM
MEXICO AT PRESENT.
Washington Dispatch, 19th.
Informal conferences between Act
ing Secretary Polk and Eliseo Arre-
dondo, the Mexican ambassador des
ignate, continued today at the State
department.
Although- press dispatches from
Mexico City have announced the ap
pointment of Mexican members of a
joint commission to undertake adjust
ment of differences between the two
countries, it was stated officially at
the department that no final agree
ment as to the method of conducting
negotiations had been reached. It
was explained also that if it should be
determined to name a joint commis
sion the American members could not
be headed by Henry P. Fletcher, am
bassador designate to Mexico, because
Mr. Fletcher's official position would
prevent him from serving in that ca
pacity. When told about dispatches from
Mexico City saying Special Agent
Rodgers had informed the Carranza
government that the United States
troops in Mexico gradually would be
withdrawn Mr. Polk said Mr. Rodg
ers had no authority to make any
such announcement, and that the pol
icy of the American government re
mained unchanged.
Miss Dickson Dies While On
Visit Here.
While here on a visit at the home of
her nephew, Mr. John A. 'Dickson,
Miss S. O'H. Dickson, of Winston
Salem, died Tuesday night about mid
night. Miss Dickson came to Morgan
ton a week ago last Friday, and on
last Thursday was taken desperately
ill. The funeral was held Thursday
morning at 10 o'clock at the Dickson
home and interment made in Oak For
est cemetery, Rev. E. E. Williamson
conducting the service.
Miss Dickson was about 70 years
of age. For many years she had made
her home in Winston-Salem with Mr.
Mitchell Rodgers, who is well known
here. Because of the wrecked condi
tion of train service, Mr. Rodgers and
other relatives who would have been
present were unable to reach Morgan
ton for the funeral.
The daughter of a Presbyterian
minister and the sister of one, Miss
Dickson herself was ever zealous in
church work. She was especially in
terested in church library work, and
had been for a number of years li
brarian of the church library of the
First Presbyterian church of Winston
Salem. She had exceptional literary
talent, being the author of several
books of tales and poetry. Well known
in this State and in South Carolina,
the news of her death will be the
source of much sorrow to many rela
tives and friends in both States.