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HUNDREDS LOSE LIFE IN FLOODS
Fearful Cloudburst Sweeps Down
West Virginia Valley.
4 SCENE OF DESOLATION
Mad Waters Rush Through the Poca¬
hontas Coal Region Leaving
Death and Destruction In
In Their Wake.
The entire section of Bluefleld, W.
Va., has been visited by a flood, the
extent of which in all probability will
egual that of Johnstown in 1889, so
tar as the loss of property is concern¬
ed. Early Saturday morning, shortly
after midnight, a heavy downpour of
rain began, accompanied by a severe
electric a term, which steadily increas¬
ed in violence until 10 o’clock in the
morning, then ceasing for several
hours and beginning again with re¬
newed violence, This continued
throughout the entire day and night,
and al 10 o’clock Sunday morning,
while the storm had abated, the lower¬
ing clouds indicated another terrific
downpounr at any moment. Many
miles of the Norfolk and Western rail¬
road track, bridges and telegraph lines
are entirely destroyed and communica¬
tion is entirely cut off west of Elkhorn,
so that it is impossible to learn the
full extent of the loss of life and prop¬
erty, but officials of the coal operations
located in the stricken district have
sent out messengers to Elkhorn, the
terminus of both telegraphic and rail¬
road communication, and have receiv¬
ed a report that a conservative esti¬
mate as to the loss of life will easily
reach two hundred. Some of the
drowned are among the most promi¬
nent citizens of the coal fields.
The Pocahontas coal field is located
in a basin with high mountain ranges
on either side. Elkhorn creek flows
through the center of the basin,
which ranges from one-fourth to one
mile in width. From Ennis, W. Va.,
to Vivian Yard, W. Va., a distance of
ten miles, miners’ cabins, coal com¬
pany commissaries and coke plants
line this basin. Elkhorn creek, being
fed by numerous small streams coming
from the mountain sides, rises very
radidly and this waterspout came so
suddenly that tne entire basin between
the two mountain ranges was flooded,
and before the terror stricken people
realized what was upon them they
were carried down by the flood, which
swept everything in its path.
A rough estimate places the num¬
ber ot bridges washed away between
Bluefleld and Vivian yard, a distance
of twenty-eight miles, at from fifteen
to twenty, and from present indica¬
tions it will be impossible to get trains
through to Vivian and points west of
there under a week or ten days.
This will render it impossible to
get relief into the stricken district,
and with those who escaped with their
lives, homeless and without food, inde¬
scribable suffering is inevitable.
Details Are Meager.
Details of the great Pocahontas coal
field flood are hard to obtain., owing
to the inaccessibility of the mining
district where the fury and havoc of
the angry waters caused the most ap¬
palling loss of life and property.
At Keystone the water began to rise
at 9 o’clock Sunday morning, and by
11 o’clock the flood had spent its fury
and at least two-thirds of the little city
hau been washed away or demolished.
It is known that sixteen residents of
the north side lost their lives, and at
TO ASSIST FLOOD SUFFERERS.
West VirginiaAuthoritiesTake Prompt
Action to Relieve Homeless People.
A Charleston, W. Va., special says.
Secretary of State Dawson, in the ab-
sence of Governor White, sent a mes-
sage Sunday night to Colonel J. C.
Hewitt at Bramwell to take full charge
of the situation in the flood stricken
district and to wire the governor his
needs. The company of national
guard at Bramwell was ordered out to
assist in guarding the property, and
more troops win be sent as soon as
possible to get them there. A supply
of tents at Bramwell was ordered to
be given out to the suffering.
DR, KERFOOT DEAD.
Corresponding Secretary of Baptist
Home Mission Board Passes Away.
Dr. Franklin Howard Kerfoot, cor¬
responding secretary of the home mis¬
sion board of the Southern Baptist con¬
vention, died Saturday night at his
residence in Atlanta, Ga., after an ill-
ness covering a period of eight weeks.
Dr. Kerfoot went to the Southern Bap¬
tist convention which met in New Or¬
leans May 9th against the advice Of
his physicians, and, being too ill to re¬
main to the end of the session, return¬
ed to Atlanta on the lltn, since which
time he was unable to leave bis bed.
least fifty of those living on the south
or lower side were drowned.
At Burke, a suburb of Keystone, a
number are missing and eign. are re¬
ported as dead.
It is now certain that the total list
of the dead from one end of the Elk-
horn valley to the other, will reach
two hundred. A full list of the names
of the victims cannot be ascertained at
this time. Hundreds are missing, hav¬
ing taken refuge in the mountains to
escape the fury of the flood.
At least three hundred mine mules
were drowned, and at least twenty-five
could be seen swimming about in the
flood and making an unusual fight for
life. damfcgre
But little is done to mines
proper, as the drift mouths were high
up the mountain sides. Several hun¬
dred are reported flooded, but it is im¬
possible to ascertain the extent of
damage.
On the North Fork branch of the
Norfolk and Western, which is five and
one-half miles long, there was no loss
of life as far as known, but hundreds
were rendered homeless and are at
present camping in the mountains. The
damage to property on this branch is
very heavy, only one of ten colleries
located on this branch escaping, the
Ashland, it being located at the head
of the stream.
The McDowell Coal Company lost
twelve residences. The Roanoke Com¬
pany lost three boiler houses, and the
one hundred horsepower boilers were
swept four miles down the stream.
The Louisville Company’s store¬
house is a wreck and the stock of
goods a total loss.
At Rolfe a large number of miners’
houses were swept away, as well as
the handsome residence of the com¬
pany’s physician. Twenty-five houses
are jammed together in one complete
mass of broken timbers and debris.
At the Gilliam Company’s colliery
the powder house and fourteen houses
are demolished.
At Indian Ridge the company store
was considerably damaged and the
stock lost. The house of Captain Bots-
ford, the manager, is wrecked; also
the North Fork track is nearly all
washed away, all the trestles being
gone except one.
In the Elkhorn valley it is estimated
that the loss to the railroad and coal
interests will reach .nto millions. Out
of twelve miles of main double track
only one mile remains and all the
bridges are gone. Some of them were
of the heaviest masonry and iron, but
they could not resist the force of the
flood.
The Cozer Company, one of the larg¬
est in operation, lost a thousand horse¬
power electric plant and many build¬
ings and coke ovens. Their loss is said
to be $50,000. The Tierney interest,
consisting of four collieries, will lose
$75,000.
There are over twenty collieries
whose damage is great, many miles of
their tracks leading to ovens and
mines being gone. In some instances
nine locomotives and cars have been
swept for miles down the stream.
Fifteen hundred laborers have been
rushed to the scene to work on repairs,
and it is expected that telegraphic
communication will be established in
a short time.
Later advices from the Clinch val¬
ley division confirm the reported
drowning of ten persons. A family
named Hook, living near the river at
Rounding Mill, were all drowned, six
perishing.
STRIKERS AND GUARDS FIGHT.
Trouble in Thacker-Matewan Coal
Fields Reaches an Exciting Stage.
The miners’ strike in the Thacker-
Matewan coal fields, in West Virginia,
is growing critical and resort to fire¬
arms has been the result. The whole
field is in a state of excitement and
serious trouble is feared. Already two
or three conflicts have occurred be¬
tween the striking miners and guards.
The trouble has grown out of the
non-recognition of the union by the
operators. The operators declare they
will not recognize the union and the
miners are equally as persistent in de¬
manding that they shall be recognized.
EX-CONSUL HAY KILLED.
Supposed to Have Accidentally Fallen
From Window of New Haven Hotel.
Adelbert S. Hay, son of Secretary
Hay and former consul to Pretoria,
was found dead on the sidewalk out¬
side the New Haven house, at New Ha¬
ven, Conn., at 2:30 Sunday morning.
Mr. Hay retired to his room at 1
o’clock after spending the evening
with friends in apparently excellent
spirits.
At 2:30 o’clock a passer-by noticed
the body of a man lying on the side¬
walk by the hotel. The night clerk
recognized the young man as Adelbert
S. Hay.
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MclLHENNY’S TABASCO.
AFTER BACK TAXES
sS-
State of Georgia May Eventually
Be Richt/ bv $210,03(1.
RAILROAD STOCK OVERLOOKED
Central and Georgia Roads Alleged to
Own $3,000,000 of Western of
Alabama Stock Not Re¬
turned for Taxation.
An Atlanta special says: Comptrol¬
ler General W. A. Wright has discov¬
ered $3,000,000 of property held in
Georgia by two railroad companies on
which no taxes have been paid for the
last fourteen years. '
If the taxes can be collected on this
property for the whole period, and it
is believed by some that they can, it
will bring about $210,000 into the trea¬
sury of the state, besides neany $20,-
000 in interest.
The property in question is the cap¬
ital stock of the Western Railway of
Alabama, 15,000 shares of which are
owned by the Central of Georgia Rail¬
way Company or are alleged to be
owned by that company, and 15,000
shares of which are owned by the
Georgia Railroad and Banking Compa¬
ny'. Each of these companies own, and
have owned since 1887, it is said. $1,-
500,000 of the capital stock of the
Western Railway of Alabama, and dur¬
ing that period no taxes have been
paid to the state on this property.
When Comptroller General Wright
made this discovery, almost by acci¬
dent, as it were, he began a corre¬
spondence with representatives of
both roads with regard to the matter,
and though it has not been finally de¬
termined yet just what course will be
pursued, because Attorney General J.
M. Terrell, to whom the question was
referred, has not definitely passed
upon it, there is no doubt that the mat¬
ter will get into the courts.
The correspondent has been going
on between Comptroller General
Wright and Attorney General Terrell,
representing the state, and Colonel A.
R. Lawton, cf Savannah, representing
the Central, and Hon. J. B. Cumming,
of Augusta, representing the Georgia
railroads.
The two cases differ somewhat in de¬
tails. The Georgia railroad, it is
stated, owns its 15,000 shares of the
Western of Alabama stock outright,
and has owned it since 1887, but it
has never been returned for taxation.
It is figured that the amount of taxes
that would be due on this stock for
fourteen years, at an average rate of
$5 on $1,000, which has been about
the average state tax rate, would be
$105,000. The interest added to that
would be nearly $10,000 more.
Mr Cumming, representing the Geor¬
gia road, holds that the company is
not liable because there is no express
authority of law requiring it to make
returns on this property. That, so
far as has appeared, is the only de-
fense that has been made.
Somewhat different principles are
involved in the case of the ownership
of the stock by the Central of Georgia.
The Central owns a similar amount
to that owned by the Georgia, the par
value of which is $1,500,000, and the
taxes on which would be $105,000 plus
the interest for the fourteen years,
provided the taxes on the stock for
that period can be collected.
The Central Railroad and Banking
Company owned this stock in 1887,
and was transferred to the Central
of Georgia when the reorganization of
the property took place. In 1897 the
Central’s stock in the Western of Ala¬
bama was turned over to the Central
Trust Company of New York under a
deed of trust as security to that com-
pany for its indorsement on certain
bonds issued by the company. Though
the stock is held by the Central Trust
Company under this deed of trust, the
Central still retains the right to vote
it and to draw the dividends on it.
Colonel Lawton holds that under the
laws of Georgia the deed of trust
transfers the title in the property and
that it is owned practically by the
Central Trust Company and not by the
Central of Georgia Railway Company
and that taxes on it should be paid in
New York instead of Georgia.
STRIKERS AND POLICE CLASH.
Lively Riot Takes Place In Rochester
and Many Are Hurt.
Striking laborers to the number of
1,000 had a brisk encounter with the
police at Rochester, N. Y., Wednesday,
in which eleven policemen and twenty
rioters were injured. The strikers had
set out to drive off laborers who were
at work on street improvements.
Mrs McKinley Takes a Drive.
Mrs. McKinley’s condition is so
mi’ch improved that she was able to
tike a drive with the president at
Washington Wednesday forenoon.