Jeannette, Pennsylvania, USA
1903 - SCORES OF PEOPLE DIE IN DELUGE. PLEASURE SEEKERS IN SMALL PARK AT JEANNETTE, PA., OVERWHELMED BY RUSH OF WATER FOLLOWING A CLOUDBURST - BURSTING DAM LETS LOOSE DEATH DEALING FLOOD.

Jeannette, Pa., July 6 - At 10 o'clock this morning it is estimated the loss of life through yesterday's cloudburst will reach seventy-five.

Twenty bodies have been recovered. Many are foreigners and have not been identified.

Jeannette, Pa., July 6 - Dawn broke today on a scene of devastation and ruin along the Brush Creek valley. From the site of the break in the dam at Oakford Park to Wilmerding, taking in the towns of Jeannette, Larimer, Greensburg, Irwin, Burrell and Manor, the awful power of the rushing waters following the breaking of the dam is apparent on all sides.

The damage to property will be not less than $700,000, while the number of lives suddenly blotted out is still uncertain, the estimates running, all the way from fifty to one hundred and fifty.

A bureau has been opened here where the names of the identified dead recovered and the missing were registered, together with a description of the bodies recovered and not identified.

A revised list of the dead and missing, so far as known, follows:
MISS GERTRUDE KEEFER, aged 19, of Jeannette.
KATE KEEFER.
JOHN FLEMING, a stable boy.
GEORGE WHITMAN, of West Jeannette.
MRS. LEVI BAKER, of West Jeannette.
LUCY CRUM, of Jeannette.
JOHN McGURKEY, aged 40, West Jeannette.
GEORGE WILLIAMS, aged 35, Jeannette.
ALEX VICTOR, Jeannette.
MRS. NIGG and four children, West Jeannette.
EDWARD SMITH, a 10-year-old negro boy.
MISS DAVIS, 13 year old daughter of Fred Davis, of West Jeannette.
JAMES WESTWOOD, aged 25.
MISSES. SILK, two sisters, of West Jeannette.
EDWARD O'BRIEN, of Latrobe, an employee of Brown, Ketcham Company.
JOSEPH OVERLY, of Indianapolis, Ind., employed by Brown, Ketcham Company.
Councilman JOHN G. LIGHT, wife and two children, of Greensburg.
WILLIAM M. ROLLINS, of Greensburg.
WILLIAM FLEMMING, of Greensburg.
ALFRED SEIPP, aged 9.
MR. and MRS. HENRY FINK.
JOHN MILLER.

Stories of thrilling rescues are heard on all sides, and many acts of bravery are reported.

Immediately after the wall of water had passed, Dr. Freshwater and others organized a rescuing party. Freshwater stated this morning that they had rescued fully one hundred and fifty persons, who had been thrown into the streams by their houses being overturned. Many houses were seen by them floating down the stream upside down, sideways and in every possible manner. Almost together with the dam in Oakford Park, the Fort Pitt dam, about half a mile north of this place, gave way, carrying wide destruction along the valley of Bull Creek, which empties into the larger stream of Brush Creek in the lower part of Jeannette.

To add to the alarm caused by the disaster in Oakford Park it was reported this morning the big reservoir of the Westmoreland Water Company, at Radabaugh, about four miles from this town, is likely to give way and the people in the vicinity have taken fright and fled to the uplands. The reservoir covers about thirteen acres and supplies Greensburg, Jeannette, Ossen, Manor and other points further down the valley.

Quite a crowd of people still linger at the Penn Station culvert, which is blocked with debris, under which it is expected the bodies of six unfortunate victims of the flood will be found.

The suddenness of the disaster, together with the attendant features are indeed pathetic. Yesterday afternoon, most of the people were attracted to the park by a children's orchestra, a juvenile musical organization which gave its initial open air concert. The band was playing when the storm came up.

Many of the young musicians were girls, who ran into the park building some of which were swept away. The exact number seeking shelter in the buildings from the storm is not known. Witnesses claim at least two hundred people were housed in different places, while the officials of the Pittsburg, McKeesport and Greensburg Street Railway company claim most of the persons escaped.

M. A. Cofey, general superintendent of the traction company, estimates not more than ten persons were swept away by the flood.

Rain began falling heavily about 3 p.m. The storm increased steadily in violence over an area of about ten square miles, and by 3:45 the umbrellas carried by those in the crowd were fairly beaten to pieces and all the buildings in the park looked like sieves.

In the meantime the water back of the dam was rising so fast that Manager James McGrath of the grounds became fearful of a break in the wall and, hurrying among those who had gathered for shelter in the eating stands, merry go round, theater, and dancing pavilion, and urged every one to flee to the hills.

So unwilling were the people to face the blinding downpour that Manager McGrath and his assistant, Charles E. Thomas, were compelled literally to drive them from the buildings. Then, as they heard the road of the water already pouring over the dam and realizing that a break would bring down upon them five acres of water, enough completely to fill the ravine of a quarter mile in width and a mile in length, a panic broke out among them.

A rush for higher ground was made, but many had still failed to reach it, when a section of the wall went down with a crash and the strugglers were struggling in the torrent.

The park buildings were fairly twisted to pieces and all but the dancing pavilion and a large lunch stand were carried from their foundations.

Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
July 6, 1903

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