The Cordova Daily Times

MANY LIVES THOUGHT LOST IN DISASTER

KELSO, Jan. 5.—With the progress of the rescue work being carried on by divers in the vicinity of Wednesday's bridge catastrophe, it becomes more and more evident that the exact toll of lives taken in the tragedy may never be known.

Thirty persons are now definitely reported to be missing while three divers are at work in the vicinity of the wrecked bridge searching for bodies.

Gasoline launches are patrolling the river, but up to latest reports no bodies had been recovered and the belief is expressed that many have been swept out into the Columbia, in which case it may be days before they can be found by the river steamers now engaged in the search.

More than forty persons have been rescued from the swollen torrent of the Cowlitz River, all of whom have harrowing tales to tell of narrow escapes.

Many of the pedestrians who were hurled into the stream with the collapse of the bridge are declared to have been transient laborers employed by the Long-Bell Lumber Company, some of whom were not even carried on the payroll, and as a consequence the identities and number of those who have lost their lives may never be ascertained.

GRAPPLERS SEARCH FOR RIVER VICTIMS

KELSO, Jan. 5.—Under command of Chief L. V. Jenkins, the entire police staff of river grapplers of Portland took over at daybreak today the problem of recovering the Cowlitz dead. Only two of those have been recovered. They were rescued from the water alive but died later today.

Twenty-three bodies are known still to be in the river, and are believed to be somewhere between the town of Kelso and the mouth of the river four miles away.