The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-05-15
Notes and Incidents of the xenia Disaster.

Notes and Incidents of the xenia Disaster.
Collected from Specials in Cincinnati Papers.
1t was prayer-meeting night in Xenia, and
many of the people had attended the meetings,
leaving their children alone. the weather pre-
dictions not indicating more than slight
shower. The storm coming up detained them at
church till after the storm had done its effectual
work. The agony of these people in their search
for the missing children pitful to behold
Strong men wept and women wrung their hands,
rushing here and there in their search. Most
Of these children. however, had been rescued
by neighbors. who knew of the absence of the
parents.
No person can Apr zach the city from any
distance without taking devious route or drlv-
ing through fields, and in some directions not at
ALL All over the county, In route from
Dayton, Xenia and thence southeast the work
has been terrible. Houses uuroofed, fences
down, bridges gone pixies cut away. etc. The
railroads had been nearly wiped out of existence
the bridges being nearly all swept away, i'm
mense breaks made in the embankments the
ties and rails hanging spider-li for many yards
In several places
One lady, who has been dangerously i'll for
some time with erysipelas, wadej in water knee
deep from her bed, and it Is feared that the
shock NAV kill her. One man states that when
he opened his door the water was up to the steps,
and when his family arrived in answer to his
summons, the water four feet deep on the
water creeping over the covers on their bed, and
managed to stand on the bed until rescued.
When it was learned that the gasworks had
been disabled and rendered useless, and the
electric wires were down, the citizens gathered
wood and started bonfires. to enable them to sec
how to carry the work of rescuing the suffer
ers
The electrical display on Wednesday night is
described as being perfectly grand and magnif-
cent in its awful play Flash after fash fol-
| lnUad an fas nd az poallv WAC a
constant illumination. SO brilliant as to be- blind
ing; the sky one immense bright sheet Of
lightning interspersed with vivid streaks that
seemed TO tangle with each other. so closely
we're they blended.
The incidents of an exciting nature are almost
beyond description. A lineman was standing on
an ankment and before he could realize his
danger he was in the flood and swept mile by
the raging waters. A telegraph operator got
into the water, and after floating some distance
he caught onto a tree. A house came do wn in
the food and sunk the tree he was perched on.
He climbed on the house and started down with
the current until he came across another tree
He clinched IT, and remained there until he was
rescued, several hours later.
A mans wife called to her husband that she
thought water was running into the cellar of
their house. The husband lighted q lamp and
started to go down to the cellar, but in an in
slant the water was up to mis- chin In the room
where he and his wife had been sleeping
Miss Bertha Richter did noble thing last
night in rescuing her mother. The water rose
rapidly in the house aud their terror great.
They had about $500 in money in the house, and
Miss Bertha secured this and picked her mother
up in her arms and carried her out OF the house.
The water was up to her arm pits, but she strug
gled along and finally reached the residence of
Samuel Hypes, where she sunk exhausted. Her
mother tainted away from sheer exhaustion.
While George Thompson was trying to get his
mother and grandmother, Mrs. Dr. Crum. across
Water street, through the stream, they came
near being swept away by the current George,
while holding up Mrs. Crum, fell, but soon re-
covered himself and managed to get them all
out
George Wilmer had miraculous escape He.
was attempting TO cross the Springfield bridge.
when the bank gave way under him and he was
hurled down into the raging waters of the Shaw
nee He was swept down below the Cincinnati
pike, where he managed to catch onto a tree and
climbed to place of safety. He called to passer
by and told him he was Xenian. but would not
give his name till rescued, for fear word would
reach his parents.
Joe Walton is one of the unheralded heroes
who risked his life more than once by taking a
boat and rescuing people. He took the Fergu-
son family of nine people out of the waters. and
landed them safely on the Shore Immediately
after which their house tumbled to pieces as
though it were a shell.