Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-04-30
DEATH LIST AT GUTHRIE MAY NOT
EXCEED TWENTY.
ESTIMATES STILL GUEssWoRK.
MANY BODIES MAY BE CONCEALED
IN THE WRECFSAGE.
Wood Has Receded and Left West
Gutbrfe n Scene of DesoIation-
Thieves and PiIIagers ut
Work-Trnin Service
Partially Resumed.

Guthrie. o. r. April 29-(Special) The
great Guthrie flood Is a thing of the past.
Tho waters have receded, and where yes
terday flowed ten feet of water the ground
is almost dry. the great piles of wreckage,
the crushed and ruined buildings the scene
of general devastation tonight seeming
more the work of mighty tornado than of
q flood
All night the water went down fast. and
by daylight the river was within its banks
and people were beginning to reconnoiter
their dismantled homes or look disconso-
lately at the wave-swept sites where they
once were.
BY noon hundreds of workmen were at
work restoring houses, drays were moving
The things the food disdained to destroy or
carry off, and people were against creating
homes.
A trim through every section of the food
ed district shows over 100 houses entirely
gone, three times as many wrecked or
damaged. a dozen business houses wrecked,
and twice as many stocks of goods mixed.
the loss is fully 100000. Five hundred peo-
pie are homeless. and twice as many have
lost their clothing, household goods and
personal effects.
With the recedlng of the water and the
coming of dawn began the eager search for
the missing, and many were the joyful
meetings of friends and relatives with those
supposed TO have been lost. Many of those
reported last night as positively drowned
were found in trees, on high places, and in
houses lodged downstream and it soon be-
came apparent that the number drowned
did not exceed twenty or twenty-five.
The escapes made by survivors are re-
,narkable. and hundreds of the incidents of
the flood are thrilling as the tales of
war.
One Of the most remarkable escapes was
that of Mrs. Rachel Mckinney, aged 65.
She climbed upon an arbor where she held
for three hours, was knocked off by drift
wood, went under twice, floated an eighth
of a mile. struck house, grasped window
sill and. breaking the glass with her hands.
climbed in and lay on the floor until res
cued at night. Daniel Smallwood swan
half mile, holding his crippled wife.
George Owens, the butcher, drowned
while rescuing others; Mrs. Fannie Putin,
struck by a long; John Miles. going under
exhausted while saving children: Mrs. Eva
Dumas. Mrs. Jane Watt, H. NJ. Sawyer.
Mrs. Dennis and an unknown man and
wife are among those positively reported
drowned tonight, but there are many 9TH
ers who were carried away into the Cim-
arron and will never be found.
Thieves and pillagers are lootirg the
wreckage along. the river and entering
many of the dismantled houses tonight.
Guards are out everywhere, and if the
guilty parties are caught there is likely TO
be a lynching. The receding water in the
Cimarron has left an immense pile of
wreckage at the railway bridge two miles
north OF here, and the watchers there are
positive there are many bodies caught or
buried there, declaring that several have
been sighted The body of a colored baby
and smooth faced white man have been
recovered this evening, but not yet identi-
"sTh The first ttainf north for two days left
here this evening, but 1t will be two days
longer before trains get through south. as
two miles of track have washed out near
Seward, and much of 1t entirely disap-
peared. The loss 10 the railway company
by the flood will be SIS 0C0.