The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1901-09-06

hCOlSu ONCls hdny liNto were III peril
and only heroic work prevented heavy
loss OF life. The fall of rain was the
heaviest in the city's history. Trains
were delayed by washouts and street
car traffic on many lines is at stand
still.
The river is raging torrents. The
property loss at this hour is estimated
at Sl,000,O00
Cleveland, Sept. with the break
ing of dawn Sunday morning the citi-
Zens of Cleveland awoke to look upon
a scene Of unparelled devastation and
destruction, caused by raging flood.
While the entire city was more or less
affected, the great volume of raging
water vented its anger over miles OF
the eastern portion of the city and
caused an amount Of damage approx
mated at 100000.
The appalling overflow was caused
by a terrific rain that commenced to
fall shortly after o'clock, turned into
a perfect cloudburst between the
hours OF 8 and 5, and then continued
with great force until nearly 10 o.
clock. The storm according to to the
weather officials, was the heaviest
that ever swept over Cleveland since
the establishment Of the government
bureau in this city over 40 years ago.
That no lives were lost is nothing
short Of a miracle as stories of thrill
ing escapes from the water on several
Of the principal residence streets of
the city are told
The surging waters spread over an
area in the east end nearly eight miles
long and a mile and a half wide.
This extended from Woodland Hills
avenue to East Cleveland and back
to r Madison avenue.
volumes of water poured over
fro. and Giddings brooks down
Quin~. street, cwamped Vienna street,
rushed over Cedar avenue back over
on East Prospect street, rushed like a
mill race down Lincoln avenue to Eu.
cid avenue and then on to Glen Park
place. where houses were undermined
as though bull of straw. and almost
incredible damage was done.
Hundreds of residents who were i'm.
prisoned in their beautiful homes like
stranded islanders were almost panic.
stricken, expecting to be called upon
TO wade out into the swirling waters
at almosr every minute. Danger sig
nails were flashed about the city as
speedily as the disabled telephone
system would allow and the work of
rescue commenced. Rowboats piled
back and forth assisting whole fami-
lies from perilous positions but these
proved pitifully ina@equate and it was
soon found necessary to go to the eX-
nf
the life saving crew from the river, a
distance of seven miles
The lifeboats were quickly loaded on
wagons and hurried to the scene OF
destruction
The torrent surged with awful force
for hours in Deering street from Fair.
mount 10 the boulevard and over
dozen families were penned in like
rats in a trap with water five and six
feet deep surrounding their homes
At this point the life saving crew
worked valiantly and assisted by
squads of firemen and policemen final
ly succeeded in landing the terror
stricken people in places of safety
The fear was greatly enhanced by the
momentary expectation that the great
Shaker Heights dam would break
loose and belch forth terrible destruc
ton.
Shortly before noon the torrent sue
ceeded in undermining a score OF
graves in the st. Joseph cemetery at
the corner of East Madison and Wood.
land and the bodies were soon being
tossed about In the waters.
Fully a dozen of the corpses were
washed into cutters and had not been
recovered late tonight.
The great flood boiled over the
banks OF Doan Brook all along the
boulevard and caused damage that II
will take months to repair. Great
Jagged holes are torn in the beautiful
driveway and the look Of ruin stretch
es in every direction.
George and Wade Parks on the east
side and Brookside Park in the south
side, where the water also did great
damage as it leaped over the banks
of Big Creek are damaged to an
amount figured at 100000. Through
Chenille the overflow was terribly
destructive. Many houses are swamp
ed, culverts torn out and several
streets turned into seething quag.
mires. The loss in the village Is also
estimated at 100000.
The street railway will suffer an i'm.
mense loss, extending in varying de.
grees over every portion of the city.
Their loss is placed at $4,000.
Thousands of citizens in the most
aristocratic section of the city were
aroused, seeing thousands upon thou.
sands of dollars worth of their proper.
ty being crushed and destroyed an.
other and greater portion of the city
was wrapped in slumber totally obliv.
ious to the danger surrounding their
| fellow citizens.
A remarkable thing is that compar.
atively little damage was done along
the banks of the river outside of the
washing away OF loose piles OF lumber