Omaha daily bee., 1903-06-11
Scores of Houses Submerged Whose o.
Oupants Are Since Missing
AlL BOATS coMMANDEERED FOR RESCUE
Levee Builders Turn to Save Imperi ed
Comrades from Death.
HEART-BREAKlNe SCENES ARE RECORDED
Parents Divided from Children and
Husbands from wives Lose Heart
and Hope on waste of
Waters.

ST. LOUIS. June lo-Almost rwo-thirds OF
East st. Louis, Ill. is under from two to
fifteen feet of water. Between twilight last
night and today eleven lives were sacrificed
to the angry waters, and damage which nc
man today attempted to estimate has been
done to property. The town was demora.
lized, and with reason
Probably never before in the history OF
the country has a more valiant fight by
brave, unfagging men. with defeat hourly
staring them in their face, been made to
protect lives ana property from the de
vastating clutches Of tremendous flood.
Strenuous Efforts UnHvniIing.
When the rising Mississippi began to
threaten the city last Thursday Mayor
Silas Cook ordered men to work TO sand
bag levees at once The river rose higher
! and higher hourly, and more men were EN-
ployed. The waters still rose and all labor
ers procurable were set TO work upon the
levees, citizens of the best classes working
| elbow to elbow with laborers. Since Thurs
day morning 5000 men, under the leader
| ship OF Mayor Cook, without sleep, with
| little rest and food snatched at intervals,
| toilCd increasingly Strengthening levees.
| building them up, erecting additional safe
guards and doing everything in the power
| of man to save the CITY, but 1t was a fight
/
and half in defeat
! Meanwhile, notwithstanding all this
ceaseless labor the arms Of East st. Louis
were extended to those in distress and
| refugees from adjacent hood-stricken
towns were received and fed and sheltered
Not a wheel Of industry is turning in
/ East ST. Louis. The smokelcss chimneyr
Of the manufacturing plants stand lifeless
and spectre-lke, as sentnels surmounting
IA II.
sucks at the foundations.
The vast railroad yards are discernible by
hundreds OF half-submerged cars and loco
1 motives. Huge grain elevators stand sur
rounded by veritable sea While to the
south. beyond the railway yards. are thou
sands of homes, the greater number
humble cottages owned by iaborers and
containing their all. submerged to the
caves.
much the same, though not quite so bad.
Fear Worse InundAtiOn.
The business portion of the city and the
district containing the better residences g.
stnl intact. but Ior how long?" is tho
question being repeated in the mind OF
every citizen tonight. Broadway. running
from Eads bridge east TO the limits, a wide
street built of sand and walled with stone
fifteen feet high. divides the city in halves.
over ten feet OF water is pressing against
Broadway from the south, and in many
places is seeplng through in streams as
thick as a mans body Trafic over GER
tain portions of the thoroughfare has been
prohibited and even pedestrians are not al
lowed to traverse the threatened portions
| II Broadway breaks the water will rush
/ over much of the city until Missouri
avenue, running parallel one block north
is encountered.
Along the river front TO the west levee
L sand bags from two to six feet high and
, two miles long cuts the river out.
Last night was the most terrifying in
the history OF East St. Louis since the
tornado of 1896. without warning the river
suddenly began rising Tired men worked
with frenzed energy to strengthen the
sandbag levees The city was made safe
along the river front. but suddenly a new
danger menaced.
Word was received that the Illinois Cen
tral embankment. skirting the river along
the southern boundary Of the city. was
4 threatening to give way. Couriers were
sent on horseback and on foot TO warn the
inhabitants and hundreds of laborers and
citizens FASTENED to the embankment.
Putting engines rushed carloads of sand
bags to the place and work was hurrledly
: begun Accustomed by this time TO warn
ings OF impending danger citizens did not
+ leave their homes. Higher and higher crept
the river until a thin stream began pouring
over the embankment and suddenly II
+ broke.
Describes Fearful Defeat.
Thomas Middleton, a volunteer in charge
of a gang of men working at this point,
gives a vivid description OF the break
'"The break occurred" he says, "at II 90.
= My gang was hard at work with the others
. and 1 had just looked at my watch and
: noted that It was almost time TO take our
: midnight lunch. The water was pouring
: over the top of the Cmbankment in a sheet
even after all our work Suddenly with a
roar that l shall never forget, a let Of
:, water shot through the eInbankment al
y most at my feet was carried away, but
threw out my arm and seized some firm OBJ
= ject and pulled myself out of the water.
c. D. Sherwood a laboreT standing at nv
side, was swept away and saw him drown.
In an instant the water had cut a section
OF the embankment out and a stream
twenty-five feet wide was rushing through.
l looked across the torrent and saw an
other section of the embankment 20 out
. a few minutes later and then that nor
! ton standing between the two torrents
: went down and the river poured through
in all its fury. Many men, especially
negroes, were drowned know that sew
, eral negroes, worn out, were lying asleeu
right in the path Of the break They GER
+ tainly drowned. I escaped by running along
r the embankment back to the city"
P The alarm spread Ike wildhre and
" whistles were blown. bells rung shots were
A. fired and cries OF warning were sounded
n; but even with ali this pandemonium the
majority OF the aroused Inhabitants failed
A. 10 leave their homes.
AZ Hundreds stin Missing.
r The wall OF water rushed onward and
m within hour the houses stood in water
d. that reached to the roofs Of the one-stoTy
+" cottages II Is known that numbers OF
"a. people fed 20 the Central hotel, a four
story brick structure, and the large bricl
I9 buildings constituting the Washington and
Franklin High schools. .5ut not one 0i