The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1903-06-03
THOUSANDS ARE HOMELESS
IN NORTH TOPEKA TEN THOU.
SAND ARE DRIVEN FROM
THEIR HOMES.
FLOOD BREAKS ALL RECORDS
LOSS TO PROPERTY WILL BE
Observation-Disclosures OF
CATTLE LOST.

CATTLE LOST.
Topeka, Kan, May ST.: The high
water has surrounded the whole If
North Topeka and hundreds of houses
| arc deserted. People are moving or
CT that portion of town as fast as pos
sible and great distress prevails At
this time nearly 5000 have moved. It
will be necessary for nearly every in.
habitant of North Topeka to leave his
home inside Of few hours, and this
will leave 10000 homeless.
| The people on the south side of the
river are trying hard to take care OF
the refugees. The state house, court
house and other buildings have been
opened for their benefit. The rescue
work Is proceeding under difficulty and
may have to be abandoned to-day.
Railroad traffic in this city is prac-
ticallv at standstili. The food stu
alton is the worst in the history of the
state The Kansas river is five miles
wide at St. Mary's and the
Town Is HaIf-submerged.
| Reports from Wamatego and other
river towns say a great volume OF
water is coming this way and may
reach here to-day.
The river has gone out Of bounds AT
Abilene and filled 100 cellars. The
| tracks of the Rock Island and Santa
| Fe are washed away, two lumber
yards burned and several buildings
| collapsed.
At Wametego many people have
| been compelled to leave their homes IN
boats. In many cases the water is up
to the second story window. Many
thousand head of cattle have he',n
drowned The surrounding country is
under water
At Marquette the Smoky river is
higher than ever before. Lindshrr" is
surrounded by water. At Concordia
many persons have been driven from
their homes by the Republican river.
Over five inches of water fell there
yesterday.
At Newton the streets were flooded
by cloudburst last night A tornaIo
passed through the country. doing
small damage, demolisEing the high
school and Baptist church.
Four Lives Lost in Flood.
Council Grove, Kan, May 31.-The
less by floods in Norris County is csti-
mated at $1,000,000.
Four persons were drowned here
last night. All business houses are
flooded More than 100 houses are I'M
der water and twenty have foatod
away.
Nebraska Under Water.
Lincoln, Neb., May 81 - Thirty-six
hours of heavy and almost continuous
rain has aggravated the food situation
here. Salt creek and Antelope creek
are out of their banks and the low-ly-
ing district in the western part of the
city is sea, many houses being sub
merged and partly submerged The
water is rising and great many have
been forced to abandon their homes.
Beatrice, Neb., May 31.-Never De-
fore has this section of the state ex-
perienced such food as it is now hav-
ing At Hoag, near here, the Blue
river is three miles wide It is still
rising and the rain is falling in tor.
rents. The Burlington track is under
ten inches of water on the bridge. The
electric plant is under water and is
closed down. Twenty-four residence
blocks on the West side and fifteen On
the South side are under from one to
| five feet of water. The property loss
| vii. be enormous. People living in the
submerged sections in many instances
have lost everything.
Will Break All Records.
Kansas City. May 31.-The Kansas
and Missouri rivers are rising here 1t
an alarming rate and the indications
are that all previous high water rec
ords at this point will be broken dur
| ing the next forty-eight hours. Much
| damage already has been done TO
| property in the lowlands and much ap-
prehension is felt for the safety Of
| property in the west bottom district of
this city. The Kansas river is rising
at the rate of an inch All En;ar and tile
| heavy rains have added II. lie. gravity
| Of the local situation. :sar.t. Concnr
Of the Kansas City weather barran
| predicts that the rise of .an ). isscuri
river during the next few DAYS ,y!i! lie
unprecedented. He says that the vol
ume of water from the Kansas river
anG other streams for witch the Mis-
souri, river is the outlet, added to the
usual June rise, will carry the Mis-
souri, to higher stage than 1t reached
in 1881 and 1892, when it broke all
previous records. At the little town of
Harlem, across from this city, the res
idents in the flooded district were
rescued from house to house in boats
after losing most Of their personal ef-
fects.
Many Lives Lost in Oklahoma.
Guthrie, Okla, May 31.--Reports Of
destructive storms throughout the ter
ritcry continue to arrive. At HArrt