The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-06-03
LANDED 225.
People Who We're Brought Out
at SardOu Avenue.
Mr.. Sardou's Corps Of Brave
Life Savers.
THEY WOULDN'T LEAVE
Found Many Who Refused to
Quit Homes.
How the SardOu Avenue Bridge
Now Appears.
THEY WOULDN'T LEAVE

Probably 225 people made the passage
of the Kaw river and landed near Sar-
dou avenue. one might say they land
ed at the Sardou avenue bridge, only
there is no such structure any more.
Two hundred and twelve people were
taken over Monday. OF this number
Freeman Sardou claims the lions share.
With a weeks unshaven beard upon
his swarthy cheeks. SLOUGH felt hat
showed tight upon his head. the man
works silently. refusing to discuss his
ventures or to listen to his own praises
murmured by every watcher who sees
his boat cree9ing slowly across the de
vourin~ current under the rise and fail
of his oars. He is a man of not more
than average stature, apparently not
particularly broad in the shoulders. but
rather rounded as if accustomed to the
rowing posture
Judging from the uncharitable remarks
he makes about the people who refuse
to leave their houses in North Topeka
his herculean labors of the past f.e
days have not softened his temper. He
is not an old man. but the beard show
ing uoon his face is white in patches
He is at the end of the prime Of life.
but outdoor vigor gives him a strength
and endurance not possessed by men OF
c. score less Years. The name of Free
man sardou viii be synonymous vita
the performance of unbelievable feats
of hardihood while the memory of the
awful food of 1903 fingers.
But there are other men who lack not
the braver-7 but tine endurance OF this
man. One of these is G. c. Edmoads. a
farmer who lives ten miles east of town
f--7 h. MI c. n "a
day night he has watched and toiled
almost rs Gnt easi1gIy as has Freeman
S3rdou. He came TO Topeka Saturday
with milk. Discovering the plight Of
North TC-eka he applied for a chance
to help. He had no boat of his own
but =. 5. Brigham, whom he saw, en-
listed his services and gave him an or
der THCl the COmmissariat for fOOa
EVidc1tiy Ednonds found It too far up
iowa to so there for eata bIes. because
ne was not heard of for p hours longer.
Tnen he began landing people from
North Tops ka. At times since then he.
has mad difficulty in finding a boat III
which to work. but almost increasingly
Re has been hauling out people. He *
man OF magnificent physique and can
4 rule boat as the head rules the body.
The list of heroes of the Topeka flood
I is a long one Boys show themselves
+ possessed of all the attributes OF man
hood, and among those who are risking
their lives in the river the greater num-
men who during the past three days
/ have placed a full half thousand lives
/ out OF danger or the south side of the
/ river near the place where the Sardou
avenue bridge once stood. Freeman
7 Sardou, Charles Sardou and George Sar-
/ dou, his sons, Guy and Floyd Ludding
4 ton. Isaac Paisley and John Paisley Tate
/ Upper. Ben Fox. Charles QUAINT, A.
4 Hanson. Lou Roehrig. John Austin, H.
F Zlnn, j. A. Rose, Walter Lippert, a
NJ. Thompson, Clarence Dicess. OFT Will
/ bur, Robert Maxwell. H. linn and two
/ men ramed Wilson and Fisher
The perilous trip from Sardou avenue
! to the Calhoun Bluffs has been made
+ twice or three times by Lou Roehrig
who reports that there are about 40 peo-
pie at that place. practically without
shelter and with no source of food sup
/ ply except the town. They are in the
hills and timber of the bluffs They
shelter their weak ones beneath rude
sheds constructed from the feed
troughs Of the cattle feed yards where
( they are Thus far they have not suf-
/ fered for food although their commits
sary has been limited at all times
Charles QUAINT is one of the few who
/ have ventured toward Menoken- Tues
day he started in a wagon west along
the south bank of the Kansas river
with his boat, purpOsing to cross high
above Topeka. What the outcome Of
4 the venture is has not been learned.
i one or two reports from persons who
/ have come down from that vicinity re-
4 port Menoken to be in a very comfor-
! table condition, considering that it has
4 been flooded. QUAINT lives at Wanna
( maker west of town. He is a carpenter
/ by trade but is a skillful boatman.
Anther letter has been received from
NJ. c, Holman, whose house on North
+ Kansas avenue is the refuge of 80 peof
pie. He says his people want more pro-
visions Some were. sent over yesterday
and more will follow today
There is an awfully hopeless look about
! the mass of W-Teckage about the little
island a quarter of a mile down stream,
/ where the Sardou avenue bridge has
lodged. Reared to almost its usual height,
but twisted with the length of the cur
rent section of the big steel structure
stands above water. Where the north end
! is can not be seen from the south side.
while the boatmen have been too busy
rescuing people to Investigate.
Where the south approach was IS now
an abrupt embankment with the water
lashing against its foot To all appear
4 ances the bridge is gone beyond recall for
/ use at its cid foundation. Its beams sprung
and twisted with its awful strain, its bolts
/ started and its under structure gone, It
/ can not be expected that the 1eridge VIII
i ever serve for use upon the kaw- 1t may
/ be taken out separated and carried away
for use across the creeks of the county,
/ and it may be sold for junk
This is the condition of the other wagon
! bridges of the county whose loss viii add
thousands upon thousands to che sum to-
tai which viii cover the losses to Shawnee
| county and the state
Death of Millionaire Cox
A~bax-;1lo N = T44ne 2-Co1 Fra ?, L