The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1903-06-05
TERRIBLE LOSS OF
LIFE IN Topeka
Flood and Fire Have Cost the
City at Least Two Hum
dred Lives.
WATERS ARE REcEDlNo
Scenes satusday Night eeseard Des-
cription-Eigh.y Fires in North
Topeka Forced Unfortunates to
Roast. or Drown.


Topeka Forced Unfortunates to
Roast. or Drown. 81
Topeka, Kan. June 2.-There is
ground for hope that the worst has
passed. So slowly as to be almost Inn
perceptible the five mile stream Of the
Kansas river is settling back into its
rightful channel. Up and down the
gauge has fluttered all yesterday. Last
night, however, City Engineer McCabe
issued a bulletin giving out THO cheer
ing intelligence thai the waters had
subsidized to the extent Of exactly IA
inches. 1t may be a few hours before
another drop may be noticed. With
Its or 200 lives lost; millions of dollars
Of property destroyed; hundreds Of
pistol shots as signals Of distress,
blended with the agonizing cries of I'M
willing Inhabitants of tree tops and
tops Of houses, Inc the waters crawling
upward and hen slowly subsidtng, al
ternately changing hope to despair, the
capital city passed the most m
able Sabbath day of its existence. To
all this discomforting condition Of at
fairs was added the presence Of a cold
dismal rain.
Brilliant Work of Rsscuers.
The ardor OF the, rescue work Of he
heroic rescuers was not abated in;
the least by the conditions which con-
fronted them. For long dreary hours
kneedeep in water and sometimes In
water UP to their necks, they worked
with might and main. Today they can
proudly point to 800 or more rescued
ones, who otherwise might have been
swept away in the current.
Saturday night, standing on the state
house dome, as many as eighty fires
could be counted in different parts of
North Topeka. The whole central por-.
ton Of the city had been burned out at
10 o'clock, and by morning not a house
in the main part of North Topeka was
North Topeka has 10000 inhabitants
the extent Of the disaster can be real
lied.
People were clinging to the roofs of
houses and the limbs of trees, n
many CAV up in despair and dropped
Into the waters, to be carried away by
the current. 1t was death by fire or
drowning.
List of Catastrophes.
Briefly stated, the present condition
Of the food is this:
One hundred and seventy to 200 peo-
pie drowned.
Eight thousand without homes.
Four million dollars loss of property
destroyed.
Identified dead, five.
FLOATING bodies seen, twenty.
People missing, 200.
Houses burned as result of fire in
lumber from Stacking lime, probably
200.
Banks collapsed, two.
Wholesale grocery stores flooded,
two.
Big business blocks almost ready to
crumble, fifty.
Wholesale commission houses de-
serted, six.
Rock Island trains containing $50
passengers held here by high water.
City waterworks plant useless.
The known drowned:
KARL RUPP.
ORVILLE RUPP.
TWO RUPP GIRLS.
G. H. CARPETS 5-YEAR-oLD SON.
TWENTY UNIDENTIFIED BOD
les.
Leading men have made a careful
examination of the flood and all its
conditions. and as A result Of their in
vestigations they give $50 as the prob
able number of lives lost. A more con
sentative estimate places the lumber
Of dead at 175.
The higher number is as apt to be
correct as the lower. The number Of
dead is merely a matter of estimate.
Twenty members of the rescuing
party tell Of how they saw people
drop from houses only to be swept
away by h flood, and others tell of
men who, terrified at the approach Of
the fire, dropped into the water where
they sank n did not reappear. This
estimated lumber of dead does not in
Guide the large number classed as miss
ing who CANNOT otherwise be accounted
for. Neither does 1t include the num-
Der who are supposed to have lost their
Ayes in the fire.
In the latter class there is absolutely
no means Of arriving at even an APP
proximate humble of victims.
The water Is so high and the current
so strong that all hat can be done
now is to rescue those in the buildings
surrounded by water.
It will be at least three days before
h correct number of dead will be de-
cided upon.
Steam Launches Being Used.
The work of %rescuing the victims Of
h flood Is being pushed forward with
vigor. Better results have charac-
terized the efforts Of the organized
forces since a o'clock yesterday after
noon tha during all the previous
twenty-four hours. Two little steam
launches are now putting up and down
LIE 1AVG4 PlGhl1Sss up SURVIVORS,. A
larger steamboat is expected here by
special train on the Rock Island within
twenty-four hours. If possible to run
the train the boat will be brought to a
point two miles above the city aud
there launched.
A train o OF small boats was in
ues today, but they We're useless in bat
Ting against the mighty current.
A wire cable has been stretched
across the Kansas avenue bridge, To
this will be attached a sand dip and
refugees Will be taken across in this
manner If the food does not rise
further and those not yet reached car
keep their places a few hours longer
there need not necessarily be a much
larger loss of life.
Provision for Relief.
Large contributions have already
been received for the benefit Of the
sufferers. The amount given by To-
peka citizens alone will aggregate
100000. To this Is to be added an i'm
mense quantity Of clothing, provisions
and general supplies outside townshaye
.A,eF 49, -I H. ~ = H..