Warren sheaf., 1903-06-04
People Are Swept to Death by the
Floods in Kaw Valley
in Kansas.
PROPERTY LOSS WILL REACH MILLIONS,
Thousands of People Homeless and
Much Distress Prevails-Uncertain. ,
1y rs to Number of Lives Lost But
1t Will Be Much Less Than First
RenOrte6.

such terrible havoc and wrought such
terrible destruction of Life and prop
erty as has just been experienced il
the Kaw valley of Kansas. The terri
tory affected stretches from Brook
vile, Kan, to Kansas City, distric'
of 200 miles by from 3 to Is miles ir
width. Almost the entire territory is
submerged in water from 1 to 81
feet in depth. It is impossible to as
certain the number who have persisted
or are yet in danger. The loss to cat,
tie, homes, barns, fences and crops viii
run into the millions.
Boatmen who have reached here re
port many persons missing. Probably
50 persons were drowned in the coun
try around here.
In Center OF Floods Fury.
Manhattan is in the very center Of
the floods fury. The Blue river from
the north and the Kansas river from
the west, which carries the waters
from Republican, Solomon, Saline anG
Smoky rivers, besides several large
creeks, meet at the eastern edge OF
the city. For the past five days great
volumes of water have rushed together
here, forming a moving vortex which
only the strongest iron bridges have
so far been able to withstand
The high railroad banks of the Union
Pacific and Rock Island alone have
saved the city from being completely
submerged and possibly entirely swept
away. Most of the inha abitants have
moved to the hills and are being taken
care of in the Kansas agricultural col
lege buildings.
The rain has descended here almost
steadily since Thursday. To add tc
the calamity all telegraph and tele
phone wires are down and the city is
in darkness. the electric plant being
flooded with water. At noon Friday
the water subsidized slightly. but rose
in the evening at a rate of one inch
every five minutes. Men, women and
children were carried. in boats and
wagons to the hills. Those who We're
unable to secure transportation wad.
ed through the water waist deep.
Over 1,5O0 people were housed in the
college building. Four births We're
reported to have occurred during the
night, one of the little babies being
drowned in the engine room. Every
business store is filled with water from
one to ten feet deep. All passengers
are being taken good care of by the
railroads.
Reports Were Exaggerated.
Topeka, Kan, June at is now be-
ieved that the total number of lives
lost IN the flood here will not ex-
coed 20.
No lives were lost in the fires, and
only eight buildings were destroyed
by the fire.
Early reports were unavoidably ex-
aggerated. The burning of lumber
piles gave the impression that the
whole of the north part of the city was
going, and no one was found who
placed his estimate of the loss of life
nnder the hundreds.
With the smoke cleared away, the
Kaw falling and communication by
boat less difficult, additional light on
the subject was received Monday
morning and the reduction in the esti-
mated loss of life followed.
About 200 people are still at North
Topeka, $50 of them being in the up
per story of the woolen mill. They are
well fed, but extremely uncomfort-
able
List of known Dead.
The following is the list of known
dead: Henry Jordan (colored), Mr..
Ward, aged man; Arthur Stitt, FIVE
year-old son of Mr.. Garrett, child of
George M. Story, Miss Louise Sea-
haven, Mrs. Jackson, widow; Henry
Luddington, John L. Adams, Mrs. Ida
Montgomery, Karl and Amelia Rutt,
both children; Andrew Pretzel.
The property loss from the best esti-
mates now possible will amount to ap-
proximately $1,OO0,Oo0. The whole of
North Topeka is still under water
seven feet deep. While the 200 people
penned up in the second stories of
various buildings have plenty of food,
they are in great need of good drink
ing water, which is being supplied as
rapidly as possible in barrels and cans.
Danger That Buildings May Collapse.
The great fear at present is that
some of the'.buildings in North Topeka
may collapse because of their founda-
tions being undermined by the wa
ter. There is no immediate apprehen-
sion that the wooden mill will go down,
but at the same time every effort will
be made to extricate people from that
point as quickly as possible to avoid
any further loss of life.
Lis ... Two Missing.
Among the missing are DR.. H. G..
Miner and his son-in-law, A. C. Keat-
ing. The rescuers of the Miner fam
lily took the women and children on
the first boat. When they returned
the doctor could not be found. They
lived in one-story house. Two miles
down the river a shirt marked ga.
C. Keating' was found afloat.
President Roosevelt Sends Message.
President Roosevelt telegraphed
Monday from Cheyenne to Gov. Bailey.
offering the assistance Of the federal
a l1f h ori Fl G. If naad o1 a XII fs,3fi