Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1903-06-04
ACCURATE LIST or THE VICTIMS
CANNOT BE OBTAINED FOR
SEVERAL DAYS.
loss 10 PROPERTY s4.Ooo,ooO
TWO HUNDRED HOUSES BuRNEr
AND MANY BUSINESS CLOCKS
ARE DESTROYED.

Topeka, Kan, June with It's or
200 lives lost, Millions Of dollars OF
property destroyed, with hundreds Of
pistol shots as signals OF distress.
blended with the agonizing cries OF IN
willing inhabitants OF treetops ard
roofs OF houses, and the waters creep
l Ing upward and then slowly suhsid-
Ing and alternately changing hope 70
/ despair. the Capital City passed the
| mast memorable Sabbath day OF its ex-
istence. TO al this disccmfortsng
/ condition Of affairs was added the
presence q cold. dismal rain.
North Topeka is a scene OF utmost
/ dssolarion. Not square foOa Of land
can be seen In any direction There is
! but small chance Of any OF the resi-
dences being lett standing at the end
/ OF the food period.
There is ground for hope that the
worst has passed. The fiye-1niie-w.de
Kansas river is settling back into its
original channer Last night City
! Engineer Mccahie issued q bulletin
giving out the cheering intelligence
thai the waters had subsieed to the
extent u exactly 75 inches. 1t mar
be some hours before another drop
may be noticed.
| The ardor OF the work of the heroic
rfscuers was hot abated In the least
/ by the conditions which confronted
them. For long dreary hours knee
deep in water and sometimes in water
up 70 their necks, they worked with
might and main- They can now point
to 800 or more rescued ones who 9th
erwise might have been swept away in
| the current Briefly stated, the pres
ent condition Of the food in this:
One hundred ard seventy-fve to Coo
| people drowned
Eight thousand people without
homes
-Four million dollars loss Of prop
erty.
People missing. 200.
Houses burned. result of fire in lum-
Der yard from stacking lime. probably
200.
Banks collapsed, 2.
Wholesale grocery stores flooded. 2.
Big business blocks ready TO crnHl-
bic, 50.
Wholesale commission houses de-
serted. s.
Rock Island trains containing $50
/ passengers held here by high water.
City water works plant useless
@ PsSoaEIy $50 Dead.
Leading znen have made careful
examination OF the food and all ais
conditions. and as result OF their m
Testigation they give $50 as the prob
able number OF lives lost. A more
conservative estimate places the nnsn-
Der & dead ~ -. The higher num-
] h@- :. = as apt 10 be correct as the low
err The number of dead il merely a
matter OF guessing Twenty members
OF rescuing parties tex how they saw
| people drop from houses. only to BE
swept away by the food and others
tell Of men who, terrified at the ap-
proach OF the fire. dropped int tire
water. where they sank and did not
reappear-
This estimated number OF dead does
net include the large number classed
as missing, who cannot otherwise 5e
accounted Tor. Neither does ii IN
Guide the number who are supposed to
have lost their lives In the Gre.
In the latter class there is Absolutely
no means Of arriving at even an ap.
/ proximate number Of victims. The
/ water is so high and the current 30
strong that all that can be done cow
is to rescue those in tie buildings sur
| rounded by water. 1t wiz be st least
| three days before the correct number
| OF dead wiz be known. Work of res
cuing the victims Of the focd is being
pushed with vigor III the food docs
not rise any further and those lot
yet reached can keep their places a
few hours longer there need not neces-
sarily be a much larger loss Of fIfe.
Large contributions have already been
received for benefit OF the sufferers
1 The amount given by Topeka citizens
alone will aggregate 500. 00e. To this
is to be added an Immense quantity OF
/ clothing, provisions and general sup
plies. Outside towns have generous
| ly offered aid; notable among them Is
| Galveston Tex.
Last night the portion of Topeka
not affected by the food was crowded
with refugees and people from the sur
rounding country. who have come to
witness the food conditions. There Is
! great anxiety as to what the morrow
VIII bring forth. II the river shall not
receive any more food water west Of
here the Improvement in the situation
here will be marked. X the water
| shall rise q. Manhattan and wamAgo,
today will ace repetition of the
worst OF the food scenes and the dis
tress here viii be greatly intensified.
Either contingency Is entirely within
the range of possibility.