The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-01
TOPEKA'S DEAD ESQ.
That Estimate Is Put on
Victims of the Flood.
THE RIVER IS NOW FALLING.
Many Families Rescued From
Trees and Housetops.

tuC vOtuutVCs
Rcscuers War Department Promptly
Replies to an Appeal for Aid for
the Thousands VINO Are Homeless
Food and Fuel Needed for the
Destitute Refugees in Des Moines.
TOPEKA, Kan, May 3l.-Two hundred
and fifty persons dead, 200 missing and 80
dying from the effects Of exposure ia the
estimate of the result Of the disastrous
fire and flood which have held North To-
peka in their grip for three days. Ten
thousand persons are homeless and prop
erty valued at more than IS 900 900 has
been destroyed.
The inhabitants of the capital spent a
day of horror yesterday, but when night
fell the cheering news was spread that
the fire in the northern part of the city
had been practically extnguished and the
river was settling back into it's ightful
channel.
The work Of rescue continued from early
morning until far into the night and hum
dreds of the imperlled inhabitants of North
Topeka were taken to places of safety.
RIVER NOW FALLING.
The river is falling to-day and the water
imprisoned people in North Topeka are in
no grave danger unless another freshet
comes from above.
The stream began to recede in the
middle of last night, and since then it has
been falling steadily and rapidly. 1t has
fallen about two feet, and if no added
waters come the normal flow will return
in few days
Still there is the danger from the floods
in the Solomon. Republican and Blue rivers.
II these floods are as big as is reported
this morning another rise will surely come
here. But the hope il that there reports
are exaggerated and the people feel little
apprehension.
pour from the heavens has not. 1t has
been raining pitiessly all day. adding to
the physical distress OF sufferers and in
creasing the hardship of the relief parties.
Leading men have made a careful e1-
animation Of the food and all its conditions
and as a result Of their investigation they
give $50 az the probable number of lives
lost The number of dead is merely a
matter of estimate
Twenty members of rescuing parties
tell of how they saw people drop from
houses. only to he swept away by the food,
and others tell of men who, terrified at the
approach of the fire. dropped into the
water where they sank and did not re-
appear.
This estimated number Of dead does
not include the large number olassed as
missing who cannot otherwise be accounted
for Neither does it include the number
who are supposed to have Lost their lives
in the fire In the latter class there is alb
solu,ely no means of arriving at even an
approximate number Of victims.
The water is high and the current
so strong tina, all that can be done now is to
rescue those in the buildings surrounded
by water. 1t will he at least three days
before the correct number of dead can be
ascertaned
TOUR OF THE FLOODED DISTRICT.
THE Sun correspondent, with two ex-
pert boatmen, started on tour of the
flooded district, Ii was impossible to cross
the heavy current in the main business
and residence riots of North Topeka,
where the lives of 200 persons are in peril.
but of the region travcrsed, evidences OF
tie awful calamity and dire distress were
everywhere. People roasted in the trees
in nearly all he blocks.
This afternoon it was found that rescuing
parties could with safety locate refugees
in tho big elevator in North Topeka and
also in the Union Pacific Hotel, which had
been abandoned early on Saturday morn
ing. A high plot of ground near Garfield
Park was considered safe, and here nearly
100 refugees are shivering tonight without
shelter from rain, Their hunger was ap-
peased late this afternoon when boats took
them food and stmulants to counteract
the effects of cold and rain
When the imprisoned people in upper
stories and the two-score who had been
clinging to the roofs of the houses prefer
ing to remain there than to attempt to cross
the river in the small boats, learned that
they could be taken to places OF safety
in North Topeka, the outcries for help
were heartrending. The heavy rain which
falling last night at midnight
and which still continues, served the good
purpose to stop the great fire which yester-
day added horror TO the North Topeka
food.
In addition two the grief Of hundreds who
knew their relatives and friends were in
The Four .TraCk News for Junc is lust out and