The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-06-01
Hundreds of Lipes Lost and Millions of Dollars
 Worth Of Property Destroyed.
Thousands Driven From Their Homes to the HIs--Fire
 Adds Horror to the DeIuge.
THE STRIKEN TOPEKAS.
Conservative Estimate Places Loss of
 Life at I75 to 200.

Life at I75 to 300.
 Topeka. Kansas, May 31.-To-day has been one of great horror and suspense to the people of North Topeka and of Topeka. Huddled together on hills and housetops and in trees, with little or nothing to eat, they are just beginning to realize the extent of the awful ca lamity that has befallen them through flood and fire.
 With 175 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 the unwilling inhabitants of the treetops and roofs of houses, and the waters creeping upward and then slowly subsiding and alternately chang ing hope to despair, the capital city has passed the most memorable Sabbath day of it's existence. Through all this discomforting condition of affairs was added the presence of cold, dismal rain.
 The arduous work of the heroic res cuers was not abandoned in the least by the conditions which confronted them. For long, dreary hours, knee-deep in water and sometimes in water up to their necks, they worked with might and main. Tonight they can point to 300 or more rescued persons, who other wise might sllave been swept away in the current.
 Briefly stated, the present condition of the flood is this:
 One hundred and seventy-five to two hundred people drowned.
 . Eight thousand people without homes.
 Four million dollar loss of property
 Identified dead, five.
 Floating bodies seen, twenty.
 People missing, 200.
 Houses burned as the result of fire in lumber from stacking time, pronaply 200. Burning houses foated away, set ting fire to others and thus causing the spread of the flames.
 Banks collapsed, two.
 Wholesale grocery stores flooded, tWo'
 Biz business blocks almost ready to crumble, fifty.
 wholesale commission houses desert ed, six.
 Rock Island trains containing lou pas sengers held by high water.
 City waterworks plant useless.
 The known dead: Karl Rupp, Orville Rupu. two Rupp girls, G. P. Garretts sive-vear-old son. and twenty unidenti- fled bodies.
 Leading men have made careful ex- animation of the flood and all its con- ditions, and as a result of tnelr lnVestl- gation they give 250 as the prooaole 1,,Inber of lives lost. Amore conserva- five estimate places the number ot deao at 175. The higher number is as likely to be correct as the lower.
 The number of dead is merely mat Her of guess. Twenty members or res cuing parties tell of how they saw peo- ,,1A drop from houses to be swept away hv the flood, and others tell of men Who, terrified at the approach of ire, oroppea ;n+o tbe water, where they sank and dld not reappear.
 Tbis estimated number of dead does mt include the large number classed as ,nissing. who cannot otherwise be ac- counted for. Neither does it lncluoe 'he number who are supposed to nave iosI their lives in the fire. In the iatter class there is absolutely no means ot arriving at even an approximate num- her of victims. The water is so hlgh and the current so strong that all that can be done now is to rescue those in the buildings surrounded by water It will be at least three days before the correct numher of dead will be known. Work Of rescuing the victims or the flood is being pushed with vigor. Better results have characterized the efforts ot the organized forces since o'clock this afternoon than during all the preceding twenty-four hours Two little steam launches are now puffing up and down the river picking up survivors.
 A larger steamboat is expected here by g. special train on the Rock Island within twenty-four hours. If possible to run the train. the boat will be brought to point two miles above the city and launched there.
 A train load Of small boats was in use to-day. but they were useless in battling against the mighty current
 A wire cable is stretched across the Kansas avenue bridge. To this will be attached a sand dip and refugees will be brought across in this. If the flood shall not rise further and those not yet reached can keep their places few hours longer there need not necessarily be much larger loss of life.
 Large contributions have already been received for the benefit of the suf- ferers. The amount given by Topeka citizens alone will aggregate $100, 0,000. To this is to be added an immense quantity of clothing, provisions and general supplies Outside towns have generously offered aid. notable among which is Galveston. Texas.
 Tonight the portion of Topeka rot af- fected by the flood is crowded with ref ugees and people from the surrounding country who have come to witness the flood conditions,
 There is great anxiety tonight as to what tomorrow will bring forth. If the river shal! not receive any more
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