Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-06-01
AT TOPEKA.

Topeka, Kas., May 31.-Thcre is
ground for hope that the worst mas
passed. The trcacherous Kansas river
appears to be slowing receding, to-
night, and the smile wide stream is
settling back into it's right fun chan
mel. Tonight, City Engineer McCabc
issued bulletin giving out the cheer
ing intelligence that the waters mad
subsidized to the extent of exactly ~
inches. With IT'S or 200 lives lost; mil
lions of dollars of property destroyed:
with hundreds of pistol shots as sig
nails of distress, blended with the agon-
izing cries of unwilling inhabitants of
tree tops and roofs of houses and the
waters creeping upward and then
slowly subsiding and alternately cnang-
ing hope to despair, the Capital city
has passed the most memorable day of
its existence. Through all this dis
comforting condition of affairs, was
added the presence of cold dismal
rain.
The arduous work of the heroic res
cuers continued in spite of the con-
ditiOns which confronted them. For
long, drcary 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 otherwise
might have been swept away in the
current.
Briefly stated the present condition
OF the flood is this:
one hundred and scventy-five to 200
people drowned.
Eight thousand people without homes.
-Four million dollar loss of property.
Identified dead, five.
Floating bodies seen, 20.
People missing, 200.
Houses burned as the result of fire
in lumber from shaking lime, prob
ably 200.
Ranks collapsed two.
Wholesale grocery stores flooded two.
Big business blocks almost ready to
crumble, SO.
Wholesale commission houses de-
serted. six.
Rock Island trains containing $50
passengers held by high water.
City water works plant useless.
Leading men have made careful
examination of the flood and all its
conditions, and as result of their in
vestigation, they give $50 as the prob
able number of lives lost. The num-
her of dead is merely a matter of guess.
Twenty members of rescuing parties
tell of how they saw people drop from
houses, to be swept away by the flood,
and others tell of men who, terrified at
the, approach of the fire, dropped into
thte water where they sank and did
not reappear.
This estimated number of dead does
not include the large number classed as
missing, who cannot otherwise be ac
counted for. Neither does it include
the number who lost their lives in the
fire. In the latter class there is abso-
lutely no means of arriving at even an
approximate number of victims The
water is SO high and the current so
strong that all that can be done now is |
to rescue those in the buildings sur
rounded by water
1t will be at least three days before |
the correct number of dead will be |
known. Two little steam launches are |
now putting up and down the river |
picking up survivors. A larger steam
boat is expected here by a special train !
on the Rock Island within "a 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 today, 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
he brought across in this.
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