Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-06-02
KANSAS CITY FLOOD
Has Now Become @ Fight
 For Life.
TWENTY THOUSAND ARE HOMELESS
City Is Nm Darkness and Without Water Supply to Fight Fires Should They Break Out.
 Many Heroic ResCues.

Should They Break Out. Many Heroic Rescues. KANSAS CITE, June 2.-With gas and electric lights extinguished, the waterworks shut down and the city practically at the mercy of the first fire that shall break out, with railroad transportation Reeble and uncertain, Kansas City may, if the waters do not recede within the noxt two or three days, be compelled to fight for her very life. The skies are dark and low ering, the rain is falling heavily, more stormy weather is sweeping up from the west, and the unsuitable river is stoutly holding its own. It is practi- cally stationary now, but what the 1 flood has it keeps, and there is no cer- tain promise of when it will recede. Chief Connor of the weather bureau says that while the outlook is for con- tinued rains 1t would necessitate a very heavy fall if the present high wa ter is to continue.
 In this district 10000 people are homeless. Many have been drowned, but the number cannot be estimated. The property loss has been heavy.
 There is no great probability that there will be further loss of life if the river does not rise very suddenly. All through the wholesale districts and in the east and west bottoms there are people still in houses, many of them anxious to be taken. away and a good ly number of them content to remain where they are with all the chances of the flood.
 NHanx oIS L iV1 cuing people and have probably brought 25o of them safe to the high ground since sunrise. One hundred and fifty of these were brought to the viaduct at Twelfth street, and the oth- CTS were saved in the east and the west bottoms by boats. Twenty people were taken from the Martin school and thirty from O'Brien's lodging house in the east bottoms. The rest of them were brought in singly. Tn the east and the west bottoms number of obstinate people are still clinging to their homes. Although the police have run boats beneath their windows and offered to save them, they refuse to leave and will take their chances for another night at least.
 It Is utterly impossible to form any estimate of the number of dead here. There have been manifold stories of how boats laden with people have been seen to sink, and there have been re- ports without end of bodies seen float ing by on wreekage, of men who have tried to drive wagons laden with their household effects against certain death in the swift current and gone down in the flood.
 An emergency board of health has been appointed by the mayor to CO., operate with the city physician in quelling the disease which will result from the flood.
 In the hotels, all of which are crowd cd to capacity, care is taken to prevent the wasting of water. In front of ev- cry wash room a guard is stationed, and no one is admitted even to wash his hands unless he identifies himself at the desk. The gas company made fight all of the day to keep gas in the mains, but was forced to shut down. The flood forced the closing down of the plant that the company has been using, and 1t was necessary to start the fires in the old Missouri Gas company plant that has been unfit for service for years. The best the company can promise is gas for two hours night and morning to cook with.
 Tn the Missouri rivers surplus wa ters, known locally as the least bot toms,' many difficult rescues were made. Lieutenant of Police Harry A. Adams, assisted at first by five police men and later by double that number, working with boats throughout the | day made rescues under great difficult Hes. Probably seventy five people were removed to places of safety dur ing the day in this section of the city. Nightfall found the rescuers still at work A quarter of a mile in the di- rection of the river the land was pro- tected by the embankment of the Mis- souri Pacific railroad, and nearly 2,00O sightseers were strung along the tracks. Lieutenant Adams scented danger in the embankment, and with what few policemen he had and few volunteers he ordered the crowd from the tracks. Arguments and commands having proved futile, he and his men literally pushed the crowd from the tracks to the higher ground south of , the brewery. It was not more than half an hour after the lieutenant had driven the crowd off that the embank- ment crumbled away and the east bot toms for miles were under water, peo- , pie crying for help and shooting pis- tols from the roofs and upper windows of their dwellings.
 The brewery, the police station it. self, stores, saloons and scores of cot tages were flooded, and there was not a boat within miles. Lieutenant Ad- ams promptly transferred headquar- ters to by shed and began work ing wires in every direction to get y boats. A few people nearer the high ground than others were rescued on rafts during the night, but the active rescue work began when wagons with y fifteen boats arrived. Men, women and t children were rescued from tree '- branches, telegraph poles, box cars and d roofs. Twenty people who spent the