The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-06-01
KANSAS CITY ALSO HARD HIT.
FIRE AND FLOOD DEATH LIST
THERE MAY ne LONG.
The Bottoms. a Manufacturing District.
Under Six Feet OF Water-UniOn
station In Danger-TrOOps on Guard
TO Control Looters-Nearby Towns
submerged 4? bridges washed A way.

u
to Control Looters--Nearby Towns
submerged bridges washed Away.
ST. LOUIS, No, May 3l.-A report from
Kansas City at midnight says:
1T is now believed that the loss Of life by
floods in the bottoms will exceed the death
rate at North Topeka, Kan, where ECO
persisted
Hundreds of persons are missing and
many of them have doubtless been drowned
The current is 50 swift that doubtless some
Of the bodies will not be recovered until
they reach the Mississippi, while others
may never be found weighted down to
the bottom OF the river by tons of clay
washed from the rivers bank
KANSAS CITY, Mo-, May 31.-At o'clock
this afternoon the Missouri River was
thirty feet above the low water mark and
with the exception Of the food in 1874, is
the highest that it has ever been known
to be.
The city is now without water, as the
pumping stations were flooded at o'clock.
What will be done to supply the needs of
the res idents has not yet been decided.
The Union station Is flooded with five feet
of water and since I o'clock this morning
no trains have arrived or departed The
water has flooded the stock yards and the
entire west bottoms, where mammoth fac
tories are located
Fires in the flooded district have been
frequent. most of them caused by cars of
hn friif tfh
panies' warehouses burned with loss of
$4,000 Trains OF box cars are burning
to the tracks. There is no way of reaching
them through the food.
Mayor James a. Reed has issued a procla
nation to all citizens to put out all fires
in stoves, as there isno means of fighting
a fire should one start. Newspapers are
hauling water in street sprinkng carts
to their offices. The water will be used
in the boilers to make steam to run their
plants.
The entire police and fire department
are on duty, in addition TO the Third Reg-
ment. Missouri National Guards, which
has been ordered out by Gov. A. NJ. Dockery.
The water is rising rapidly and no one
can predict the height that will be reached.
All connection with Kansas City, Kan,
has been broken as all bridges, twelve in
number, between the two cities and the
suburbs went down the Kaw.
The elevated trestle was cleared of 600
sightseers three minutes before the middle
span fell.
1t Is conservatively estimated that %, 900
people in the two Kansas cities and the
suburbs are Homeless. Relief organiza-
tons are succoring the wants Of the home
less and Convention Hall has been opened
for sleeping purposes.
No deaths from drowning have been
reported, but there were many miraculous
escapes.
The food which is causing the suffering
in the west bottoms came UNEXPECTEDLY
at o'clock. Street car men deserted their
cable trains, and at O'Clock this after
noon the water was running over the tops
of cars.
The electric light plants are flooded, but
the gas works are safe. Officials of the
packing houses say that they cannot re-
open before three weeks The machinery
is damaged. and the stock of thousands of
pounds of pork and beef are ruined. Eight
thousand hogs were drowned at the stock
yards.
The Burlington round house is now burn
ing, and it is feared that the union station
will be burned. The space between the
structures is crowded with box cars.
SUBURBAN TOWNS SUBMERGED
The Missouri River broke through the
railway embankment across from Kansas
City, entirely destroying the village of Har-
lem, with the homes of 600 families, and
rendering valueless 5000 acres of land
controlled by the Armour-Swift interest
of Chicago. which Was intended to be
centre
Eight of the thirteen electric car lines
have ceased running! and it is estimated
that the railroads cannot resume operations
under two weeks. It's necessary to build
a new pipe line across Kaw River before
water supply can be had.
One hundred employees were imprisoned
in the Schwarzschild 4 Sulzbergsr packing
difficulty.
Aside from the manufacturing centre
which was flooded to-day, the suburban
villages of Argentine Armourdale, Rose
dale, Sheffield and Harlem are practically
inundated. with a large loss of property.
few lives were lost.
The big convention hall erected for the
National Convention in 1900
has been thrown open to food sufferers,
and several thousand are being cared for
in that place. The Commercial Club and
the city officials are also operating for the
relief of the food sufferers.
There are probably nineteen or twenty
lives lost. The property loss is estimated
at 20,OOO,OOO