Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-03-27
Of John Bish. All being victims OF
the food.

Of John Bish. All being victims OF
4 the food.
It is not believed the rescuers WI
be able to make any advance into the
flooded district today, but will have to
content themselves with saving those
who were marooned within few
doors of the waters edge.
More than 10000 persons either
were unable to reach their homes or
held in their water locked houses
were unable to reach land.
Flooded Area Is Miles Square.
The inundated districts estimated as
more than fifteen miles square, most
Of which is under from six to eighteen
feet Of water. a
No communication could be estab-
lished with those in the commercial
district and any attempt. to say
whether any or all Of them drowned
is merest conjecture.
It Is believed most Of the fatalities
occurred on the west and north sides
of the river where the wall of water
rushed in suddenly with the breaking
of the levees. ." ... s.-
The early breaking of the levees
will keep the loss of life In the COM
mercial section lower than first was
ESTIMATED.
4 BY o'clock yesterday morning the
business streets were impossible and
many of the employees in the stores
and officers were prevented from reach
ing their places of employment.
MANY were driven to the outskirts
az the CITY far from their own homes,
however and were unable to COM
municate with friends. The immedi-
ate pressing need today is for food
and medical supplies. The great de-
mand for food exhausted the emer-
gency supplies in the outskirts OF the
CITY and survivors now are depending
entirely on what may be brought in
during the day. Fear is expressed
that typhoid and other diseases may
result from using the river water.
The breaking of Tarton reservoir i'm
mediate shut off the usual supply
of filtered water.
One fact that frightened the out
look was that the torrential down
pour which had continued for 4S hours
had ceased.
Geo. Burba, representing Governor
D.. l. 7
head of the local relief work, agreed at
noon that the loss OF life would be De-
tween 500 and 1000. Both declared,
however. that these estimates were
based on conjecture.
The danger from fire seemed to
have disappeared at noon, as so FAR as
could be learned there were no serious
fires burning. The flood still presents
q barrier that prevents boats ap-
preaching nearer than mile from
the center of the city. ,n-
N. C.. r., Building Boats.
Fifty thousand people today are
damned in the upper floors Of their
homes with no gas, no drinking water,
no lights, no heat and no food.
John H. Patterson Of the National
Cash Register Co.. has $50 carpenters
at work building boats He himself has
saved numbers Of lives.
Miamisburg is under water and
there is no food. Country people are
taking supplies to the refugees. Twelve
hundred persons are being lodged and
fed in the National Cash Register
plant. Scores of automobiles and boats
are carrying the marooned people to
safety at many points but up to noon
today no boat could venture into the
heart of the city.
The water dropped two feet this
morning. Not telephone is in CON-
mission. No one can learn the fate
of ones loved ones
A Maritime Hearse.
Dayton, twenty square miles of it,
is maritime hearse. All roads that
were passable seemed to lead to this
sudden city of mystery. From north,
south, east or west, parades of auto
mobiles, traction or train service,
wendell their way to Dayton. The road
from Cincinnati, for instance, led
through Lebanon. All day and all
night strings of automobiles were 60