The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-03-26

a rope to his wife who tied to it q
meal sack which contained their baby
three months old.
Myers pulled the rope with its pre-
cious burden up and then let 1t down
again to aid his wife to ascend. With
the meal sack over his shoulder and
his wife behind him, Myers holding
on to two thin wires, walked across
the cable full block before he
reached sofety.
There was brought from the food
last night Mrs. James Cassidy and
her three children Mrs. Cassidy was
grief-stricken over the report OF the
death of her husband by drowning.
Even as she was being registered
there was brought in to rescue head
quarters a man who had to be held
up and who was very wet.
..Jim. Jim,'' suddenly shrieked the
women. That's you Jim. isn't it?
You aren't dead, jim; say you aren't
dead"
Jim had been rescued from drown
ing. The return of James Cassidy
was the one bit of joy in the awful
gloom at the rescue headquarters
where gathered the victims OF food,
fire and famine.
A woman maddened by the horrors
of the day fought with Bill Riley and
his companion, Charles Wagner, who
had rescued her in boat.
She BIZ Riley in the hand and
choked Wagner who sought to restrain
her. The little boat swayed and was
on the point Of capsizing when the
woman suddenly became calm and
began to pray.
A. j. Saettle. owner of the house
in which the fire started after a gas
explosion, is reported to nave been
blown into the air and killed instant
lily.
Mrs. Skunk, a neighbor, was blown
out of her home into the food and
after clinging to a telegraph pole for
half an hour finally succumbed and
was sucked away under the waters,
according to report received at res
cue headquarters.
| The explosion blew a stable filed
with hay into the middle Of the flood
ed street and this carried the flames
to the opposite side.
The next house to burn was Harry
Lindsay's. Then Mary Kriedler's, and
then the home of O. G. Lindsay.
Houses that had been carried away
| from their foundation foated into the
| flames and soon were a bonfire.
! The fires burned without restraint.
| The search for the dead will not be-
gin until all the living have been
helped
The most heart-rending feature OF
! the situation is the pitiable terror OF
4 the women and children.
Many of them sat up and sobbed
through the night, refusing to believe
! that their fathers and husbands are
safe, and husbands and fathers who
/ missed wives and children cried their
grief in the nerve-shaking way that
strong men have Of voicing sorrow.
There was no one to give consolation
! because no one knows, or will know
/ for several days what the cost In
/ lives is.
! Children are lost, having been part
| ed from their mothers in the turmoil.
Dayton is lost city. It Is COM
pletely separated from the rest of the
world, its isolation is almost prime.
| val, only one telephone line is work
! ing and that is private wire be-
i tween Dayton and Lebanon.
The city gcvernmest is completely
imprisoned by water. Nothing has
been heard from it since the food de-
seconded upon the city. 1t came down
so quickly that no one was prepared.
= The only organized relief move
ment is that which is being conduct
ed by the National Cash Register com
pany whose plant is outside OF the
fiocd and fire zone.
The entire Office force of this or
ganization has been thrown into the
work. Not wheel has stirred in the
factories of the Cash Register com
pany since Tuesday morning.
The huge plant has been turned In
to a rescue mission and hospital and
a thousand persons slept on it's straw
covered floors last night. The dining
rooms and rest rooms of the women
employes was turned into a dining
room for the refugees. Nearly all
available food was bought up by the
company for the benefit of the flood
victims.
/ Dayton has found new cause for its
faith in John P. Patterson, the man
who put Dayton on the map.
Barefoot yesterday he waded
through the flood to save families from
i flooded houses He rowed the boat
himself. He is nearly seventy years
OLD,
! He has two children. son. Freder-