The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-03-26
DEATH REPORTS FROM PERU.

| rapidly.
DEATH REPORTS FROM PERU.
Estimates Vary Between Losses OF
Two and Three Hundred Lives.
Peru, Ind, March 26.-Estimates
| of the number of people drowned in
the flood in Peru made up to noon
today varied from 200 to 800. 1t was
impossible to make anything like an
accurate estimate.
! Persons who are isloated in down
town buildings or in portions of the
I residence sections and who saw bodies
floating. through the streets, stated
| that this estimate was conservative
and the list of fatalities might reach
| a higher figure.
| Several small relief boats attempt
| ed to venture into the city but were
forced back on account of the swift
| current. Many people were seen still
clinging to roofs. Several groups
stood upon high places all morning
| that later several motorboats brought
| from Winona lake might be able to
| breast the terrific force of the flood.
Daylight showed how great was the
devastation wrought by the flood since
last night. Only a spire indicated the
location of a church All the city Of
ficials were too busy with relief work
to answer inquiries for information
which came in from all directions over
the few telephone wires in operation.
The chief source of information was
telephone operator in a downtown
building who, surrounded by water,
had stuck to his post without food or
drinking water for "a hours.
Death faced HUNDREDS of persons who
at dawn today were clinging to the
roofs of buildings, where they sought
refuge from the flood which last night
swept from the overfIown banks of
the Wabash river. The prospect at
daylight was distressing. Currents of
muddy water from ten to twenty five
feet were racing through the main
streets at twenty miles an hour. The
water, however. was then believed to
be receding, although only slightly.
Mayor of Peru Dfarooned.
Among those marooned was John j.
Krutzer, mayor of Peru. Mr.. Krutzer
was sick at his home when the flood
rushed in on the city and was unable
to escape before the water surround
ed his home to great depth.
Flood supplies of clothing and other
provisions for 5000 people sent from
nearby towns during the night had ar
rived to points within two and three
miles of the downtown district but at
daylight currents of the water running
between the houses were too swift to
admit of navigation by rowboat.
No one was able correctly to esti
mate the number of drowned because
of the many bodies that had been
carried down the river and because
of the total submrging of whole
streets of houses known to have been
occupied before the water came up.
All night long, while the city was in
inky darkness because of the cutting
off of the gas and electric light sup
ply, men, women and children, and
in some instances entire families, lay
flat where they had crawled to the
roofs of their homes, waiting for day
light to bring relief. Hundreds of
others were damned in the court
houses and lodge buildings Tele-
phones had been opened with points
in the residence and business districts
and from those marooned in buildings
it was learned that many people, in
Guiding some women who had their
children in their arms, had been on
roofs exposed to an almost freezing
temperature all night. One man tele-
phoned that he had seen several peo-
the water. Hundreds of others hud-
died together at the courthouse.
A telephone message from Logans-
port, where the streets also were
flooded to depths varying from five
to ten feet today, stated that there
probably had been loss of life there.
Many houses in the eastern part of
the city had been swept away.
Wires to Peru Fail.
South Bend, Ind, March 26.-At
a. m. today the telephone operator
at Logansport. who has been relay
ing telephone messages from Peru to
South Bend, thus keeping open the
only communication with the strick-
en- city, reported that the wires had
suddenly failed. He reported unable
to reach Peru.
Charles Bolte, chief of police at Wa
bash, Ind, stated over the long dis
lance telephone at 9:15 a. m. that he
had1 just talked to Sheriff Hosstater
at Peru. So
Sheriff Hosstater told me that no
14a
at Peru said Chief Bolte. He said
the belief that scores of people were
drowned arose from the fact that a
few bodies were seen floating down |
the streets"
Bowed Down by Calamity.
Connorsville, March 26.-Many per-
sons probably were drowned at
Brookville, Franklin county. last night |
when they were caught in the conflux
of the east and west forks of White |
water river, which meet in that town.
Survivors tell of attempts of men, |
women and children to escape by the |
light of lanterns after the electric |
light plant had been swamped.
Five children. all of one family |
were seen clinging to an old wooden |
bed. when they were swept into the |
main stream and lost. The town is |
completely cut off and word came |
here from parties at Blooming Grove /
and Everton, villages north of Brook |
Vile. to which appeals had been made. |
Five bridges. the Big Four depot !
and a papermill were destroyed. Fifty |
summer houses on Whitewater river,
south of Brookville are gone. People i
are bowed down by the great calamity /
and are gathering in churches where
services are being held.
To Prevent the Grip
Laxative Bromo Quinine removes the
cause. There is only one 'sBromo Quin4ne"
Look for signature Of E. W. Grove. 25c.