Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-03-27
PROBABLY 5000 PERISH.
CONTINUED from Page one.)

out of possibly reduced death list in
the cities named, the possibility that
other places not vet mentioned as haV-
ing been visited by disaster. had suf-
fered. was indicated in carly reports.
Miamisburg, d town of 1000, = miles
below Dayton, was reported to have
been washed away but no news as to
the casualties among the inhabitants
had been received. At daybreak in
creased anxiety in Indiana conferred
about Brookyille and Connersylne from
which frantic appeals for aid were made,
last night, to Governor Ralston just be-
fore wire communication failed. 1t was
reported to the governor that the White
river levee had given way, flooding the
valley and sweeping hundreds of per-
sons before it.
The early rumer of a death list of
$40 at Pidua, Ohio, was still uncontra-
dictcd, at daylight, though no further
confirmation of it had come to hand.
Throughout the night the most siren
uous efforts at relief were being made.
The governor of Ohio had ordered out
the entire state militia to aid in the
work of rescue in The various cities aud
utHeldl appears lot h'iP "'iS ''A ~ ~
ncghborinE states
The first relief train to Dayton, seut
from Xenia. last night, was expected
back. early today. Preparations were
made by the state Legislature at Column
bus to appropriate S25o,000 for the re-
lief of the sufferers. The governor eS-
timated the homeless in ONO at 100000
Efforts also were being made to sue
cor the victims at Peru, and other In
diana cities. Supplies of every fndica-
ton for 5000 persons were rushed TO
Peru from neighborinS towns but the
problem of penetrating the flooded dis
trict was no less perplcXins than that
at Dayton.
At daylight il was seen that the main
rope of reaching the city lay in motor
boats. since ordinary small rowboats
stood small chance of breasting the cur
rents.
Greater, however, than the problem
| of supplies, both at Dayton and other
places, was the work of reseuing thou
| sands of persons from positions of peril
| to which they had chung all night with
| faint hope of immediate help
In Dayton the Office buildings in the
| business district sheltered in their up
per stories crowds of residents who hat
| rushed there from streets i'll which wa
ter ragged to a depth of from nine to lt
| feet.
| At the National Cash Register plan
| on high ground, thousands were takeI
| in and in outlying residence districts
| other thousands waited in fair and anX
| iety to hear from relatives and friends
who had been unable to leave the cente
| of this city
| In every city and throughout the tlooC
| districts, the fear at daybreak was tina
the death list had been increased durin:
| the night by the constant dropping o
| exhausted persons into the water. Tn
| utter inability of ordinary boats to reacl
| people clinging to dismantled houses
! trees and surrounding objects made tn
| work of rescue everywhere practicall
| impossible. There was hope, however
of gradual subsistence of the flood
j which had reached its crest at Dayton
at midnight, and began slowly to fall.
One pressing need at Dayton, next t
the rescue of imperiled persons, was
supply of food, the stores being in tn
inundated district The water suppl