The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1913-04-04
WOMEN SEEK DEATH
INDIANA LIFE SAVER TELLS A
GRAPHIC STORY OF THE
FLOOD AT PERU.
HE FERRlED MANY TO SAFETY
Thrown Int Water Several Times BY
Despairing and Frenxied Passen-
aers-Paddled Three Miles Through
the Tree Tops.

SSoS4'tfU4 wv
osrs-Paddied Three Miles Through
the Tree Tops.
Plymouth. Ind.-Graphic description
Of the horro 70 of the food at Peru,
Ind. wa given by Gilbert Kessler.
one Of the heroes Of the calamity.
Weary. tired eyed and almost In
nerved from the loss Of sleep and
the sights he had witnessed. young
Kessler. muscular product Of .
northern Indiana farm. staggered from
a relief train from the stricken city
at Plymouth. Here he recounted the
terrors Of the inky nights when the
Wabash river drowned the piercing
cries Of the frantic and the groans of
the perishing. To board the relief
train Kessler had padded three miles
In a boat through the protruding tree
tops and debris that momentarily
threatened to wreck him.
craxed Woman Leaps to Death.
Kessler's most vivid picture wal
the suicide Of several fear crazed
women, who leaped from the rescue
boats. The roaring current and the
terrible sights, he declared. had mad
dened them.
1T was too awful ever to forget"
said Kessler with q shudder. TT was
cold and damp and misty. and the
sight Of that black water rushing on
pitilessly Just seemed to take the
heart out of most Of US, especially the
women.
Might and day you could hear the
shrieks Of the women. And the con-
duct of some Of them! was plotting
one of the rescue boats to our land
ing, the court house. and the boat was
pretty we'll filled. One of our passen-
gers was a woman.
I'VE were moving rather shakily
through one Of the main streets when
all Of a sudden l saw this oma rise
from her seat and begin to wall: "Oh.
what is the use! Well all be drowned
anyway and she plunged from her
seat into the torrent.
Tossed Overheard; Regains Boat.
The next moment | found myself
in the water. / saw a little arm stick
up for a moment. l made a grab for
it, but 1t went down. There was no
chance to swim in that Niagara. l
struck the stern Of our rowboat and
seized it with one hand. Then l grad
ually drew myself aboard.
Il picked up one of u oarsmen a
little later. He was still alive.
But the circumstances considered,
you could scarcely blame the woman.
A great many of them, though, suf-
fered with a stoicism that had to be
admired.
Then again, l had a similar occur
renee. We were bringing another
boatload to the court house when a
woman lunged out despairingly and
all of us went over. Again 1t war a
fight and I managed to ave myself.
Four times. altogether. | was thrown
out into that muddy stream and l am
still wondering how l managed to es-
cap
The current swept around street
corners with tremendous force and
only the most experienced oarsmen
couid proper those GRAFT WIN any ue-
gree OF salety' one oi Tue HE savers
from Mlchieah oi'y 'ooh 'oo "ioe d
TURN anu they oil iahueu III Tie uee
ops,
were as many nVes ios' III Tue zap,
s'Nine vi coa,S as III 'ne hoo' i''eii'
he was asheu'
res out 'ne poa,S "eie no' " oianie'
BECAUSE 1, iequiieu s'eAl eApe,,en'e -
nhnuie . poa, III 'ha' current lit an.
s"eiou W. nAu Noo ooa.s' pu.
.nere was 81 MUCH iosS Vi me .ha'
"nAy 'he women reiuSeu apsoiu'e'y
70 enter tne ooa's, Ahey preierreo
" s.cA " roois anu secoho noors'
0u!s"ne o. va" Ceser.oeo'
hessier tnen gave d description o.
the hooo on the nrSt nisnt.
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