Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-03-27
Only One City Block That
is Not Under Water and
No Bodies Have Been Re-
covered Says Report.
INDIANAPOLIS is
A HEAVY LOSER
Reports From the Capital
Place Loss of Lives at 200
When the Levee Broke
During the Night.

South Bend, Ind, March 20 An
official report received by Mayor
Goetz of South Bend at 1O:45 a. m. TO-
day was that 800 people were drowned
at Peru Ind; that no bodies had been
recovered and that there was less
than one block of the entire city that
was not under water.
The report was telephoned to Mayor
Goetz by the relief party sent from
South Bend, which reached the out
skirts of Peru. 1t stated further that
only two feet of the upper parts OF
the houses in the submerged district
could be seen, that the court house,
the hospital and some factory build
ings were crowded with survivors IN
need Of food and that Gov Ralston had
been asked to send more supplies from
Fort Wayne.
The report to Mayor Goetz said all
the available boats We're Immediately
loaded with provisions and sent into
the city under great difficulty, but SO
great was the suffering that 1t was
soon found the supply was insufficient.
Mayor Goetz, who had been informed
If the conflicting reports about the loss
of life at Peru, said he accepted the
report from the relief party as Of
fetal.
"The message stated definitely that
at least 800 were drowned" said Mayor
Goetz. "That seems to leave little
doubt that the loss Of life is great.
can't conceive that those in charge OF
the relief party should greatly over
estimate the loss"
Estimates of the number of people
drowned in the flood in Peru up to 8
o'clock this morning varied from fifty
to one hundred.
1t was impossible to make anything
like an accurate estimate. Mayor
Krutzer, who is marooned in his home,
received a telephone report that the
number probably would not exceed
fifty or sixty. Persons who are isolated
in down town buildings and in por-
tions of the residence sections and
who saw bodies floating through the
streets, stated that this estimate was
conservative and that the list or
fatalities might reach 100. Several
small relief boats attempted to venture
into the city but were forced back on
account of the swift current.
Many people were seen still cling
ing to roofs. Several groups stood
upon high places attempting to signal
for help. Daylight showed how great
was the devastation wrought by the
flood since last night when the Wa
hash river burst it's banks. Houses
half submerged were drifting away;
other buildings appeared to be
topping over; bodies were recovered
floating with the debris in the streets,
and only spire indicated the loca-
ton of church. ~
Life Loss is Cut Down.
Charles Bolte, chief of police at
Wabash, Ind, stated over the long dis
tance telephone at 9:15 a. m, today
that he had just talked to Sheriff
Hosstater at Peru. :
SHERIFF Hosstater told me that not
more than twenty people were dead 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"
sThe sheriff. continued Bolte, "said
he could not account for the sending
out of an appeal for several hundred
coffins. While hundreds of frame
dwellings were washed away, he said,
the people had ample warning and
only those were drowned who delayed
their escape or attempted to save
their possessions
Chief Bolte said the river at the city
of Wabash was rapidly recedlng, it
having dropped three inches since l
a. m. He said one hundred homes in
Wabash were swamped but no one has
been drowned at Wabash.
At Logansport on the Wabash river
to the west of Peru, all the railroad
bridges were washed out today. The
interurban station in the heart of the
city was under six feet of water, but
according to the telephone messages
received at 9:30 o'clock no one was
drowned.
Despite the reports of Chief Bolte
tho telephone operator of Logansport
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