Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-03-26


made up to o'clock this morning varied
from so to 100 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
80 or 60. People isolated in downtown
buildings and in portions Of the residences
sections who saw bodies floating through
the streets stated that this estimate was
conservative, and that the list OF fatal
tiles may reach 100
Several small relief boats attempted to
venture into the city, but were forced
hack on account of the current.
Many clinging to Roofs.
roofs, and several groups stood upon
high places. attempting to signal for
help. It was believed that later several
motor boats brought from Winona lake
might be able to breast the flood.
The daylight showed how great was the
devastation wrought since last night.
when the Wabash river burst its banks.
Houses half submerged were drifting
away, other buildings appeared topping
over, bodies were recovered floating with
the debris in the streets, and only a
soire indicated the location Of a. church.
| All the city officials were too busy with
relief work to answer inquiries for infor-
nation which came in from all directions
over the few telephone wires in opera
ton. The chief source of information
was a telephone operator in a downtown
b Hiding, who, surrounded by water. had
stuck to his post, without food or drink
irg water, for twenty-four hours.
Spend Night in Terror.
All night long. while the city was in
darkness as a result of the cutting of Of
the gas and electric light supply. men.
women and children, and in some in
stances whole families. lay fiat where they
had crawled to the roofs of their homes,
waiting for daylight to bring relief.
Hundreds of others were damned in the
courthouse and lodge building, which are
located in the only four blocks OF the
city not under water.
The first thought Of rescue parties
when daylight came was to send into the
own boats to carry to saTety those VINO
were threatened with drowning;
Telephone communication mad been
opened with points in the residence and
business district, and from those ma
rooned in buildings it was learned that
many persons, including some women
who held their children IN tneir arms
had been on the roofs exposed 70 an al
most freezing temperature all night.
One man telephoned he had seen sew
sral persons fall from exhaustion into
The water.
IN reach those in greatest danger. Hun
dreds of others huddled together at the
courthouse, although In want OF food
and water, were to be taken later.
Deaths at Logansport Likely.
\ telephone message from Logansport,
where the streets also were flooded to
depths varying from five to ten feet.
stated that there probably had been loss
of life there Many houses in the western
rart of the city had been swept away.
sit was impossible that all of the peo-
nle could have gotten away" the Logans-
mort telephone operator said. when
boats 60 over the city 1t is almost GER
ian there will be found some who were
drowned IL not many. Reports are that
towns along the Wabash are inundated"
Several relief interurban trains have ar
rived from South Bend, Culver and other
towns. but these have been unable to get
within reach OF the scores on the roofs
ard upper floors of buildings, where they
are suffering from cold, exposure and
hunger.
Arthur Moore, a telephone operator
VINO is isolated in the top floor of a
building in the downtown district, and
who worked all night by candle light.
was reached over the telephone from an
other part of the city.
Watched Bodies Float By.
Sixty persons drowned is the nearest
TO q correct estimate of the fatalities"
Moore said. ST watched from the win
lows all afternoon and from the num-
Der of bodies I saw floating down the
street I think the number of drowned
will not exceed that number.
"Only four blocks in the entire city
are above water. In the other sections
the survivors have climbed to the roofs.
and many passed the night there. Their
suffering from the cold was intense, and
unless boats soon are able to carry them