The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-03-26
FLOOD AND FIR! :
stun DAYTON
Ohio City In Terrible Condition With
Death List Anywhefe From Ono
Hundred to Five
Thousand.
MONEY USELESS THERE
Half Of City Is Under Water and Fire
Spreading Unchecked Through
Southern Section Of the
Town.
MONEY USELESS THERE
limited Press Leased Wire Service. !
by United Press star correspon'

la =
DAYTON, Ohio, March 26.-(By
messenger to Lebanon, Ohio dayton
today is city Of the dead, the dying,
the homeless and grief-stricken. It's
tragic story will not be known until
the last dead body has been taken
from the flood that covers half the
city and the last charred body from
the ruins Of the fire that is spreading
unchecked through the southern sec.
stion OF the city.
The whole story will never be told
the heroism OF men, the martyrdom
OF the women, the mad hysteria that
seized some and caused them to jump
into the food and death, the torture
Of despair that gripped those who,
imprisoned in their homes by the
water, waited in vain for help until
the advancing flames came and de-
stroyed them.
A man marooned with his family
on the roof of his home shot and kill
ed his wife and the children and then
himself, rather than to suffer death
in the flames, according to report
received by j. j. Munsell, employment
superintendent of the National Cash
Register company, from man who
actually saw the act. The bodies
fioated away on the floods. In the
Dayton disaster there is duplicated
the heroism and the mar.yrdom of
the Titanic, the horror Of Johnstown,
and the helplessness of San Francisco
after the earthquake. There may be
a, hundred dead. or a thousand. The
census of dead cannot be taken until
the water recedes and leaves It's prey
behind.
A big sturdy man is crying like a
child here at the offices OF the Nation
al Cash Register company, where
nearly 1000 homeless flood victims
are sheltered. He went to the hos
pitals, schools, where refugees are
housed, to the churches-but at none
Of these is his family. The money
loss is heavy. but nobody cares about
the money loss. though 1t runs into
the millions
Dayton, once prosperous, proud. and
wealth-swollen, has found that money
is the most useless thing in the world
in this hour Of disaster.
1t doesn't want money 1t asks for
only food, clothing, nurses, doctors
and for medicine.
Don't send us money. we can't use
It," says J. G. Hale, of the National
Cash Register company, who Is in
charge of the relief work.
This dispatch is written at place
mile from the center of the flood
zone which is the center of the city.
where the banks, the skyscrapers, the
hotels and the department stores, are
located <
Between the city and safety there
is a whirlpool. Only mile inter
venes, but it might be 1000 miles. or
5000, for no word of what happened
beyond the whirlpool since noon of
yesterday has come across the brief
mile of water.
1t is known only that the big hotels
are crowded with guests and are un
der water, the theaters are flooded
the wares Of the department stores
are floating away. the jail with pris
oners and in the very center Of the
city is inundated, the fashionable
churches are awash inside and six
hundred patients are imprisoned in
ST. Elizabeth's hospital.
All telephone communication has
been cut off and none beyond the
flood zone knows wha. disaster has
overtaken that part of Dayton which
was the center of its enormous
wealth. There was nothing but the
sullen glare of the flames last night
to light up the tragedy and It's mys.
Eteries.