The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1913-04-02


Editor TINES: 1t may interest your
readers to read a letter received from
a former Hammond high school gradu-
ate who was in the thick of the flood
district He writes as follows:
Richmond. Ind. March 80, 1913
Dear Father: How is the water up
there7 We sure have been getting it
around here. Richmond itself has not
been hit so bad, but all of the sur
roundings towns have been damaged
very badly. I do not suppose Ham
mond has been very wet on account
of being so close to the lake and the
swamps. The damage in this county
Will run close to million dollars. 1t
was mostly in the country. Trains did
not leave here from Tuesday a. m un-
til Friday, and even now there is only
two or three places you can go to.
School was out last Tuesday. but as
none Of the students could go home
many OF them are here yet. I went
over to Dayton Tuesday night on the
first relief train that got there. There
were six of us on the car and we had
| to transfer the food twice before we
got to Dayton. had to carry it over
washouts and row 1t across where
| the bridges We're out. We were met by
| nearly a thousand half-naked and half
starved people who had had nothing
to eat for nearly two days. Our car
| load of food and clothing was hardly
a drop in the bucket. have made two
| trips since and have seen about all
| there was to see. I had a pass from
| Brigadier General Wood, who is in
| command of the troops there so
could go about where 1 wanted to.
full extent of the property loss, the
| loss of human life and the suffering OF
the survivors cannot be even closely
estimated for several days, but one
thing is sure. all reports have beer
greatly exaggerated. / was all ovel
the town and the deepest water
found when it was at the highest was
not more than nine feet. 1t was re-
ported that the water was more thar
fifteen feet deep in the union station
but actual measurements show tha
the high water mark in that place l.
just eight feet and two inches abov,
the floor The number of dead is alst
greatly exaggerated. 1 have heard re
! ports are out that the number will run
up to six or eight thousand. l do no
see how it can possibly reach the so
mark. When l left there last night
could not find any one that was In
position to know anything about tn
situation that said that it would g.
| above three hundred. / do not think i
| will be more than two hundred. / saw
sixty dead in one place, at the Ma
tiona1 Cash Register plant, but this i
far more than there is at any othe
place. There are five or six at eacl
of the six or seven undertaking shops
and there are probably several tina
! have not been recovered.
The water had gone down yesterda.
until there was strip across the tow
about two blocks wide where 1T wa
about three feet deep. This has beel
5 travelled so much that it is not likel
that there are any dead here So
. seems that all of the dead that hav
not been recovered have been carri
> down the river The last official re
port taken about Saturday noon show
| ed 1874 bodies recovered. 1t does no
| seem possible that sixty could hav
= been carried off down the river
Il Horses suffered worse than men.
saw fifteen dead horses in one bloc
and punches of two or three in severa