The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1913-04-02
BODIES IN STREET
MANY SURVIVORS STILL CLING TO
TREE TOPS

BEYOND THE RESCUERS
Others, Frozen, Drop to Death in the
Waters Below - Two Hundred
Dead Found in a Church-Hun-
dreds of Bodies Are Said to be
Partly Submerged in Streets.
A dispatch from Columbus, Ohio,
says the first direct communication
was established with the West Side
shortly after four o'clock Thursday
afternoon, when Undertaken Osmaa
said over the telephone that he had
nineteen bodies in his morgue and Or
ders to care for sixty-nine more as
soon as possible.
He says that he estimates the num-
Der Of dead in the United Brethren
Church on the West Side at 200.
From 100 to $50 bodies, he said, are
lying partly submerged in Avondale
avenue. About 200 more, according
to Mr.. Osman, are lying in West Park
avenue.
The section between Central ave-
nue. and Sandusky street was almost
wiped out. After two nights Of hor-
TOR during which hundreds clung to
hopsetops calling for help until their
voices gave way, while dozens were
perched in the branches of the trees,
many are still beyond the reach Of the
rescuers.
The cold caused many to freeze,
lose their crop and drop in the water.
With military glasses, rescuers
standing on the Baltimore and Ohio
railroad near Central avenue could
see several dead forms lying on the
roof Of a building to the east.
At the corner Of Glenwood and
Thomas avenues, the lifeless form Of
a man was still hanging in a tree.
He had frozen during the night. Van
dals looting the besieged territory
added to the horrors. G. W. Giver,
justice Of peace at Briggsdale, swore
in several deputies Thursday and
gave them instructions to shoot down
all looters.
Company E. Fourth Ohio National
Guards at Marysville, assumed guard
duty around the stricken district
Thursday.
Relief trains from Marysyille and
London bearing food and clothing
relieved the situation in the refu-
gees quarters in the hilltops.
Estimates of heavy loss Of life
in the West Side are the stories told
by the hundreds rescued and by
scenes witnessed by the rescuers, who
have been working continuously with
rough boats for forty hours.
Between 500 and 1000 persons
lost their lives in the flooded West
Side Of Columbus, according to rep
resentatives Of the Columbus Dis
patch, who nave jus> gotten into COM
munication with the newspaper Of
fee from the previously isolated Sec
tion of the city.
The same estimate is given by per-
sons in charge Of the relief stations
on the hilltop west Of the flooded sec
ton. Discoveries made Thursday
morning among the, stricken popu-
lace, they say, are appalling.
According to those who invaded
the stricken district, the big State in
stitutions and store rooms in the hill
top section are crowded with refu-
gees, many Of whom were rescued
from the murky waters and who tell
stories Of indescribable horrors.
Former Mayor Geo. S. Marshall,
who was in telephone communica-
ton with Attorney Cecil Randall, his
law partner, said Thursday that Mr..
Randall said the death toll would
reach at least thousand.
Throngs Of excited groups OF peo-
pie from the food-stricken section
OF the city who were crowded into
the temporary rescue quarters assert
ed that the estimate Of Mr.. Randall is
not exaggerated.
The true extent Of the awful trag-
edy will not be known for days until
the mass Of wreckage, houses and
uprooted trees, which are strew1 ov-
er the lowlands south Of the city
are uncovered This mass OF debris
Is under several feet OF water with
swift currents running in many di-
rections.
Many Of those rescued tell Of es-
Gaping from their homes by the frac-
tions of minutes just before the rush
Ing waters swept their homes away
and crushed them like egg shells
against bridges. Scores Of entire
families, those people assert, were
swept down with their houses in the
swift currents.
Every available inch Of space in
the Columbus State Hospital for the
Insane and Mount Carmel Hospital
on the hilltop is occupied by refu'
gees, according to those who lnVad-
ed the stricken district Thursday.
Four children are reported to have
been born in a school on hilltop.
Fire Chief Lauer, whs was ma
rooned on the hilltop, just beyond
the flooded section, reaching thai
point of safety in his automobile 1us'
before the waters swept the low
lands, said he saw scores OF people
standing on their porches as the wa
ters swept down and that he canno'
see how scarcely any escaped.