The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-03-28
First National Bank
Building in Dayton Burning
CONTINUED From First Page

sickness was growing hourly The
flood waters receded three feet during
the night and it was expected before
darkness most of those marooned in
the down town districts would be lib
Grated. Four motorboats which arrived
from Cincinnati this morning were
taken to the waters edge and an effort
| made to extend immediate relief to the
most urgent cases found
! Althoug hthere- are constant rumors
Of great loss Of life in parts of the city.
| the fact remains that up to the present
/ there can be no actual knowledge nor
intelligent estimate of the extent of
mcrtaIities
George f. Burba, representing Gov
Cox, today telegraphed the governor
urging that special emphasis be given
the great need of immediate supplies
of provisions.
NOT A DAYS SUPPLY.
There is not full days food supply
| in the city and before night it is likely
that 1000 persons who have been held
down town without food or water since
Tuesday will be released and there will
be no provisions for them nor places
to care for them.
eff the death list is only 1000 l will
consider it a marvellous dispensation,"
teIegraphed Mr.. Burba to Gov. Cox.
If it is 10000 will not be surprised"
Horrible as this is" he said, "the
! real suffering will grow worse for days.
There are $1,000 homeless. The refu-
gees ae being fed from hand to mouth
with less than a days food supplies
ahead of them. There is no water and
there is no light Probably within a
day there will be bodies of thousands
of horses decomposing in the muddy
streets and it viii be impossible even
to care for the bodies of the humans"
Except for solitary branch of the
Dayton. Lebanon and Cincinnati, the
railroa dover which a single train can
creep cautiously at a time. railroad
communication has not been restored
It takes twelve hours for a train to
come up over this line from Cincinnati
a distance of only a little over fifty
miles.
Mayor Hunt of Cincinnati has been
urged to see THAT a train load of sup
plies be kept constantly on the move
on this road. An effort also is being
made here to indlfee all who are able
and who can find outside places of
refuge to leave the city as fast as the
train service will permit.
REPORT CAUSED EXCITEMENT.
Needless suffering was caused by
the announ cement today of the break
ing of the reservoir when men rushed
through the uptown streets shouting
flee for your lives, the reservoir has
broken.
Families living outside the danger
zone gathered their babies and belong
ings in their arms and fed for the cash
register offices, crushing into that
already overcrowded structure.
The reservoir contains 1900 acres of
water space and it was pointed out
hat ff1a ST Cf
at several million acres so the worst
possible effect of it's king would
be to retard the work of rescue and
could not cause a rise of more than
one foot. The waters already are seven
feet lower than the high water OF
Monday night.
An effort was made to drive some
of the panic stricken back to their
homes. but in the main they stood
helpless ON the streets.
RAIN TURNS TO SNOW.
The constant rain since Monday
turned to snow in the night but the
downfall ceased at daylight the sun
me- de its first appearance of the week
at IL o'clock today. Today, however,
was considerably colder than the first
DAYS of the week. First alarms of
the breaking of the reservoir today
were spread by a policeman who was
posted ON the edge of the flood district |
There were others quick to take up |
the cry and soon thousands crowded |
the streets.
Many of them fled straight for the |
hills, but hundreds hurled themselves |
pa st guards and into the main office
building of the cash register company |
Not until John H. Patterson had adj |
dressed the frightened throng was any |
sernblaIce of order restored. Mr.. |
ri an fad
aide in the southeast district of the |
city with full control under martial
law Mr. Patterson at once ordered /
every available motor car and truck TO |
scour the farm houses south of the
CITY and confiscate all available food /
supplies. While the farmers in this
vicinity have contributed very heavily
and their bins are believed to be near
ly empty, it is. hoped to obtain enough |
potatoes and vegetables to prevent /
starvation here.
NUMEROUS FIRES OCCUR.
Numerous fires have sprung up since |
the water from a bursted reservoir |
Ienned in tens of thousands, but the
worst blaze started yesterday after
noon at so and this morning still was
claiming its toll of property and doubt
less some lives.
Although water from swollen streams /
had been slowly creeping up on the
outlying sections of the city for hours.
the catastrophe which resulted so dis
astrously came within thirty minutes
after the Tarleton reservoir broke.
The streets soon became basins for
swirling torrents of suddenly loosened
water in which IL has been impossible
for boats TO live Those safe from the Il
flood simply have had TO wait until the 1
water. subsidies. The water went down
perceptibly each hour after noon yes
tertiay and during last night. Unless
other reservoirs break today the well
organized force of relief workers
should have a large section of the city
explored before nightfau.
Until today relief measures exceeded
but only because it was
impossible to rescue the thousands of
inhabitants, prisoners in
their homes or downtown business
houses. With the waters receding and