Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1913-04-03

d
for their homes in different parts OF
the country.
AT Celina I saw the same suffer-
ing. The town was under ten feet
OF water. l saw them take ten bod
les from the water at Massillon, O.
Prospect, O., is under II feet of water,
and the river at that point is four
miles wide. l saw them take more
than a dozen bodies from the water.
The reparts OF the dead have not
been sent in from these small towns
and the country viii be appalled, when
the full number is known. From what
l saw I do not think the reports have
been exaggerated.
'Piqua and Fostoria are under va
ter, and many people are drowned
The nearest 1 could get to Dayton
was Piqua. Most Of the town was IN
der water. It was impossible to get TO
Dayton"
Co-Eds Tell of Horrors.
Four weary young women. goods
from Ohio Wesleyan university at Del
aware. o., climbed from a Pullman on
a delayed Lake Shore train in the La
Sale street station. They were the
first arrivals in Chicago from the &C
tual scenes Of death and desoIation
attending the foods throughout cen
tral Ohio
Eagerly questioned by newspaper
men, the young women talked freely
of their experiences and painted
graphic word pictures of the horrors
Of the inundation of a large part of
Delaware.
They were Miss Florence Wyman of
3633 Sheffield avenue, student in gen
eraI work and instructor in the art
school of the university; Edith and
Esther Quayle Of 233 North Harvey
street, Oak Park. and Mabel Lees Of
325 Elmwood avenue, Oak Park
Fear Horror to Follow.
Miss Wyman, who had chaperoned
the party on the trip, was the spokes-
man, but the other girls broke in from
time TO time with eager calculations
to emphasize the horror of the tale
she told.
The thought that is uppermost in
my mind" said Miss Wyman, is not
so much of the horror that has passed
as of the greater horrt.@ that must in
eYitabiy come to those DOOR people in
Delaware and elsewhere throughout
the flooded district. There are some
dead bodies still in the houses at Del
aware, and thousands elsewhere in
Ohio, and it is staggering to the imagi-
nation to attempt to conjure up the
picture of desolation, famine and pes
! thence that will follow the recession
of the waters.
The food itself was like a horrible
nightmare. The water crept up slow
| ly, but. oh. so steadily and relentless
| ly. First it was six inches deep in
some of the, lower streets; then foot
| deep, and at last it had covered all
| the lower part of town and was lap
| ping at the foot of the hills, while the
/ houses in the flooded portion stood,
many of them, with only the upper
| stories and roofs visible.
Hear Prayers for Safety.
And on nearly every house there
| was a family, or what was left ofCthe
family, clingilg to the ridgepole and
! chimneys and praying for deliverance.
The university stands on the highest
| hill in town, and we were not affected
/ by the flood itself. But all night, that
| first night, the 200 girls in Monnett
| hall, our dOrmitory, walked the floor
| and wept and prayed as the. walls of
| the UnfOrtunates only a few blocks
away were borne to their ears. Closed
windows could not keep out the
sound. Now and then a woman shrek
! ed above the general lamentations,
| and We knew when that sound reached
| US that some one had seen a loved
relative, an aged father or mother, or
! perhaps a child, lose the grip of
numbed fingers and slide off into the
| black, chill waters.
Throughout the night the men stu
| dents and members of the faculty did
what they could to rescue the suffer
/ ers, but we had no boats at the uni
| versity and it was almost impossible
to guide a raft through the blackness
| of the night, which was intensified by
| cold, drilling rain.
Rescue Work Makes Heroes
AS soon as dawn came the boys
got together in an organized rescue
corps Our school produced hundred
! heroes in half an hour. Every one of
! those students risked death on the
| flimsy RATS they were able to con
| struct, but they never hesitated They
| found some small boats, too, and did
as we'll rs they could with these Prof
! W. E. Dixon, the physical director OF
| the university, headed the work OF
! rescue He had a dozen active lieu.
| tenants in the work of directing OPP
! erations
Some of the houses could not be
reached at all. The RATS were un
manageable, and the few boats were
| smashed one after another as they
were caught by the eddying currents
| Every time q boat was smashed two
or three of the boys would be thrown
| into water ten or fifteen feet deep, but
| they all swan out in safety.
Well. when they found how i'm
possible it was to get actual contact
with the houses they went TO the near
est houses they could reach and took
ropes and pulleys from a hardware
store that had escaped the food.
They would tie a bolt TO a light
line and throw it over to house
| INVENTION NOTES.