The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-08-21
MEN, WOMEN
 ANDTHlNGS

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 willing to wade.
 l had accepted an invitation to speak to the policemen on the day shift at
 2:30 and a little before 9 o'clock I quit, and in waiting around to talk with few of the men and to discuss some mat ters with Chief Shirley, the rain com mencedA I thought it would prove d
 mere summer shower, but it was tor rential.
 | Along with scores of others, I lined up at the front entrance of the city hall. ! rather bored over having to be detained 1 for a few minutes, but when the min
 utes grew into hours, and the water
 reached floodtide, was glad that I had been caught, for 1t gave me chance to see some wonderful things. ] We have long prayed for a river and | it looked as if the goodaLord was at last answering the prayer, for the water soon covered the street and by degrees reached the curb, and soon came over the sidewalks and little by little crept
  back to the main stairway, for it was
 ankle deep.
 When the rain first started I took languid interest in noting the crowds which had assembled to buy the gov ernment meats on sale It was mixed one, for in it all classes of our citizens were represented. There were all yarle- ties of cars from Fords to Packards parked in the neighborhood Well-known persons from the South Highlands were 1 buying, as were also many who, like myself, belong to the Bundle Toters Association"
 I saw automobile after automobile | loaded just as I saw hundreds carry l ing parcels under their arms. Dick Me Intosh says it is by far the best sale | the city has ever held in the number Of people patronizing it. Now. Dick likes to crack a joke, even at his own expense
 and when the water put him out of busi- ness and he had to close down, he re-
 marked to me that in few hours he had
 seen more water in and around the city
 hall than he saw in the entire sixteen months in which he served in the navy I But for all his 'joshing" he is gal | lant sailorman, for when he saw his off his shoes and socks and roll up his
 trousers and wade out to try and save his handsome limousine \ which was about to be flooded, he shucked off | 'hisn" and went to his assistance and when the pair came up in DrsBar- rett's office and announced to Mrs. Walker, who was watching, the down. pour, We have saved the car it was with the air of heroes. I didn't real l ize at the time that they had incl dentally made it possible for me to get | to the office but 1 was kindly asked to make the getaway with them.
 
 | There have been rains and rains, but even the famous July downpours some years back will have to give way to | the record hung up by the one which | fell on Friday afternoon, for one of the firemen testified that in all of his | twenty-one years experience as member of the department in the city l hall he had never seen the water rise
 
 "older citizen,r who always appears to
 tell of "ye ancient days"
 
 l It was interesting to watch the
 shifting scenes, but beneath it all was the unacceptable fact that the failure
 of the sewers to carry off the water was doing great property damage Un- l less you were downtown around Nine teenth, Twentieth and Twenty-first streets at from Second to Fifth ave- nues you haven't the least idea of how l the city streets. almost in the twin1ing ] of an eye, were turned into verj3a ole Waterways in which bateaux ana gon- dolas could have made their way in l comfort
 l I saw my friend Bates of the Blue , Ribbon Shoe Shop leisurely wading
 down the sidewalk on the side of the | city hall I do not know what was | in his mind but I daresays that he was 1 figuring on adding an aquarium to his
 zoo, and was wondering where ne coula | buy a few gators, trained seals. or other water animals, for his place was l in such shape that it could be done with ease I do not know what his monkeys thought of the situation Just across the street from the drug store in the city hall. which was filled
 
 melon Garden" On the outside, lined l up on either side of the windows, which came up to the door, stood l number of fine watermelons on ends. 1 John Hornady and I were greatly ln- 1 terested to know if the water would be 1 deep enough to make them float away. 1 It was and there was a scramble among | the boys for them-some floating as I far as Hills, across the street, which was faring badly from the inflowins waters.
 | A Ford car parked at the curb on Fourth avenue and Nineteenth street
 was the water gauge by which we 1 marked the rising waters For some time it only came to the axle then it mounted to midway of the tire and at ' 1 last the entire wheel was submerged.
 One car with two ladies in it was | stranded in the intersection of the above streets and had to be lowed out. Quite ! a number of others had been abandoned | for the time being I saw plucky boy | try to ride through on his wheel. but he 1 had to dsmount in water up to his waist and vet if I state that some swam around in the overflowed streets there will be those who doubt it. The battle between the raging flood 1 and the boys armed with broorns to keep it out of the lobby of the Hillman hotel was a losing one, for at last it became impossible to stem the torrent which poured in and also sole its way 1 into the dining room had no way or telling how deep it was on the inside, hut conld see walters lifting m the ends