Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-06-06

away. So fast did the water come that
no sooner did I get my car out from the
curb than the waters were on me and
stepping on the throttle with all the
power 1 had I sped up the street, but
then the waters Tapped under my running
boards. But 1 reached safety.
Then came the fires when timbers,
lighted in the King lumber yards blaze,
went darting here and there, carrying
their flames. Many were extinguished.
but the food carried hundreds into stores
and homes ard a score of fires broke out
at once Flremen stood on higher ground
helplessly watching the bIazes. The ruin
to business was total in the downtown
area, except in some few cases where
goods were on floors above the second
story.
Practically the entire business section
of the city was inundated, the river re-
turning to it's old channel that in 1870
took it through the heart of the town
You cannot teach an old river new tricks
Business men are ruined, as there is nc
salvation or salvage, no insurance.
RAILROAD MEN
PROVE HREOEs.
A railroad man who escaped from the
food told me the story Of the two trains
filed with passengers, with steam up IN
the yards ready for the signal to leavS
but which delayed FIVE minutes too long
Railroad men were heroes here, like the
captains on the stricken ocean liners, not
leaving their ships until the last passen-
gers were out. Conductor Cal Groves Of
the Denver & Rio Grande train No. anC
a colored Pullman porter carried arm
loads of children to higher ground, where
others were waiting to move them to
I
Four trips were made by the porter anC
conductor, and when the waters were
tearing down thirty miles per hour they
went ba kcfor two women. A floating
tie struck Groves in the head and botf
men were knocked down and drowned
Their bodies were found later.
In a few minutes the force Of the flood
had overturned both the trains, one g
Denver & Rio Grande and the other {
Missouri Pacific, onto their sides. There
were many passengers in them and ap'
parently the majority were lost. Now
the railroad yards are six feet deep IL
mud with four feet OF water on them and
1t will be a week before any one knows
the extent of the casualties there.
DAY REPLETE WITH
HEROIC INCIDENTS.
When the lumber yard fire started
witnessed one of the finest incidents il
my life Two high school boys secureC
q boat from a lake north of the city
when they learne dthat their pal, Franci!
King, son of the owner Of the yards, was
in danger. They rescued the boy anC
his father, George King, millionaire, o.
the city, and went back for two more
trips. with the flaming timbers hurting
around them and every minute threaten
ing to inundate them.
DR.. Herbert Cary, prominent physician
stripped to his underwear, took a boa
to rescue his son Robert, 10, who wa
/ trapped In his fathers office on tn,
second floor OF an office building. Ht
| got the youngster into a boat and
/ huge tree struck the boat, capsizing il
His body was found around the blocl
| Saturday morning.
| saw a two-story frame house. whirl
ing and bobbing its way down MaiI
street, woman in the second story win
dow. II crashed into a department stor'
and the woman was thrown into the food
MOTHER FOLLOWS CHILD
TO WATERY GRAVE.
Night Capt. Jack Sinclair Of the police
department, told me that a crew of foul
men in boats, took eighteen families out
of the windows of their homes on the
west side of town. mother, the captain
said hisl her babe clasped in her arms
when the youngster, frightened by The
events, gave a lurch and pitched out int
the inky black waters. With 4 moan the
woman threw herself in after the child
Pueblo men Sunday morning told ms
they were positive scores of drowned
never will be found and where entire
families in the Bottoms" were wiped ou
no one will ever know whether they are
alive or dead. The river carrying Its
mass Of wreclSage for one hundred miles
into Kansas must have deposited in tho
yellow mud many bodies that some farm
er may plow up next spring when plant
ing his crops. The people in the bottoms
living in small houses and other squatter!
in tents. refused to heed the early warn
ings. When they tried to get out witt
their belongings it was too late. Ont
aged gypsy woman, carrying a mantle
clock, was seen to slip back into the
stream as she was trying TO get out witr
her burden. Apparently time meant
lot for her.
As we stod watching the stream al
night Friday the only sounds were tn
shouts of the rescuers or here and there
a groan from those being carried to the
first aid stations When the fires burnei
low it was pitch dark and the rescuers
were almost helpless.
DAYLIGHT'S REVELATIONS
WERE FEARED.
With the light plant destroyed and
candles impossible to secure, the city
was IN total darkness and the dumb
founded citizens maintained silent
watches. fearing for the unmerciful day
light that would reveal the full extent
of their sufferSngs and loss.
heard of a railroad brakeman who
escaped by riding the hurricane deck 81
freight car. The car rolled and tossed
like a broncho, but the brakeman held
on where others would be torn loose.
Pueblo people must be praised fog theiI
bravery and ability to organize. In less
than an hour after the food was at its
worst the town was patrolled by Amer.
lean Legion volunteers, police and citi-
zens.
The ghouls began their dastardly WORK
| in the darkness, and one Mexican was
shot dead as he swan out of a jewelry
store which he had attempted to loot
As the waters receded Sunday morning
they left a slippery, yellow, Shiny mud
two feet deep. Buried in this mud mus
/ l. of fha daad