The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-06-06

The first flood of Friday night and Saturday morning caused most of the loss of life and property damage. The second and third floods of this morning and afternoon found little of value not already ruined by the waters and were looked upon with concern only because they hindered rescue and reconstruction work.
 First estimates of the dead based upon reports from excited eye wit nesses. who told of seeing hundreds of bodies swept through the streets ot the city are today considered greatly exaggerated. While no official count of the fatalities has been attempted it is stated that the death list will prob ably not exceed 250, if that high
 100 Bodies Recovered
 One hundred bodies have been recov- cred. but 1t is feared that when the mud and debris which fills the streets and buildings in the flooded area are cleared away more bodies will be found Relief work is progressing under the direction of Red Cross officials and Governor Shoup. The greatest danger at the present time is said to be from pestilence. Food is being rationed. Those without funds with which to purchase provisions are being cared for
  To those who have funds, military per- mits are being issued allowing the l holder to buy only limited amount of food from local stores. Pure water is at premium. People have been warned to boil water before drinking. Tn anticipation of an epl- demic n large quantity of typhoid anti l toxin has been called for and will be l administered as soon as available.
 5c0 in Hospitals
 Five hundred persona are in tempor- ary hospitals as a direct result of the flood. according to J. E. Moorehead, 1 secretary to the governor There are l eases of chicken pox. typhoid, pneu- 1 monia, diphtheria and one or two cases of insanity.
 The entire city is under martial law, ! 150 troops are patrolling the city armed with rifles and army pistols, with or ders that all persons are to be kept out i of the restricted district and with or ders to shoot if necessary.
 Troops have received orders to pre- 1 vent all visitors from entering the city. l No persons ~et s.lembers ss the na tiona guard or coming here for the purpose of enlisting in the national guard. will l be admitted.
 The Red Cross today cooked car 1 load of meat to keep 1t from spelling and this will be distributed to the needy.
 Governor Departs
 Governor Shoup returned this after | noon by automobile to Colorado Springs, from which place he expected 1 to answer the message from President Harding and Senator Nicholson in re- gard to the measures needed to help the situation.
 Col. Pat Hamrock adjutant general. q n 111 a q limo Gfe, tonight 1t would soon be possible to ascertain something definite on the dis aster.
 l It is impossible to obtain any ac- curate information on the number of dead or the number of bodies recover ed, as military headquarters is with- out communication with the east and south sections of the city 1 Dr. r.. M Heller of the Red Cross, said tonight that reports to him in I dicated 02 bodies recovered early to- day. A number of bodies were knonn to have been recovered previously anu lit is on this figure that the estimate \ of 100 recovered Is made.
 The number of these drowned in the Missouri Pacific and Denver & Rio Grande trains cannot be learned. nor can the identity of most of the bodies be established.
 
 flood this afternoon came soldiers conducted a hurried search of buildings and in one found woman standing in 1 water up to her armpits and holding above her head a baby five-hours old. The mother and baby were taken to a hospital where it was said they could { not liye I Three United States army airplanes 1 are on the way to Pueblo tonight from Dodge City, kans. According to Colo ], mel Hamroek, the machines will be used for observation and scouting to verify reports of further flood dangers.
 Fear was expressed for the safety of peoplesiiving in towns on the Ark ansas river below Pueblo. There was no way of spreading of the warnins from here It was impossible to se. into either sections of the city or out tof the city from the south.
 The heavy rains today and tonight again made the roads almost impas- sible
 Just before the afternoon flood, the military rushed several soldiers across |