Evening star., 1937-01-27

durability OF the face OF the shoe
factory.
Big Building Saved.
Flame leaped across the water,
fiicked the brick front, and blackened
it. But the big building did not catch
fire. Flame darted from the other side
Of the block, toward great stretch Of
old street car barns, but again the
fire did not catch. An hour later the
red glare died, the walls crashed in,
and the graveSt single moment Louis
vile has faced since the terror started
was over.
Through all this went on the tireless,
staggering work Of relief. Calls from
the sick rang through the air as one
local broadcasting station poured out
continual tale Of tragedy. of thou
sands still waiting evacuation in water
soaked houses, Of the increasing num-
Der Of desperately i'll needing quick
attention and removal to hospitals.
1t is estimated that close to 10000 still
are sticking to their homes in inun-
dated sections.
The calls come to the radio Station
WHAS, now operating weakly on
emergency batteries. from all parts of
the city, by the partly functioning
telephone lines, via messengers, over
taxed workers.
Death Toll Uncertain.
There Is no possibility OF any ac-
curate estimate of the flood death
toll until the water goes down. mas
much as more than a dozen bodies
have been found floating in the SUBJ
merged west end alone in the past
"a hours" DR.. Leavell, the health
officer, said. Many other persons
may have been trapped in their homes
in that section and drowned inside the
dwellings. Other bodies may have
been swept down the Ohio River.
"The diseases We fear most-ma-
laria. meningitis, scarlet fever, typhoid
take several days to develop. What's
going to happen next week is what
we're afraid Of"
DR.. Leavell has been on duty for
three days, almost without rest. So
great has been the pressure on his
assistants that two of them became
hysterical last night and were put to
bed
All the city's 600 physicians. along
with 100 Junior and senior medical
students, ITO nurses and all avail
able dentists, have been drafted into
relief service. In isolated communi-
ties. DR.. Leavell said, nurses were in
charge of all medical activities.
A survey Of the city's hospitals and
five emergency hospitals set up in
schools and churches, travelling by
boat and truck, revealed an excess
of 2,3O0 patients above the normal in
the regulation hospitals and thousands
receiving emergency treatment.
st. Joseph's Infirmary and st. Mary
and Elizabeth Hospitals, with total
of 600 beds, are treating 1,100
patients.
Increase In Pneumonia.
There has been a tremendous in
crease in pneumonia deaths in the
past three days" DIR. Leavell said.
Normally We have only a dozen in
that time.
"You can see the situation from
the fact that the City Hospital, with
a maximum capacity of 423, admitted
256 patients in one night. Capacity
there has been increased to 800 by
using an uncompleted dispensary
annex.
There must be several hundred
seriously i'll persons on whom we have
had no report.
The force is SO inadequate to the
need that when a person like an
alderman had his finger cut off it was
not possible to send him medical aid.
We are still trying to get help to
Sheriff Watson Lindsey of Jefferson
County. We heard he had broken
leg. but we can't get to him.
DR.. Leavell said that so great is
the number of sick that several times
day he receives calls from small
emergency stations he did not know
had been set up.