Evening star., 1937-01-27
BY ROBERT b. PHILLIPS, Jr.,
at.6 6rorre.nondent of The Star

yesterday AFTERNOON. 1ncre we're tnree
women and six children. They were
all tired, obviously keyed to high pitch
by the nervous tension Of the past few
days. All of them had colds.
Since Sunday afternoon they had
lived In a room In the Brown Hotel
the three women, their husbands, the
six children. They were nine flights
up. There was no light at night, no
heat at any time. The elevator service
was dead and they walked nine flights
| down to get what little food was avail
able, then trudged nine stories up
again to sit huddled in blankets and
wonder what was coming next.
These were not visitors who had
been marooned in Louisville. They
had been driven from their homes In
the lower section Of the city. inch by
inch. One OF them, Mrs. Lester w.
Wilson OF 1913 Jewel avenue, said she
had stayed at her fathers house on
West Broadway until the water be-
gan to lap over the parlor rugs. They
then abandoned the place in a truck.
AS they went out, the water spraying
In sheets from the side of the machine
like foam from boat, they saw people
standing on the porches of nearby
houses with arms outstretched, plead
ing to be taken. She said they liter
ally cried for help. The truck could
not stop, lest lost momentum stall it..
Plane Is Miracle to Them.
These were the first people who
brought the flood home to ux as a
reality. They welcomed the plane as
miracle from the skies. Scores Of
others milling about in the Louisville
airport would have paid premiums to
nave had seats on the one avenue Of
escape that they knew was still open
to them. Our companions were the
lucky ones. The fervent way in which
they talked Of their luck made US
realize what they had seen and known.
A flood disaster is not so appalling
from range of 1890 feet. We had
passed over Huntington. w. Va. and
Ashland, KY. on our way out from
Washington, but there was so little
sign OF life In both those towns that
1t seemed unlikely any one was suf-
| 1erlng in them. The houses sur
rounded by water, the isolated fac
| tories with their stilled smoke stacks
| appeared more ludicrous than tragic.
There were no human being in
| sight, except that once we saw a boat
skimming along near Huntington. and
on the drier side of Ashland a few cars
moved on the chopped roads.
Rubber Plant Wrecked.
Coming into Louisville, one Of the
passengers on the plane began to point
out the major public plants that were
in bad shape. We saw huge gas tanks
halfway submerged, the city reser-
voir ominously low; but our course
| quickly swung over what is known as
the highlands and there things did
not look Dad at all. This part of the
city Is far above the business and
older residential level 1t was almost
dry. The air field had some surface
water showing. but did not apepar
dangerous. Still. We were the first
plane to land there since the disaster
and our pilot was taking no chances
He circled the field, chose his spot
carefully and set her down. The
wheels dug in deep, but there was nc
wobbling. 1t was a good landing.
In the airport station We encoun-
tered scene outwardly like the an.
nual Christmas rushes. But a ably
tension hung over the place. Un-
shaven men and bedraggled women al
wanted to leave. There we're no planes
and no immediate promise of planes
Eagerly. hopefully. the same people
and again, received the same an
swers, walked away again.
made telephone call to the Louis
vile City Hall in an attempt to gel
in touch with the Mayor. to deliver q
message from q Representative IN
Washington. The call never wal
Strengthened out. I tried two or three
other people at the City Hall. They
could not be reached Attempts to
leave a message turned into a joke
The operators were sleepy, dazed from
hours of overwork.
No Planes to Paducah.
I asked to charter a plane to go tc
Paducah, the center of the flood anc
my destination, and was informed that
all planes were under orders to serve
the city government. Half a dozen
ships were sitting idle in the CONNER
cial hangar, but none could be rented
The relief officials were afraid to be
without them. Later I learned it
would have been useless anyhow. as
a ship attempting to get serum into
Paducah had been forced to turn the
trick by making one man do a para
chute jump, sport of which I am
not exceedingly fond even in prospect
Then our real story boarded the
transport. Mrs. Wilson and her cousins
Mrs. G. E. Hamilton and Mrs. William
K. Miller, could tell really all that was
to be known of Louisville, for they had
seen the Brown Hotel, mecca Of derby
fans for many a year, turned into q
relief station almost as ranshackle as
Churchill Downs itself. We saw that
glory of the sporting world earlier, be-
fore landing. 1t was under water, the
infield flooded. Col. Anon G. Carter
the Texas publisher. remarked dryly,
Looks like a good day for mudders. u
The tale the three women told us
was not hysterical. They knew their
lot had been relatively easy compared
to others. They had transferred to the
Brown. had stayed there and talked
and tried to quiet the children and see
that all of them had q reasonable
amount of food. and at nights their
husbands had come back from emer-
gency relief work and told them what
they had seen. It was the only news
they had, outside the incessant rumors
that floated in like driftwood with
every caller. There were no radios, nc
newspapers to confirm or deny the
widest of tales.
Fire Provides Red Light.
They said the food was rather ex-