DAYTON'S MENACE OF FIRE AND FAMINE
FIRE BREAKS OUT--HUNDREDS IMPERILED BY FLAMES--THE CITY
THREATENED--70,000 IMPRISONED BY THE WATER--"SEND US
FOOD!"--PATTERSON CONTINUES RESCUE WORK--PHONE OPERATOR BELL A
HERO--EXPERIENCES OF THE SUFFERERS--INSTANCES OF
SELF-SACRIFICE--LOOTERS AT WORK.
Scarcely had the appalling horror of the flood impressed itself on the
stricken people of Dayton before a new danger arose to strike terror to
their hearts--fire that could not be fought because there was no way to
reach it and because the usual means for fire-fighting were paralyzed.
FIRE BREAKS OUT
One fire started from the explosion of an oil tank containing hundreds
of gallons which bumped into a submerged building.
The fire started in a row of buildings on Third Street near Jefferson,
right in the heart of the business section, and not far from the
Algonquin Hotel, the Y. M. C. A., and other large buildings.
The report of the fire was sent out by Wire Chief Green, of the Bell
Telephone Company, who said the fire was then within a block of the
telephone exchange in which was located John A. Bell, who for more than
twenty-four hours had kept the outside world informed as best he could
of the catastrophe in Dayton.
A. J. Seattle, owner of the house in which the fire started after a gas
explosion, was blown into the air and killed instantly.
Mrs. Shunk, a neighbor, was blown out of her home into the flood. After
clinging to a telegraph pole for half an hour, she finally succumbed and
was sucked under the waters.
The explosion blew a stable filled with hay into the middle of the
flooded street and this carried the flames to the opposite side.
The next house to burn was Harry Lindsay's. Then Mary Kreidler's and
then the home of Theodore C. Lindsay and other houses that had been
carried away from their foundations floated into the flames and soon
were on fire.
The floating fires burned without restraint and communicated flames to
many other buildings where families awaited help.
The Beckel House was threatened and Jefferson Street was on fire on its
east side from Third Street as far down as the Western Union office.
Refugees driven from their places where they had sought safety from the
floods were leaping from roof to roof to escape the new terror. The fire
was rapidly approaching the Home Telephone plant.
HUNDREDS IMPERILED BY FLAMES
Another fire which started from an explosion in the Meyers Ice Cream
Company place, near Wyoming Street, spread and burned the block on South
Park, a block from Wyoming.
Flames, starting at Vine and Main Streets, jumped Main Street and the
houses on the other side were soon aflame. In the middle of the street
were a few frame houses that had been washed from their foundations.
These were swirled about for a time, and, as though to aid in the
passing of the section by fire, they were cast into the path of the
flames. Persons hurried from their roof tops, where they had been driven
by the flood, to the roof tops of adjoining houses.
A fire that appeared to threaten the entire business section was
confined to the block bounded by Second and Third Streets and Jefferson
and St. Clair Streets. In the block were the Fourth National Bank,
Lattiman Drug Company, Evans' Wholesale Drug Company and several
commission houses. This fire subsided somewhat by evening.
Fire broke out in the buildings on Broad Street and many who had taken
refuge in the upper floors were threatened with death in the smoke and
flames.
Sixteen persons were housed in the Home Telephone Building with a block
and tackle rigged as a means of egress if the fire pressed them.
GOVERNOR COX AIDS
It was reported to Governor Cox that some had leaped from the buildings
into the flood. The Governor received word via Springfield that 10,000
to 12,000 persons were in the burning buildings, fighting the fire by
water lifted in buckets from the flood.
Governor Cox asked the Associated Press to notify its West Virginia
correspondents to get in touch with natural gas companies supplying
Dayton with gas and ask them to shut off the supply of gas in Dayton, as
the gas was feeding the conflagration there.
Pleading that troops be sent to Dayton to relieve the flood sufferers,
saying that their need was imperative, and that the town was at the
mercy of looters and fires, George B. Smith, president of the chamber of
commerce of Dayton, who escaped from the flooded city, wired Governor
Cox from Arcanum.
Governor Cox, following the information that Dayton was on fire and that
those who had sought refuge in the upper stories of buildings were in
danger, determined at six o'clock to reach Dayton with troops and
assistance.
THE CITY THREATENED
It was impossible to get within two miles of the fire, and from that
distance it appeared that explosions, probably of drugs, made the fire
seem of larger proportions than it was. It appeared to have about burned
itself out, and it was not believed it would spread to other blocks.
It was impossible to ascertain, even approximately, the number of
persons who might have been marooned in this section and who died after
being trapped by flood and fire.
The flames at night cast a red weird glow over the flood-stricken city
that added to the fears of thousands of refugees and marooned persons,
and led to apprehension that there might have been many of the water's
prisoners in the burned buildings.
Fire started anew at nine o'clock at night and burned fiercely.
The men, women and children marooned in the Beckel Hotel were terror
stricken when fire threatened the building for the second time at night.
Since Tuesday morning two hundred and fifty persons had been in the
place.
Crowded in the upper stories of tall office buildings and residences in
Dayton, two miles each way from the center of the town, were hundreds of
persons whom it was impossible to approach. Hundreds of fires which it
was impossible to fight were burning. The rescue boats were unable to
get farther from the shore than the throw line would permit. They could
not live in the current.
At midnight residents of Dayton watching the course of the flames from
across the wide stretch of flood waters believed the fire got its new
start in the afternoon in the store of the Patterson Tool and Supply
Company, on Third Street, just east of Jefferson, whence it ate its way
west, apparently aided by escaping gas and exploding chemicals in two
wholesale drug establishments.
Throughout the night fires lighted the sky and illuminated the rushing
waters. Fifty thousand people were jammed in the upper floors of their
homes, with no gas, no drinking water, no light, no heat, no food.
[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
The flood at Watervliet, New York, showing buildings torn from their
foundations and floating down the stream. Great damage and untold
suffering resulted]
[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
Rescuer leaving one of the houses in the flooded district and removing a
family to safety]
THE CREST OF THE FLOOD
The crest of the Dayton flood passed about midnight, but the next few
hours allowed no appreciable lowering in the water. Wednesday morning
brought little hope of immediate relief to those who spent the night in
horror, however, and it was feared that the number of drowned had been
greatly increased during the twelve hours of darkness.
Cloudy skies and a cold drizzling rain added to the dismal aspect of the
city in the morning. The temperature fell steadily all night, and when
daylight came the thermometers showed that it was only three degrees
above freezing. The condition was welcomed, because it was expected that
a hard freeze would aid materially in holding back the innumerable
tributaries of the flooded streams and assist the earth in retaining the
moisture that had been soaked into it steadily for the last five days.
By ten-thirty the water depth had lessened about two feet. All stores
and factories in the main part of the town were flooded to a depth of
from eight to ten feet. Numerous residences and smaller buildings
collapsed, but any estimate of the property loss was impossible.
A morgue was established on the west side of the city, and efforts to
recover the bodies and aid the suffering were pushed as rapidly as
conditions permitted. Relief trains began to arrive in the stricken
towns.
Adjutant-General Speaks, with a small detachment of troops and a squad
of linemen and operators, left Columbus early Wednesday in an effort to
reach Dayton. The attempt was made by means of motor boats and
automobiles in the hope to establish adequate telegraph or telephone
communication with Dayton.
MARTIAL LAW ESTABLISHED
A message from Governor Cox ordered the entire Ohio National Guard to
hold itself in readiness to proceed to Dayton as soon as it was possible
to enter the city.
"I understand the importance of having the militia there," he
telegraphed.
Soon afterward notice was posted in headquarters of the emergency
committee announcing that the city was under martial law, and several
companies of soldiers arrived from neighboring Ohio cities.
The soldiers were employed to patrol edges of the burned district, and
prevent looting of homes freed from the floods.
The hundreds of refugees in the Y. M. C. A. building and in the
Algonquin Hotel were facing possible short rations. Their food supplies
were becoming limited and drinking water was at a premium.
Forty boats were requisitioned by the city authorities and were
patroling the city in an effort to save life and property. These craft
were manned by volunteers.
In front of the Central Union Telegraph office the water was still
running so swiftly that horses could not go through it without swimming.
One boat went by with two men in it, rowing desperately, trying to keep
the bow to the waves. The boat overturned, but both men escaped drowning
by swimming to a lamp post. They clung to the post for half an hour
before a rope could be thrown to them. After repeated casts the line
fell near enough to them to be caught, and the men were drawn into the
second story window of the building.
The telephone employees in the building fished chairs, dry goods boxes
and a quantity of other floating property from the flood. The debris
swept down the main business street with such force that every plate
glass window was smashed.
Only one sizable building had collapsed up to noon so far as the
watchers in the telephone office could learn. This structure, an old
one, was a three-story affair, near Ludlow Street, occupied by a harness
manufacturing concern.
70,000 IMPRISONED BY THE WATER
More than 70,000 persons either were unable to reach their homes or,
held in their waterlocked houses, were unable to reach land.
While those marooned in the offices and hotels were in no immediate
danger of drowning there was no way food or drinking water could reach
them until the flood receded. Those in the residences, however, were in
constant danger both by flood and fire. First the frailer buildings were
swept into the stream, many showing the faces of women and children
peering from the windows. These were followed by more substantial brick
buildings, until it became evident that no house in the flood zone was
safe.
The houses as a rule lasted but a few blocks before disintegrating.
Incidents without number were narrated of persons in the flooded
districts waving handkerchiefs and otherwise signaling for aid, being
swept away before the eyes of the watchers on the margin of the waters.
Many of the rescue boats were swept by the current against what had been
fire plugs, trees and houses. They were crushed. Canoes and rowboats
shared the same fate. What life existed in the district which the water
covered was in constant danger and helpless until the flood subsided.
Bodies were found as far out as Wayne Avenue, which is more than a mile
from the river. At Fifth and Brown Streets the water reached a height of
ten feet. At least one of those drowned met death in the Algonquin
Hotel.
The rumor that the St. Elizabeth Hospital with 600 patients had been
swept away, which gained circulation Tuesday night, proved to have been
false.
Although it was impossible to reach the hospital, field glasses showed
that the building was still standing. The water was not thought to be
much above the first floor of the building, and it was hoped that the
patients had not suffered.
Dayton was practically cut off from wire communication until late in the
afternoon. Then two wires into Cincinnati were obtained and operators
plunged into great piles of telegrams from Dayton citizens, almost
frantic in their desire to assure friends outside of their safety.
Operators at opposite ends of the wires reported that thousands of
telegrams were piled up at relay offices. These were from people anxious
over the fate of Dayton kinsmen.
Two oarsmen who braved the current that swirled through the business
section of the city reported that the water at the Algonquin Hotel, at
the southwest corner of Third and Ludlow Streets, was fifteen feet deep.
From windows in the hotels and business buildings hundreds of the
marooned begged piteously for rescue and food. The oarsmen said they saw
no bodies floating on the flood tide, but declared that many persons
must have perished in the waters' sudden rush through the streets.
Oarsmen who worked into the outskirts of the business section at night
reported that two hundred and fifty persons marooned in the Arcade
building and two hundred imprisoned in the Y. M. C. A. building were
begging for water.
"SEND US FOOD!"
Before the terror of fire had dwindled, gaunt hunger thrust its wolfish
head on the scene. Famine became an immediate possibility. All of the
supply and grocery houses were in the submerged district and there was
not enough bread to last the survivors another day. Every grocer in the
city was "sold out" before noon.
The flood came with such suddenness that food supplies in homes were
whisked away by the torrent that reached to second floors in almost the
flash of an eye. Skiffs skirted the edge of the flooded districts
attempting to take food to those whom it was impossible to carry off,
but the fierce current discouragingly retarded this work.
"Food, food, food," was the appeal that reached the outside world from
the portions of Dayton north of the rivers. The plea came from a relief
committee which started out in boats and met an employee of the American
Telegraph and Telephone Company, who attempted to drive to Dayton. The
telephone man immediately "cut in" on a line and transmitted the appeal.
The relief committee had progressed less than two miles from Dayton when
they met the telephone employee. They told him that any and all kinds of
provisions were needed and could be distributed, but the relief must
come soon if indescribable suffering was to be avoided.
Police officers of Dayton who were able to get about at all were
swearing in all available men as deputies, commandeering provisions and
charging the expense to the State of Ohio. The available supplies were
so slender, however, that thousands of persons on the north side of the
river were already destitute. Efforts to learn the condition of the
2,500 inmates of the old soldiers' home on the west side brought a
report that the institution was in no danger because of its location on
a high hill.
Leon A. Smith, one of the relief committee in North Dayton, was sworn in
as a deputy justice of the peace with power to enlist other deputies to
preserve order, guard against crimes and relieve distress.
"What we need most," said Mr. Smith over the telephone, "is food for the
living and assistance in recovering and burying the dead before an
epidemic sets in."
Farmers in the vicinity offered their teams to haul towards Dayton any
supplies that could be gotten together, and the housewives of the
countryside denuded their pantries.
Relief committees issued the following statement:
"An awful catastrophe has overtaken Dayton. The centers of Dayton and
the residence district from the fair grounds hill to the high ground
north of the city are under water.
"Bring potatoes, rice, beans, vegetables, meat and bread and any other
edibles that will sustain life.
"We have cooking arrangements for several thousand. We are sending
trucks to nearby towns, but ask that you haul to us, as far as
possible."
The first trainload of provisions from Cincinnati, with a detail of
policemen to help in the rescue work, reached Dayton after being twelve
hours on the road. This, with two cars from Springfield, relieved the
immediate suffering. Word also was received that a carload of supplies
was on the way from Detroit.
Encouragement was received in a message from the Mayor of Springfield,
who said he was sending six big trucks loaded with provisions that
should reach Dayton early Thursday. With the arrival of motor boats
Wednesday night it was hoped to begin to distribute provisions among the
marooned early next morning.
Messages from the flood's prisoners in the business section said
children were crying for milk, while their elders suffered from thirst
that grew hourly. Volunteers were called for to man boats and brave the
dangerous currents in an attempt to get food to the suffering.
PATTERSON CONTINUES RESCUE WORK
Rescue work efficiently managed, in which John H. Patterson was a
leading spirit, proceeded smoothly throughout the day. A boat, which was
engaged in rescue work, capsized, and all of the crew but Frederick
Patterson, son of John H. Patterson, were drowned. Young Patterson acted
as captain of the crew.
Missing members of families were restored to their loved ones through
human clearing houses established at several points in the fringe of the
flood district. Great ledgers filled with names presided over by
volunteer bank clerks were at the disposal of persons seeking missing
kinsmen. If these had registered in the clearing house their addresses
were quickly given to the inquirer.
Up to seven o'clock in the evening three thousand of the homeless were
housed in different places of refuge, most of them being cared for at
the plant of the National Cash Register Company. Scores of the waters'
victims were being carried from their places of imprisonment late in the
evening, and leaders of the rescuing parties were arranging for relays
of torch bearers to light the work during the night.
The powerful current on each cross street made it impossible for those
manning the rowboats to pass a street crossing without the aid of tow
ropes. Lines were stretched in many places and trolley boat paths
brought many victims out. Every automobile in the city was pressed into
service and used to meet paths and take the refugees at once to the
hospitals.
"Our greatest need is a dozen motor boats and men to run them," was the
message contained in an appeal sent out by Mr. Patterson. Skiffs and
rowboats could not live in torrents rushing through the city's principal
streets.
The big plant of the National Cash Register Company was made relief
headquarters. As persons were rescued they were taken to a relief
sub-station, where their names were recorded and they received first
aid. At frequent intervals these lists were sent to relief headquarters
and announced to crowds who waited in the rain for hours.
Two expert oarsmen, Fred Patterson and Nelson Talbott, conquered the
current for a short distance on Main Street late in the afternoon.
"We penetrated to almost the center of the city," said Mr. Patterson.
"Everywhere people yelled to us to rescue them, but it was impossible,
for we were barely able to keep afloat. Large sums of money were offered
us to take persons from perilous positions. The windows of the Algonquin
Hotel seemed filled with faces, and the same conditions prevailed at
most of the buildings we passed. We did not see any bodies, but the loss
of life must have been great."
At Xenia a relief committee was organized to send supplies to Dayton.
All the churches were made ready for Dayton refugees.
PHONE OPERATOR BELL A HERO
Two employees of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, John A.
Bell, wire chief at Dayton, and C. D. Williamson, wire chief at
Phoneton, Ohio, by unprecedented devotion to duty kept Dayton in touch
with the world.
At midnight they had been on duty continuously for forty-eight hours,
and, although there was no prospect of their being relieved, they gave
not the slightest indication of any inclination to leave their posts.
Bell reached the Dayton office before the flood broke on Tuesday
morning. The water came with such suddenness that all batteries and
power were out of commission before any measure could be taken to
protect them. This left the wires without current and effectually cut
off Dayton. Bell rummaged around and found a lineman's "test set." With
this he made his way to the roof of the building, "cut in" on the line
to Phoneton and reported to Williamson, whose batteries were still in
condition. Over this meagre equipment messages were exchanged by means
of the underground wires of the company, which held up until after the
noon hour Tuesday before the cable in which they were incased gave way.
The break, however, was south of Dayton, and Phoneton was still in touch
with the flood-stricken city.
Except for brief intervals, Bell remained on the roof of the building
suffering the discomforts of pouring rain and low temperature, in order
that the waiting world might have some word from Dayton.
EXPERIENCES OF THE SUFFERERS
Late in the afternoon several refugees told stories that gave an insight
into conditions in East Dayton, hitherto unexplored. The flood victims
declared they knew of no loss of life in this section, because a great
number of people had availed themselves of warnings and fled.
A Mrs. Van Denberg, who remained until the flood enveloped her home,
when rescued declared she had seen no bodies in the flood.
Sixty-five persons were marooned in the central police station. Nothing
had been heard from Mayor Phillips, of Dayton, or from Brigadier-General
Wood, marooned, it was believed, in North Dayton.
The whole story of the Dayton disaster probably never will be told--the
heroism of men; the martyrdom of women; the mad hysteria that seized
some and caused them to jump into the flood and death; the torture of
despair that gripped those who, imprisoned in their homes by the water,
waited in vain for help until the advancing flames came and destroyed
them. The most heartrending feature of the situation was the pitiable
terror of the women and children. Many of them sat up and sobbed through
the night refusing to believe that their fathers had been drowned in the
satanic waters.
Mrs. James Cassidy and her three children were brought from the flood
last night. Mrs. Cassidy was grief-stricken over the report of the death
of her husband by drowning. Even as she was being registered there was
brought into rescue headquarters a drenched man who had to be carried.
"Jim! Jim!" suddenly shrieked the woman. "That's you, Jim, isn't it? You
aren't dead, Jim. Say you aren't dead."
Jim had been rescued from drowning. The return of James Cassidy was the
one bit of joy in the awful gloom at the rescue headquarters, where
gathered the victims of flood, fire and famine.
CRAZED BY HER EXPERIENCE
A woman, maddened by the horrors of the day, fought with Bill Riley and
his companion, Charles Wagner, who had rescued her in a boat.
She bit Riley in the hand and choked Wagner, who sought to restrain her.
The little boat swayed and was on the point of capsizing when the woman
suddenly became calm and began to pray.
A big sturdy man cried like a child in the offices of the National Cash
Register Company. He had been to the hospitals, the schools where
refugees are housed and to the churches--but in none of these was his
family.
In many similar cases relatives of the supposed dead were uncertain as
to the fate of the missing. The money loss was heavy, but nobody cared
about money loss, though it ran into the millions.
In this hour of Dayton's woe money apparently was the most useless thing
in the world.
A graphic story was told by Edsy Vincent, a member of the Dayton fire
department. His engine house was within a few doors of Taylor Street,
where the break of the levee occurred.
The department watchers, fearing being flood-bound, sounded the fire
call simultaneously with the break in the levee.
"When the horses, which were hitched in record time, reached the
street," said Vincent, "we were met by a wall of water which must have
been ten feet high. The driver was forced to turn and flee in the
opposite direction to save the team and the apparatus."
INSTANCES OF SELF-SACRIFICE
The dark colors in these incidents were lightened here and there by
stories of bravery exhibited by many of the flood prisoners.
A woman with three children marooned in the upper floor of her home on
the edge of the business district called to the oarsmen:
"I know you can't take me off!" she cried, "but for the love of humanity
take this loaf of bread and jug of molasses to Sarah Pruyn down the
street; I know she's starving."
Twice the boatmen attempted to take the food, but waves that eddied
about the submerged house hurled them back.
LOOTERS AT WORK
Numerous stories of looting were told, and many prisoners were locked
up. In most cases these had entered houses and had been searching for
valuables. A gang of roughs went through the southern part of the city
late at night instructing the people to extinguish all lights for fear
of a gas explosion and then began raiding. The police dispersed them.
All day and all night strings of automobiles were going back and forth.
Those coming to Dayton were seeking friends or relatives. Those going
back had people to take back with them.
At night the temperature dropped suddenly. A blinding snowstorm and high
winds followed close upon the fall of the thermometer. The blizzard
weather caused added suffering. Survivors who escaped the horrors of a
flood and fire stricken city at night were huddled roofless in an arctic
storm. Countless men, women and children were marooned in the storm who
had had no warm food or clothing since Tuesday morning.