DAYTON IN THE THROES OF DISTRESS
PITIABLE CONDITION OF MAROONED--FALSE REPORT CAUSES PANIC--THE
FLOOD RECEDES--A SURVEY OF THE FLOOD'S DAMAGE--MARTIAL LAW
ENFORCED--RESTORING SANITATION--FEEDING THE HOMELESS--PATTERSON
CONTINUES NOBLE WORK--STORIES OF SURVIVORS.
When Thursday morning dawned on stricken Dayton the food situation which
had threatened to become serious was relieved temporarily by the arrival
of a special train from Richmond, Indiana, bringing seven cars of
provisions. Quartermaster Logan also received word from the United
States Army quartermaster general that 300,000 rations had been ordered
shipped from Chicago, 100 ranges and one complete quartermaster depot
from Columbus, 3,300 tents, 100 hospitals tents and 400 stoves from
Philadelphia, and 300,000 blankets and 500 bedsacks from St. Louis or
Cincinnati. Quartermaster Logan was authorized to purchase in open
market all rations needed.
[Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE RIVERS AND CREEKS WHICH RUN THROUGH
DAYTON, AND THE PRINCIPAL SECTIONS OF THE CITY]
[Illustration: Showing the difficulties experienced by the rescuers in
getting to the hundreds of people whose lives were imperiled by being
caught in the flooded buildings]
[Illustration: Copyright by George Grantham Bain.
Mayor of Cleveland getting motor boats ready for relief work in Northern
Ohio. For days after the flood reached its height, even strong boats
could reach many of the marooned people only with great difficulty and
risk]
The thing that made the situation most difficult for concerted rescue
work was the peculiar geographical situation of the town. It is divided
into six sections: central Dayton, comprising the down-town business
district; West Dayton, the territory extending several miles west of the
big Miami; Riverdale, the northeast, across the river from the central
district; Dayton View, the extreme northeast; Southern Dayton, the
manufacturing district in which the National Cash Register Company's
plant is located and separated from the central district by lowlands
which were deep in flood water, and North Dayton, northwest of the
business district, across the river from the business section.
PITIABLE CONDITION OF MAROONED
The river forms a horseshoe around the business district, making it
impossible to reach that part until the torrents that poured down the
valley should recede.
Dayton View, West Dayton and Riverdale were the only sections between
which communication was possible.
The suburb of Riverdale up to Helena Street was penetrated by the
down-town relief commission and conditions found much similar to those
in the southern suburbs. Everyone was crowded to the second floors or
roofs of their homes, but few of the more stable dwellings were washed
away.
North of Burns Avenue as far as Fourth Street the water was found to be
from three to six feet deep. Beyond Fourth Street the water had receded
to make it possible in many places to proceed on foot.
Nothing was known of the foreign settlement in North Dayton close to the
Miami River. It was this part of the city where the flood first made its
way and where the occupants of the houses had ignored warnings to
leave. It was here also that it was feared most of the deaths would
occur. The only body found on Thursday was that of Charles Parker, a
livery man, discovered in the court house yard.
Captain of Police H. E. Lackhart declared that water in North Dayton,
Miami City and East Dayton reached the housetops. His estimate of the
number of dead in that district was three hundred.
The bodies of a woman and a baby were seen floating down Jefferson
Street, one of Dayton's main thoroughfares. It was thought that they
came from the district north of the river.
A report which had been current in the water district south of Main
Street that Brigadier-General Wood had been fatally injured by falling
plate glass, proved to be untrue. He continued in full charge of the
relief work, although his arm had been badly cut.
Parts of Main Street were impassable because of debris. At several
points it comprised outbuildings that had struck more stable buildings
and been dashed to pieces.
Hourly apprehension for the appalling sights to be uncovered when the
waters return to normal was growing.
PLANS FOR FIGHTING PESTILENCE
Pestilence was feared and sanitary and health officials mapped out their
work. Sewers were burst by the flood, manholes were simply blown from
the earth, and it was realized that many days must elapse before the
water service could be restored and before street car companies could
operate.
Because of the lack of electric lights, and as a precaution against
looting, military notices were posted, forbidding citizens to be on the
streets between the hours of 6 P. M. and 5 A. M.
Word was received that a number of motor boats with men to operate them
were on the way from Cleveland and Cincinnati.
The water receded rapidly during the day. An occasional snow flurry and
biting gusts of wind added to the discomfort of the rescue crews, but
they remained steadily at work.
The Emergency Committee began publication of an official newspaper from
the plant of the National Cash Register Company. It was a one-sheet
poster designed for free circulation in all accessible parts of the
city. Its leading article warned the people to beware of thieves and
burglars.
A thief was caught robbing homes of flood victims who had been taken to
refuge stations. He was shot to death by state guardsmen.
The progress of the first canoe into the water-bound district was
greeted by appeals for bread and water. In nearly every house left
standing wistful faces were to be seen pressed against window panes. All
of these were asked whether there had been any deaths and with only a
few exceptions all replied that there had not.
Temporary morgues were established in the United Brethren Church and
also at Fifth and Eagle Streets. At these points many bodies were cared
for, chiefly those of women and children.
FALSE REPORT CAUSES PANIC
Needless suffering was caused during the day by an announcement of the
breaking of the Lewistown reservoir. Men rushed through the uptown
streets shouting:
"Run for your lives! The reservoir has broken!"
There was really no danger. The reservoir contained 17,000 acres of
water space, but it was pointed out that the flood extended over several
million acres and the worst possible effect of the breaking of the
reservoir would be to retard the rescues and could not cause a rise of
more than a foot. The waters at the time were seven feet lower than the
high water of Tuesday night.
The alarm was spread by a policeman who was posted on the edge of the
flood district. Others were quick to take up the cry.
Soon thousands of men and women crowded the streets. Many of them fled
for the hills, but hundreds hurled themselves past guards and into the
main office building of the National Cash Register Building, which was
already crowded.
Not until John H. Patterson, president of the company, had addressed the
throng was any semblance of order restored.
Mr. Patterson was appointed military aide in the southeast district of
the city, with full control under martial law. He at once ordered every
available motor car and truck to scour the farmhouses south of the city
and confiscate all available food supplies.
Colonel H. G. Catrow arrived with his military aides from Columbus in
the afternoon and took charge of the militiamen.
SIGHTSEERS BARRED FROM CITY
Sightseers of Springfield who sought to visit Dayton received a rude
shock. On the first train to the stricken city from Springfield were
fifty linemen and three coaches full of people on a sightseeing tour.
The Governor learned of this and on his orders when the train reached
Dayton two soldiers were stationed at each car door and none but linemen
were permitted to alight. The train was then run back to Springfield
with its disappointed passengers.
The Governor then ordered guardsmen at Springfield to let none board
trains for Dayton who did not have a military pass. The purpose in this
was to prevent idle visitors draining the limited food resources of
Dayton.
DYNAMITE AND LIME SENT
Dynamite, gasoline and lime were sent from Springfield as supplies for
the sanitary corps ordered there to prevent the spread of disease and a
feared epidemic. The dynamite was needed to blow up dangerous
obstructions, the gasoline to burn rubbish and the lime for disinfecting
purposes.
Mutiny broke out in the city workhouse, where one hundred prisoners were
confined. Terror-stricken by the flood and fire, the prisoners were
demanding freedom.
They beat at their cell doors and shouted imprecations at their keepers.
Superintendent Johnson applied to the militia for help. One workhouse
prisoner was released because he knew how to run the water-works pumps.
The two hundred and fifty guests of the Algonquin Hotel were kept
comfortable except for the continuous dread that the fire would spread
to them. The water reached the second floor, but all the supplies had
been moved to places of safety, and those in the hotel experienced
little discomfort.
From Fourth Street to the Miami River, relief work was taken up by a
committee headed by Chief of Police Allaback. All of the grocery stores
were commandeered and, although in most cases the goods were covered
with water, yet sufficient supplies were found to prevent great
suffering among those in the interior dry strip.
SUFFERERS CHEERFUL
One of the remarkable features was the cheerful spirit with which flood
victims viewed their plight. This was Dayton's first big flood in many
years. Much of the submerged area had been considered safe, but as the
majority of residents of these sections looked out on all sides upon a
great sweep of muddy, swiftly moving water, they seemed undisturbed.
In some of the poorer sections the attitude of the marooned was not so
cheerful. As a motor boat passed beneath the second floor at one partly
submerged house, a man leaned out and threatened to shoot the boat's
occupants unless they rescued his wife and a baby that had been born the
day before. The woman, almost dying, was let from the window by a rope
and taken to a place of refuge.
Further on, members of a motor boat party were startled by shots in the
second floor of a house, about which five feet of water swirled. The
boat was stopped and a man peered from a window.
"Why are you shooting?" he was asked.
"Oh, just amusing myself, shooting at rats that come upstairs. When are
you going to take me out of here?" he replied.
Three babies were born in one church during the afternoon. One was born
in a boat while its mother was being conveyed to safety. Such scenes
were common.
WOMEN BECAME HYSTERICAL
At the rescue stations the scenes enacted were heartrending and the most
pitiful were witnessed at the temporary morgues. At the West Dayton
morgue frantic crowds all day and night watched every body brought in,
hoping against hope it was not that of some loved one.
Women became hysterical at times when searching for missing members of
their families whom they had failed to find at the relief stations.
With the coming of nightfall Thursday the efforts to rescue more persons
were slackened, and all of Dayton not in the central flood districts
waited in dread for the nightly fires which had added horrors to the
already terrible situation.
The flood situation at night appeared brighter than in the morning. The
water had fallen from three to five feet, the currents of the river and
creek had slackened, and there was food enough left for the town's
breakfast and dinner.
As Galveston and San Francisco pulled themselves together after calamity
so Dayton began pulling itself together on Friday of the week of the
flood. Emerging from the waters and privation, citizens began
co-operating with those who rushed to the rescue from outside.
Considerable progress was made toward the restoration of order and in
giving relief to those in the worst distress.
Much cheer was taken from the fact that so far as loss of life was
concerned it was not so great as had been feared, though no exact
estimates were yet calculable.
Financially the citizens had a great burden to bear. Investigators on
Friday put the figures of the losses at double that of the previous day,
making it $50,000,000.
THE FLOOD RECEDES
The down-town district was practically free of water. Fire engines
pumped out the basement of the Algonquin Hotel, that the Algonquin's
artesian well supply might be pumped into the empty city water mains for
fire protection.
Water was still from ten to fifteen feet deep in certain districts of
the west side. A mile of residences on Linwood Avenue had been swept
clear and nothing remained to indicate that the street had existed.
A SURVEY OF THE FLOOD'S DAMAGE
In a tour of the business sections it was found that the high stage of
the flood had been nine feet at Third and Main Streets, the heart of the
city.
The tower of Steele High School was levelled and the Leonard Building on
Main Street was undermined so that it collapsed. Other buildings stood
up.
The following buildings were found to have withstood the flood,
furnishing shelter to about 7,000 people who were marooned in them since
Tuesday: Conover Building, Kuhns Building, The Arcade, two Cappel
Buildings, Callahan Bank Building, Schwind Building, Commercial
Building, Mendenhall Building, Rike Kumler Building, Reibold Building,
Elder & Johnson's building and United Brethren Publishing Company's
building.
NO PUBLIC BUILDINGS GONE
None of the public buildings was destroyed. Among these buildings were
the Dayton Club, Victoria, National and Colonial theatres, city hall,
court house, Beckel, Phillips, Algonquin and Atlas hotels, Masonic
temple, post office, Y. M. C. A. and various churches.
The Log Cabin, 115 years old, the first house built in Dayton, still
stood, although it is on the south bank of the Miami, right in the path
of the flood.
The electric light and gas plants were safe from the high water. The
city's water comes from a reservoir high above the river.
In Dayton less than one hundred bodies had been recovered by Friday
night, though thousands were missing. The fire was out, however, and the
flood had so receded that relief boats were able to get to practically
all parts of the city.
MOST HOUSES WRECKED
Every house in the flooded district was practically ruined. Streets were
so clogged with wreckage that it was almost impossible to get through
them.
"Strange to say, there was not much suffering in our particular
neighborhood," declared George Armstrong, who had been marooned in the
Capell furniture store building. "There was one woman with a
three-weeks-old baby. We took excellent care of her. And did we pray?
There never were such prayers in church. We had a case of whiskey and
offered to send it off to persons who seemed exhausted. They refused to
take it, although ordinarily they are not teetotallers."
BOATMEN TOUR DISTRICTS
Members of the United States life-saving crew of Louisville navigated
sections of flooded Dayton heretofore unexplored, reporting conditions
in North Dayton and Riverdale quite as deplorable as the first estimates
concerning suffering were concerned.
Cruising the southern end of Riverdale, where it was feared there would
be found a big death list, Captain Gillooly, in charge of the crew from
the United States life saving station at Louisville, Ky., reported
conditions paralleling those in other sections of the stricken city, but
only two bodies were reported as having been recovered. The flooded
territory in Riverdale, which is a section of substantial home owners,
was approximately seventeen blocks long and seven blocks wide.
After having descended the Miami River, Captain Gillooly reported that
in the south central section of Dayton, where the flood flowed wildest
on Tuesday night and Wednesday, thousands of persons still were
imprisoned in upper floors of their homes. He stated that from numerous
inquiries among people whose residences had been inundated it appeared
the life loss would not be nearly so large as it was placed by first
reports.
This section still was flooded, although the water rapidly was receding,
and while a few corpses eddied out from the flood's edge, yet in the
center of the area it was stated that only two bodies had been seen.
DRINKING WATER DISTRIBUTED
Captain Gillooly and his men distributed food and quantities of drinking
water to a large number of the flood's prisoners. Arrangements also were
made to provide the needy ones with the necessary supplies from time to
time until the flood waters receded.
At many different points along the route stops were made and the crew
detoured away from the rivers. It was found that many of these detours
could be made afoot, the water having rapidly fallen since the night. At
no place was the water behind the levees deeper than four feet.
The Louisville men took relief to several hundred families in the low
district in the vicinity of Ludlow and Franklin Streets. Here the water
had reached the roofs of all two-story buildings. Only a few of the most
desperate cases were brought out, the first move being to leave bread
and water in as many places as possible.
Sixty Catholic sisters at the Academy of the Sisters of Notre Dame and
eighteen persons for whom they had provided refuge were found to have
been without food or water since Tuesday. There were several cases of
illness, and the suffering had been intense. The life savers left bread
and water and planned to take further help.
Meanwhile Capt. H. A. Hansen and the crew from Cleveland were operating
several boats in North Dayton. There many of the poorer class live, and
few of the buildings were substantial. Dozens of them were swept away,
upturned and shattered.
Mayor Phillips was still marooned in his house, and G. B. Smith,
president of the Chamber of Commerce, continued in active aid of relief
operations.
The Fourth National Bank Building, which was reported several times to
have been destroyed by fire, was found untouched by the flames, although
a building immediately adjoining was burned. The newspaper offices, the
_News_ and _Herald_ and _Journal_ buildings, were safe, but none was
issuing papers.
The Cleveland battalion of engineers were the first of a horde of troops
which began to pour into Dayton in the morning. They were immediately
put at work distilling the water. The fifteen men of the Dayton Ohio
National Guard companies, who had been on duty since midnight Tuesday,
frankly had been unable to cope with the situation. The police force
was also depleted by the fact that many of its members had been marooned
by high water. The looter had been in high glee.
MARTIAL LAW ENFORCED
Strict martial law was put into force. With headquarters at Bamberger
Park, Col. Zimmerman of the Fifth Ohio Regiment organized the forces of
protection, and by noon every accessible section was under strict guard.
Frequent fights and skirmishes were held with the pillagers, who sought
to steal under the cover of darkness. Orders to shoot to kill looters on
the third shot were issued to the militiamen. The pillaging of abandoned
homes and stores and the slugging and robbing of men and women in the
streets after nightfall had reached a desperate stage when the troops
arrived, and drastic orders were necessary.
"Shoot at the legs first, and then shoot to kill," was the way the
soldiers were instructed to act.
Colonel Zimmerman listened to thousands who sought passes to go through
the flood area to reach marooned friends and kinsmen. Only a few were
allowed to go, and these were compelled to prove special causes. To
those who asserted they had starving friends, Colonel Zimmerman rejoined
that provisions and medicines constantly were going into the inundated
district.
"Be satisfied you're not dead yet," was the Colonel's disposition of
many of the applicants.
All during the night and until dawn revolver and rifle shots had
sounded. Most of the shooting was in the bottoms near the river, but
about midnight there was a lively volley of shots, evidently an exchange
of bullets, believed to have been between soldiers and pillagers.
A robbery was thwarted when the police arrested a man who was escaping
from the city with a satchel containing $50,000 in diamonds and jewelry
which he had stolen from downtown jewelry shops.
"Beware of thieves and burglars," said an official bulletin given wide
circulation. "Don't leave your houses without protection. It was thieves
who scared you about the reservoir and natural gas explosion. The
natural gas has been turned off and there is no danger of explosions."
REFUGEES IN FIGHTS
At three o'clock Friday morning it was unofficially announced that three
pillagers had been shot to death in various parts of the city during the
night.
Over in North Dayton, when the lowlands were inundated by the rush of
the waters of the Mad River, the foreign population, which practically
occupies that section, was driven to the upper floors and the housetops.
With the extinguishing of the city's lights bedlam broke loose in
various portions of North Dayton. Men in the frenzy of their trouble
fell to desperate quarreling among themselves, and shots were heard at
all hours of the day and night Wednesday and Thursday.
There were unconfirmed reports that more than a dozen murders had been
committed. Troops were ordered into this district to stop the conflicts.
RESTORING SANITATION
Problems of sanitation, the water supply and the reconstruction of the
wrecked sewer system were resumed by engineers. Citizens were ordered to
dig cesspools in their yards and to get rid of all garbage. Members of
the State Board of Health, bringing carloads of lime and other
disinfectants, reached here to ward off disease.
A report was circulated that an epidemic of typhoid fever and pneumonia
had developed in Riverdale and West Dayton. It was ascertained, however,
that not a single well-developed case of either disease was known in the
sections mentioned, although there was considerable sickness among the
refugees, particularly women and children, due to privation.
Three deaths from diphtheria in other sections were reported by
Secretary of Health Board Miller.
FEEDING THE HOMELESS
The food situation was much brighter. The trucks sent from the Cash
Register Company, manned by men with military orders to confiscate
potatoes and food from the farmers, brought back a good supply of
vegetables and several relief trains reached the city.
The problem of providing for refugees was bravely faced by an army of
workers, many of whom came from neighboring cities equipped with car
loads and train loads of food.
"We can't tell how much we need," said John M. Patterson "and we don't
know yet in just what shape we want some of the supplies. For instance,
there came a carload of flour. We can use it later, but if that flour
had been made into bread it would have been immediately available for
the persons imprisoned in their homes whom it has been impossible to
remove. We could take bread to them, but flour is not serviceable."
Many motor boats went into the flooded district taking food and water
and bringing out persons who needed medical attention. Many of them were
so weak from deprivation and suffering as to be scarcely able to move.
Hundreds were taken to the Cash Register Hospital and other places where
they could be aided.
Among those taken out of the Algonquin Hotel were Stephen Patterson and
his wife. Mr. Patterson is a brother of John H. Patterson, the cash
register manufacturer. Great anxiety had been felt for their safety and
also for Mrs. Frank Patterson, a sister-in-law. The latter was found in
her home on West Fifth Street.
HUNDREDS STAND BY HOMES
In that section on the east side of the Miami River and north of the Mad
River rescue work went forward with the two United States life-saving
crews in charge. Hundreds of people living in upper stories and
practically without food or water since Tuesday morning refused to leave
their homes, believing they would have a better chance for safety there
than elsewhere. Water and food were supplied them. Hundreds of others
had left their homes, in some instances effecting exits by chopping
holes through the roofs. Very few of these were accounted for.
[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
While the flood was raging, hundreds of fires which started throughout
the flooded States were left to consume millions of dollars worth of
property, and to destroy many lives, because of the inability of the
fire-fighters to get near the burning buildings]
[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
President John H. Patterson, of the National Cash Register Company,
third man from the right, directing the work of rescue at Dayton, Ohio.
Through his magnificent skill as an organizer, and his coolness of mind,
scores of lives were saved that would otherwise have been lost, and a
great deal of suffering was alleviated by his prompt measures of relief]
A central morgue was established at the Probate Court building, and as
fast as possible identifications were made. Many of the bodies thus far
recovered, however, presented difficulties in the way of identification.
Colonel Zimmerman reported that boatloads of provisions continuously
were going into the still inundated districts. Milk for babies and
medicine for invalids were not forgotten by the rescue squads. Governor
Cox solved the problem of getting milk for Dayton's babies by
confiscating in the name of the State the entire output of the
Marysville dairies, and having it sent to the stricken city. The state
also seized two cars of eggs at Springfield found in a railroad yard and
sent them to Dayton.
PATTERSON CONTINUES NOBLE WORK
The dead bodies were placed in coffins as soon as they were identified.
These coffins and decent burial for the victims were paid for by the
President of the National Cash Register Company, who footed most of the
bills in the tremendous and efficient work of relief.
The weather was bitter cold, but the rain ceased to fall. Thousands of
survivors who spent two nights marooned in buildings without light, heat
or food on Friday night slept in warm beds.