THE DEVASTATION OF COLUMBUS
THE RISING FLOOD--MOST OF THE CITY DARK--GREAT AREAS UNDER
WATER--THE MILITIA IN CONTROL--THE RELIEF OF THE VICTIMS--THE
EXTENT OF THE DISASTER--STORIES OF THE HORROR--ORDERS TO SHOOT
LOOTERS--RECOVERING THE DEAD--GOVERNOR COX INDEFATIGABLE--HUNGRY
REFUGEES SEIZE FOOD--INCIDENTS OF HEROISM--SCENES OF PATHOS--LOSS
BY DEATH AND OF PROPERTY--THE WORK OF RECONSTRUCTION.
At Columbus, on Tuesday night, March 25th, darkness settled down on a
swirling flood that covered large areas of the city. Thousands of
persons were separated from members of their families and were frantic
because they were unable to get into communication with their homes.
THE RISING FLOOD
Hundreds of fathers, sons, brothers, sisters and daughters had left
their homes on the west side of the city in the morning to go to work,
before the Scioto River had reached a flood stage. Rising suddenly, the
water cut them off from their homes and when night fell they only knew
that their homes were flooded and that the members of their families
were dependent for food and shelter on more fortunate neighbors.
Because the city was in darkness, only meager details of the condition
of the flood-marooned inhabitants were obtainable.
Wringing their hands, weeping and appealing vainly for help, scores of
girls crowded in as close to the water's edge in the darkness as state
troops and policemen on duty would allow them, but there was no chance
to cross the stream to their home district.
MOST OF THE CITY DARK
Owing to the high water, electric lights in the flooded district and a
part of the business section of the city were out, and the water supply
was cut off. The supply of gas was also cut off, with a view to
preventing explosions.
In Columbus the west side was practically wiped out, and the reported
loss of life ranged from a half dozen to 200. Houses were floating down
the river with people on their roofs. Several fires in the submerged
district added to the horrors. Refugees slept in public buildings, while
militia helped the police patrol the streets, which were in total
darkness.
It was estimated that over 10,000 persons were homeless on the west side
as a result of the flood and that at least 15,000 were living on the
second floors of their homes. Only about ten per cent of the street cars
were able to operate and steam railroad and suburban lines were tied up.
Damage amounting to $30,000 was done by fires in the west side during
the afternoon, which for a time threatened greater damage owing to the
water supply being cut off. Even had there been water, most of the
fire-fighting facilities were on the east side of the city and unable to
reach the section affected.
GREAT AREA UNDER WATER
Bridges connecting the west side with the eastern portion of Columbus
were swept away shortly after noon. Dozens of smaller bridges went down.
Hundreds of men were marooned in factories on the west side, and police
and National Guardsmen were making rescues in boats where it was
possible. All street car traffic was abandoned. Fifteen hundred homes
were flooded.
With a great roar the levee at the foot of Broad Street let go shortly
before eleven o'clock, sending down a deluge of water that swelled the
Scioto River and covered a great area. Several small buildings
collapsed. Just before the break the police ordered all persons in the
lowlands to leave their homes quickly and flee for high land. All fire
and police apparatus assisted in the work. The residents were told not
to stop for clothes or valuables.
The Sandusky Street levee also collapsed, permitting the water to wash
out a railroad embankment and pour into all the low districts between
the river and Sandusky Street. With water to the hubs, a horse-drawn
wagon galloped out West Broad Street filled with police, who shouted as
they went a warning to all to fly to the hills.
While being swept down the channel of the swollen Scioto River just as
darkness was gathering late in the day, a man, woman and child were
rescued from the roof of a house that had been torn from its foundation
by the flood. Two other children of the same family fell into the water
and were drowned.
THE MILITIA IN CONTROL
State troops at the order of Governor Cox patrolled the streets in the
flooded sections of the city and scores of automobiles were busy
carrying the suffering to higher ground.
Meantime, the rain which began Sunday night continued, at times
moderately and at other times in torrents. The fact that the water had
already destroyed several bridges and broken a levee gave cause for the
alarm that other levees might break and further damage result.
Because of the proportions of the flood, which washed out nearly every
bridge of steam and electric roads leading out of Columbus, nearly all
train service was annulled.
Floodgates were closed against all trains coming in or going out of
Columbus on all roads except the Norfolk and Western. A train on that
road practically swam into the Union Station at 9 P. M. after having
crept along through high waters for most of the run from Portsmouth to
Columbus.
During the day several trains on roads from the East were detoured
through Columbus over the Norfolk and Western, but this was discontinued
because of washed-out bridges between Columbus and Pittsburgh and other
points. Norfolk and Western officials said they had no assurance that
they would be able to operate any trains from here.
Ten solid miles of Pullman and other trains, including the Twentieth
Century Flyer, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, extended from Lima to
Lafayette, held up by a wash-out. Repairs allowed the trains to move on
about eleven o'clock.
In taking charge of the relief work Governor Cox issued an order
directing Adjutant-General John C. Speaks to call out the entire
National Guard of the state for duty in the flooded districts.
BRIDGES SWEPT AWAY
Bridges were swept away, barring those who would have fled to places of
safety. The rush of waters caught hundreds in their homes, and as the
darkness fell the scramble to escape became wild and foreboding. Those
who were able to do anything sent their appeals for aid to outlying
cities before the wires had absolutely failed.
Added to the terrors of flood and darkness was that of fire. In the wild
rush for places of safety that followed the first warning of the danger
from the bursting levees, lamps were toppled over, electric wires were
crossed and soon flames were mounting high in many sections of the city.
Representative H. S. Bigelow introduced a bill in the legislature to
appropriate $100,000 for the flood sufferers in Ohio, the money to be
handled under the direction of the Governor.
With no change in the number of reported dead in this city, estimates on
Wednesday placed the probable dead at from one hundred to one hundred
and fifty. Columbus was still being drenched and torn by flood waters of
the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers. The scene of devastation on the west
side was partly made visible to residents of other sections of the city
for the first time in two days. The isolation of the western section
again became real when the last remaining bridge gave way before the
torrents.
Numerous persons who were considered conservative asserted that they saw
scores of bodies float down stream and dozens of persons carried away in
their houses.
Miss Esther Eis, rescued from her home on the west side, said she saw
the house with George Griffin, wife and seven children collapse and
disappear, and another house containing John Way, wife and five
children, break up in the flood.
Besides the actual tragedies that were enacted in connection with the
flood the most exciting incident occurred at the announcement that the
storage dam, several miles north of the city, had broken, sending its
great flood to augment that of the Scioto River.
The scene that followed was one of wild panic in all parts of the city.
Patrolmen, soldiers and citizens in automobiles, tooting horns, ringing
gongs and calling through megaphones a warning to every one to seek
safety in the higher parts of the east side, sent thousands in flight,
while many, stunned by the supposed impending disaster, collapsed from
fear or gave way to hysteria.
It was more than an hour before the report was officially denied. Police
officials assert that the report was made to them by persons connected
with the military end of the patrols.
City officials said that the storage dam was holding fast against the
millions of gallons of water that were being poured against it, and they
expressed confidence that it would continue to do so despite the great
pressure upon it.
The Governor telegraphed the War Department at Washington, asking that
50,000 tents and 100,000 rations be made available for use and
distribution by the Ohio National Guard.
Governor Cox also sent out appeals for aid to the Governors of all the
border States of Ohio, including Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Michigan,
Indiana and Kentucky. Tents and provisions were badly needed, according
to the Governor's appeal.
After working all night in the Adjutant-General's office in the State
House, officers of the Ohio National Guard reported that they had
succeeded in assembling 3,500 militiamen, ready for service in the flood
districts.
Mobilized at all points of the state, companies and regiments of the
Ohio military force started at daybreak on Wednesday for the stricken
cities and towns as soon as arrangements for their transportation, the
most serious problem confronting the militia headquarters, could be
arranged. The relief which they carried was held back by the lack of
railroad facilities everywhere.
THE RELIEF OF THE VICTIMS
Howard Elting, president of the Chicago Association of Commerce,
telegraphed Governor Cox that citizens of Chicago were raising a relief
fund for flood sufferers.
"I am pleased to state," the telegram said, "that $100,000 will be
placed at the disposal of Ohio through the American Red Cross Society."
The Senate passed the Lowry Bill making appropriation for the relief of
the flood sufferers, but increased the amount to $500,000.
The action was taken in response to the following message from the
Governor:
"The flood disaster that has befallen our state is of such magnitude in
loss of life and human suffering that I respectfully urge upon your
honorable body the importance and propriety of making an appropriation
for the succor of those in distress.
"May I further suggest that it be of such size and made with such
dispatch as to reflect the great heart and resource of our
commonwealth?"
THE EXTENT OF THE DISASTER
On Thursday it was apparent that the part of the city between Central
and Sandusky Avenues was almost wiped out, and estimates of the death
toll of the flood in this city ran into the hundreds.
It was not until Thursday when the waters began to recede, and after two
nights of horror, during which hundreds of people clung to the
housetops, while others sought safety in trees, that the fact dawned
upon the inhabitants that their city had been visited by as great a
calamity perhaps as that which had fallen upon the Miami Valley.
The bodies of 200 persons lay huddled in the United Brethren Church on
Avondale Avenue, according to O. H. Ossman, an undertaker, who explored
the flood district in a rowboat.
He said this report was made to him by a man who said he had been able
to reach the building and look through the windows. Police who sought to
confirm the story were unable to reach the church because of the
current.
Ossman said nineteen bodies had been taken to his undertaking rooms and
that he has been asked to be prepared to care for sixty-nine other
bodies. He said he counted fully two hundred bodies in wreckage on West
Park Avenue.
Members of searching parties who were able to explore the west side of
the city, south of Broad Street, for the first time reported that that
section was a scene of vast desolation for a great area, much of it
being still under water.
The names of more than a half hundred persons were placed under the
caption "known dead," while the list of probable dead was too great to
be collated at that time. The number of missing and unaccounted for, it
was said, would reach far into the hundreds.
An Associated Press operator, who was marooned for hours in the flood
after it broke early Tuesday, reached the Columbus office Thursday after
having traveled by a circuitous route covering more than forty-five
miles in order to get into the main portion of the city.
He saw more than a score of bodies washed through the flood, and said
that house after house was carried away in the flood. Many of the small
frame cottages were wrenched to pieces by the currents and their
occupants thrown into the water to be seen no more.
It was believed that many bodies would be found at the Sandusky Street
bridge or lodged against such part of it as was left in the river at
that point. Further exploration of that part of the west side was begun
Thursday afternoon.
Because she had no home after she was rescued from the flood district,
Miss Florence P. Shaner and William G. Wahlenmaier were married. They
had intended being married in May. The girl was rescued by Wahlenmaier.
Her mother was drowned and their home swept away.
STORIES OF THE HORROR
Other men who had ventured into the flood district told corresponding
stories of awful loss of life. To add to the horrors of the situation
reports reached the State House that the buildings in the flood-swept
district were being looted by men in rowboats. To meet this emergency
and to better patrol the west side, which is under martial law, Governor
Cox ordered Troop B of the National Guard to patrol the ruined section
of the city. It was believed the cavalrymen could cover more territory
than foot soldiers.
As the waters receded the militia guarded the west side under
arrangements made between the Adjutant-General's department and Chairman
Nass of the Columbus Relief Committee.
Hundreds of people were still marooned in flooded homes, their rescue up
to that time being impossible because of the swift current of the
river. Rescued people in dire straits were brought to the City Hall in a
stream all day, where people by the hundreds waited to obtain news of
missing relatives and friends.
Families were separated, and men, women and children stood night and day
at the edge of the water waiting for the flood to subside that they
might reach abandoned homes.
The body of a man was suspended in a tree near Glenwood Avenue, beyond
reach of the rescuing parties. Other bodies were among debris washed up
on the edge of the waters in the southwest end of the city. Near this
debris were two submerged street cars.
Many of the refugees were in state institutions on the high ground at
the west end. The water fell several feet and some of the streets
inundated could be traversed, but in the lowlands, where it was feared
the greater number of dead would be found, it was several days before a
thorough search could be instituted.
Many of the refugees were in a pitiable condition when rescued. They
were benumbed by the cold and suffering from hunger and exposure.
FOUR BORN AS OTHERS DIE
Colonel D. N. Oyser, an attache of the city sanitary department,
reported that two truckloads of bodies were removed from one point on
the west side.
The cold wave which struck the section Wednesday night caused many to
freeze, lose their grip, and drop into the water.
[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
Part of the residential section of Fremont, Ohio, flooded. The water
reached to the second story of the houses]
[Illustration: Copyright by George Grantham Bain.
Carrying on the work of rescuing Dayton flood sufferers from their
houses in the boats made for the purpose at the National Cash Register
Factory]
With military glasses rescuers standing on the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad near Center Avenue could see several dead forms lying on the
roof of a building to the east.
Four babies were reported to have been born in a school house on the
hilltop.
According to those who invaded the stricken district, the churches, big
state institutions and storerooms in the hilltop section were crowded
with refugees. They tell stories of indescribable horrors.
Former Mayor George S. Marshall, who was in telephone communication with
Cecil Randall, his law partner, said that Mr. Randall estimated the
death toll at several hundreds. Throngs of excited groups of people from
the flood-stricken section of the city who were crowded into the
temporary rescue quarters asserted that the estimate of Mr. Randall was
not exaggerated.
Neither the extent of the awful tragedies enacted during the sweeping
away of homes nor the exact death tolls could be known for days until
the mass of wreckage, houses and uprooted trees which were strewn on the
level lowlands south of the city were uncovered. This mass of debris was
under several feet of water, with swift currents running in many
directions.
Many of those rescued told of escaping from their homes by fractions of
minutes, just before the rushing waters swept their homes away and
crushed them like eggshells against bridges. Scores of entire families,
these people assert, were swept down with their houses in the swift
current.
Every available inch of space in the Columbus State Hospital for the
Insane and Mt. Carmel Hospital on the hilltop was occupied by refugees.
Fire Chief Lauer, who was marooned on the hilltop beyond the flooded
section, reaching that point of safety in his automobile just before the
waters swept the lowlands, said that he saw scores of people standing on
their porches as the waters swept down and that he could not see how
scarcely any of them escaped.
After two nights of horror, during which hundreds clung to housetops
calling for help until their voices gave way, while dozens perched in
the branches of trees, many were still beyond the reach of rescuers.
ORDERS TO SHOOT LOOTERS
J. W. Gaver, Justice of the Peace at Briggsdale, swore in several
deputies and armed them, with instructions to shoot down all looters.
Relief trains from Marysville and London, bearing food and clothing,
relieved the situation in the refugee quarters on the hilltop, where
hundreds of homeless were waiting news from relatives.
Relief work was directed toward rescuing two hundred and fifty from the
marooned plant of the Sun Manufacturing Company, where they had been
imprisoned for two days without food or heat. One boat which got within
hailing distance before it was stopped by the swirling current was
informed that conditions were terrible.
With a blinding snowstorm and the temperature falling, gnawed by hunger
and suffering from the cold, the thousands of flood sufferers of the
state faced the uncertainties which the freezing temperature was adding
to their plight.
Although some of the early morning reports said flood waters were
receding slowly in some of the flooded sections there was scarcely a
perceptible change in the flood height. In other places, even though
receding, the water was still of such height as to maroon the sufferers,
many of whom were suffering from exposure which followed their clinging
throughout the night to some points of vantage above the murky waters.
All were facing the chilly winds, blinding rain, sleet and snow.
Governor Cox issued a proclamation declaring a holiday in all districts
flooded in Ohio for the next ten days. This was done to protect
negotiable paper that might be subject to presentation.
Hundreds of the refugees harbored in the various relief stations and in
private homes just outside of the flooded district were separated from
relatives, and many of them believed that lost sons or daughters,
fathers or mothers had perished.
The authorities were fearful of looting in the flood district and the
militia, under strict orders, in several cases arrested rescue workers
and interfered with their work, suspecting them of looting. A large
quantity of supplies was transported to the flood district by automobile
and rail, and the refugees were made comfortable as fast as they could
be released from the grip of the waters.
RECOVERING THE DEAD
Thursday's bodies were recovered from jams of driftwood that had piled
up along the shallow shores of the flood. All of them were badly
mutilated and in several cases identification was difficult. The
authorities organized a squad of men to cover the entire inundated area
in the search of bodies. Up to date fifty-one known dead had been
reported.
Hundreds of those whose homes were in the flooded district, but who were
marooned in the business section of the city, away from their families,
were able to get to the flood section Thursday by a circuitous route
about twenty-five miles long. All manner of vehicles and pedestrians
crowded the road throughout the day, and at the end of the way pathetic
reunions of families separated since Tuesday took place in the muddy,
flood-swept streets.
Daniel A. Poling, general secretary of the Ohio Christian Endeavor
Society, issued an appeal to the 160,000 Christian Endeavorers in the
state, urging them to forward contributions to state headquarters.
West Columbus remained virtually under martial law. Militia companies on
duty were ordered to shoot looters on sight. Thousands of curious people
and those with friends and relatives in the flooded districts were kept
out of the west side by police and troopers. The city relief station, at
the city hall, and the newspapers maintained and compiled lists of the
rescued, as well as lists of the dead.
By Friday order was being rapidly evolved out of chaos, and missing
loved ones were being accounted for by hundreds. Ample shelter and food
were being provided for the thousands of homeless.
Flood waters drained off from the devastated districts, railroad service
was slowly resumed and telegraph and telephone wires were being
restrung.
[Illustration: MAP SHOWING ONE OF THE CIRCUITOUS ROUTES BY WHICH NEWS OF
THE FLOOD WAS CARRIED TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD]
GOVERNOR COX INDEFATIGABLE
For three days Governor Cox tirelessly accomplished the work of a dozen
men, laboring from daylight to long past midnight to aid the
unfortunates of Ohio. His hand guided everything done in the work of
rescue and on Friday he turned his attention to new problems of
preventing epidemics, safeguarding life and property, relieving the
sufferings of surviving flood victims and the care of the dead.
The hero of the Dayton disaster, John A. Bell, the telephone official
who, marooned in a business block had been keeping Governor Cox informed
every half hour of conditions in the stricken city and delivering orders
through boatmen who rowed to his window, called the State House at
daybreak and greeted the Executive with a cheery "Good morning,
Governor. The sun is shining in Dayton."
But sunshine gave way to a blizzard like a snowstorm later in the day
and the reports coming from Bell were less cheering as the day advanced.
On Friday the Governor seized the railways to insure passage of relief
trains and to keep sightseers and looters away from the afflicted
municipalities.
The entire military force of Ohio was on duty in the flooded districts,
which included practically the entire state. Because of the interrupted
communications headquarters had not been able to keep fully in touch
with the movements of all the troops. The officers in command in most
cases had to determine routes and procure their own transportation.
Under the most difficult conditions they uniformly showed both energy
and ingenuity in reaching their destination.
Estimates of the flood death list in Columbus continued to range from
fifty to five hundred, although these figures represented largely
opinions of officials on duty in the flood zone. The efforts of the
authorities were directed almost entirely to relieving the suffering of
those marooned in houses in the territory under water, and until all of
these had been rescued the search for the dead did not begin in earnest.
The waters receded slowly on Friday and the swirling currents abated a
trifle, allowing the rescue boats a wider area of activity.
ORGANIZING RELIEF
George F. Unmacht, civil service clerk, connected with the
quartermaster's department of the United States army, stationed at
Chicago, arrived in Columbus Friday to assist in directing the
distribution of supplies. Rations for 300,000 arrived together with
tents for 20,000 persons; 100 hospital tents, 400 stoves, 29,000
blankets, 8,900 cots, 100 ranges.
Officers at Columbus were ordered to report at Fort Wayne, Cincinnati,
Youngstown and Hamilton, while a hospital corps was sent to the Columbus
barracks.
The Governor's attention on Friday was devoted largely to organization
of the work of relief. He received telegrams notifying him of
collections of more than $250,000. A New York newspaper had sent
$150,000 subscribed to a fund it raised. Word was received that the
Chicago Chamber of Commerce had raised $200,000, half of which had been
forwarded to Ohio. Judge Alton B. Parker subscribed $5,000 and James J.
Hill $5,000. A thousand dollars was sent from Walkerville, Ontario.
Governor Dunne wired that a bill appropriating $100,000 for Ohio flood
sufferers had been introduced in the Illinois Legislature, while
Governor Osborne telegraphed that the Michigan Assembly had appropriated
$20,000.
Colonel Myron T. Herrick, of Cleveland, Ambassador to France, cabled his
deep anxiety over the Ohio disaster, and Governor Cox in reply asked him
to call a meeting of the Ohio Society in Paris and wire funds, saying
the losses exceeded the San Francisco earthquake.
The Ohio Society of Georgia wired the Governor it was sorry and it too
was invited to show how much it was sorry.
HUNGRY REFUGEES SEIZE FOOD
The need for relief was indicated when a company of telephone linemen
working outside of Columbus had their supplies taken from them by hungry
flood refugees.
Governor Cox recalled some of his former comments on the need of
expenditures for the National Guard. "The National Guard," he said, "has
saved itself. Its efficiency has been a revelation to me." In the
organization so promptly effected by the Governor the moment the floods
came, his most efficient aid came from Adjutant-General Speaks and the
National Guard officers, and with the Guard the work of rescue and of
maintaining order was made possible. The officers and men performed
every duty faithfully.
Martial law prevailed in most of the stricken cities and the soldiers
prevented the looting of the abandoned houses and cared for the
refugees.
Colonel Wilson, of the Paymaster's Department, was made financial
officer as well as treasurer of the relief funds. Under his direction
and the Governor's supervision the Ohio relief commission prepared for a
War Department audit, as is required by the Red Cross Society. The
Governor demanded that there should be but one relief committee in the
state, and to that end the local committees formed were subordinate to
the state commission.
INCIDENTS OF HEROISM
The work of rescue brought out many striking incidents of personal
heroism.
From two o'clock Tuesday afternoon until nearly nightfall Wednesday
Charles W. Underwood, a carpenter of this city, held two babes in his
arms while he clung to the branch of a tree near the Greenlawn Cemetery,
where he had been carried fully a mile by the current. One babe was his
own, the other belonged to a neighbor, and as he clung to them he saw
his own twelve-year-old daughter on another limb of the same tree weaken
from exposure and die, her frail body swaying limply as it hung over the
branch. He also saw a woman refugee in the same tree weaken and fall
into the swirling waters. Underwood and the babes were finally rescued.
Two hundred and thirty-three souls marooned in the building of the Sun
Manufacturing Company succeeded in sending out a note by messenger,
praising the work of John Brady, who, with a skiff, after his home was
swept away, rescued two hundred men, women and children and brought them
to the Sun plant.
"Track out at Columbus because of floods," was the message that Albert
E. Dutoit, a Hocking Valley Railway engineer, read when his train was
stopped Wednesday at Walbridge, near Toledo. His heart gave a bound,
for he knew his family must be threatened. He detached his engine from
the train and started on his race with death. Like mad he shot his
engine across the country between there and Columbus. All night
Wednesday he tried to get through the military lines and succeeded on
Thursday. He induced men in motor boats to rescue his family. In a few
more moments, he had his eight-months-old baby in one arm with the other
around the waist of his wife. The reunion brought tears of sympathy to
the eyes of the rescuers.
Mrs. Emil Wallace, living southwest of the city, in the lowlands, ran
toward a hill when she saw the onrushing waters. She reached safety just
as the water was up to her neck. Her home was submerged.
A street car was washed a quarter of a mile away from the track. The
conductor and half a dozen passengers were drowned like rats in a trap
before they could get out of the car.
Two unknown men lost their lives while trying to save a twelve-year-old
girl from a raft floating near Greenlawn Avenue. On horseback the men
fought desperately against the swift current of the flood until at last
they were carried away.
Nearly one hundred babies were born in the flood district and in the
refuge camps between Tuesday morning and Saturday. In the majority of
cases neither the mothers nor the babies received any medical attention.
Many of the babies died from exposure.
As the sun broke through a fringe of clouds Saturday morning it looked
down upon scenes of utter devastation in the stricken west side of this
city, where a mighty torrent of water had rendered what was a prosperous
and happy community of 40,000 souls into a place of death, want and
disaster.
SCENES OF PATHOS
The scenes were full of human pathos. Torn bodies, disfigured almost
beyond recognition, were being dug from debris. Whole families, marooned
for four long days and nights in the upper stories of houses that had
escaped as if by miracle, many of them without food or water and in fear
of constant death by flood or flame, were being reached by rescuers.
Many of those rescued were in a critical condition from the long hours
they had spent in the bitter cold--their clothing soaked by the
incessant rainfall of three days and nights and no fuel or bedding with
which to combat their fearful condition. The water was subsiding
materially and the work of rescue was thus made easier.
The work of the searching parties in the flooded district increased the
list of bodies recovered from the water to sixty-one. All of these were
lodged in the temporary morgue, and most of them were identified.
Accurate estimates of the dead were still impossible. Safety Director
Bargar said not more than one hundred had been drowned. Coroner Benkert
asserted that the loss of life would reach 200, while former Mayor
Marshall, commanding the rescue workers in the southern end of the
flooded district held that both estimates were too high.
Of the sixty-one bodies recovered twenty-seven had been identified.
Estimates placed property loss at from $15,000,000 to $30,000,000. But
no one seemed to care about the monetary loss. The city was staggered by
the weight of human suffering.
Governor Cox received a telegram from D. T. McCabe, vice-president of
the Pennsylvania Lines, offering to transport free of charge all relief
supplies to points in the flooded area of the state if properly
consigned to the relief authorities. The Governor also received a
telegram from Governor Ralston, of Indiana, saying that ten carloads of
supplies had been started for Ohio points by Indiana relief
organizations.
Approximately one thousand persons, refugees from the Dayton flood,
arrived in Columbus on Saturday, most of them having made their way by
automobile and trains. As if pursued by tragedy, it fell to them that
their landing place in this city should be within the radius of the
recently-flooded hilltop district of the west side. The arrival of the
refugees was unexpected and no arrangements had been made to care for
them. Adjutant-General John C. Speaks was notified and said that the
state would do the best that could be done to provide them with food and
shelter. General Speaks said that the local relief committees were being
sorely taxed, but that he had been advised by the Columbus relief
committees that they would give all possible assistance in housing and
feeding the Dayton arrivals.
Scores of transfer wagons traversed the inundated streets carrying
relief to the hundreds marooned in the upper stories of houses. An
element adding to the difficulty of the situation was the refusal of
hundreds to leave their homes in the submerged district. This despite
the fact that they were compelled to live in damp upper stories, with
little heat or cooking facilities and in the face of threatened illness.
"We've saved our bedding and furniture, and that's all we have," said
one of these. "We are not going to take any chances of losing that."
City Health Officer Dr. Louis Kahn ordered an immediate cleaning up. The
health authorities also called attention to the necessity of boiling all
water for drinking purposes.
Miss Mabel Boardman, head of the Red Cross Society, reached Cincinnati
Saturday night. She came to confer with Governor Cox. The Governor again
asserted that the property damage caused by the floods in Ohio would
aggregate $300,000,000, and that this amount would be increased by the
high water in the Ohio River.
With the water fast receding in Columbus and the danger stage passed,
the food problem promised on Sunday to become the most serious for the
relief workers to solve.
Mayor Hunt, of Cincinnati, had been sending food to Dayton and other
places, but on Saturday as the flood descended upon his own city from
the upper reaches of the Ohio River, he put an embargo on further
exports of provisions. Though fifty-five carloads of provisions
consigned to the state were in Columbus last night, and supply trains
were headed for Ohio from Chicago, Washington, New York and other
places, Governor Cox was by no means reassured that the relief in sight
would be sufficient.
All of the people in the marooned district were reached and those
willing to leave their homes were brought over to the east side of the
city and cared for in hospitals, private homes or temporary places of
refuge. Boats and other contrivances were in constant use carrying
provisions and fuel to those who could not leave their homes. Eight more
bodies were recovered.
A majority of the rescued presented a pitiable sight, some hardly able
to stand on their feet and others, thinly clad and benumbed by the cold,
trembled as they were lifted into the boats. The hospitals were crowded
with people dangerously ill from days of exposure.
The morgues, hospitals and places of refuge were constantly besieged by
people looking for lost relatives. Those received related tales of
horror and heroism unparalleled except in great disasters like the
Titanic or Johnstown.
A year-old baby, wrapped in a blanket, was washed ashore in front of the
gates of the state institution for feeble-minded. Although chilled by
the water the child was soon revived. Pinned to its underclothing was a
piece of paper, upon which the name, "Walter Taylor," was written. The
boy was restored to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Taylor,
twenty-four hours later. The family had been penned in its home for two
days. As the water rose gradually the parents moved to the second floor
and then to the attic. Finally the father was forced to hold the child
for hours above his head. Climbing out to the roof as a last resort, the
baby was swept away and the parents had given it up for dead.
Governor H. D. Hatfield, of West Virginia, arrived in Columbus at seven
o'clock Sunday night on a special train from Charleston. The train
brought supplies, motor boats and skiffs. The motor boats and skiffs
were later taken through the different sections of the city to rescue
hundreds who were marooned. The local military company took charge of
the rescue work and pushed it forward as rapidly as conditions would
permit.
The sum of $50,000 was raised by voluntary contributions in Columbus for
a relief fund. In addition, the city council voted $75,000, and great
stores of provisions and clothing were contributed by local people and
outsiders. Thousands of the homeless people were cared for in homes of
those willing to share them, or in public halls. One thousand were fed
daily in the Masonic Temple.
In a statement full of feeling, issued Sunday evening, shortly before he
left the Executive office for home and the first full night's rest he
has had in more than a week, Governor Cox said:
"Refreshed by the tears of the American people, Ohio stands ready from
today to meet the crisis alone.
"Ohio has risen from the floods. Such a pitiless blow from Nature as we
sustained would have wiped out society and destroyed governments in
other days. We cannot speak our gratitude to President Wilson for
federal aid, to the Red Cross, to states, municipalities, trade
organizations and individuals that sent funds and supplies. They will
never know their contribution to humanity.
"The relief situation, so far as food and clothing are concerned, is in
hand. Thankful to her friends who succored her, Ohio faces tomorrow
serene and confident."
Governor Cox and members of the Legislature began on Monday an outline
of reconstructive legislation, to be followed in all of the flood
districts by the state. It was decided that the San Francisco relief
plan should be placed into effect for the Ohio flood sufferers. Under
this plan the relief was based upon property loss of the individual and
the income loss incurred. The amount of relief each person received was
prorated on such a basis.
Upon the recommendation of Governor Cox, the Legislature recessed until
next Monday, thereby giving state officials a week to formulate plans.
Resolutions warmly thanking the citizens of New York State and
Pennsylvania for their flood relief contributions were passed.
All that human effort could accomplish on Tuesday failed to penetrate
the part of the debris piled in the west side, where, it was believed,
many of the bodies of persons missing finally would be recovered. As
matters stood Tuesday night, however, eight more bodies had passed
through the morgues.
In addition to this number, was the body of James M. Kearney, a
merchant, who was drowned several months ago, and which, cast up by the
flood, was found lodged in a tree when the waters had receded. That many
other bodies would be recovered after the army of men employed in the
work had attacked the great pile of debris made at several points by
wrecked homes was generally conceded.
[Illustration: Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
View of River Street In Troy, New York, showing the Collar, Cuff and
Shirt Factory of Cluett, Peabody & Company, the largest of its kind in
the world, closed on account of the floods. Thousands of people were
thrown out of work on account of the overflowing of the Hudson]
[Illustration: Photograph by Underwood & Underwood.
Under the martial law established at Dayton, citizens were kept off the
streets at night as a precaution against looting]
LOSS BY DEATH AND OF PROPERTY
Four more bodies were recovered Wednesday from flood wreckage, making
the total of bodies found in this city stand at eighty-four. Of these
all except seven were identified.
Coroner Benkert, who made a wide-spread investigation among families,
some members of which were among the missing, said that he estimated
that at least one hundred and twenty-five bodies would be recovered. It
was expected that other bodies that had been washed down the river would
never be identified as Columbus victims.
The property damage in Columbus, like the death toll, was confined
principally to the west side, the business and manufacturing districts
having gone almost unscathed.
THE WORK OF RECONSTRUCTION
Governor Cox and the State Relief Commission on Tuesday left on a tour
of the state to visit cities and districts that were hit hardest by the
flood to determine what relief was necessary in each case. Before their
departure, however, conditions in Columbus were fast approaching normal,
and the residents with a cheerful, courageous spirit had commenced the
repair of their devastated city.