| Show Real Story of Flood Disaster Is F Found Behind the H Headlines Humor Pathos Heroism Suffering Are All Part of Central Valley Saga By WILLIAM C. C UTLEY about the great flood the havoc it has S STATISTICS wreaked and the misery which lies in its ifs wake are staggering in themselves merely as statistics But they do not begin to tell the real story of what it is like to be actually face to face with disaster More than a million homeless Four or five hundred dead really dead really more than that it is certain I Hundreds Hundreds Hun Hun- of millions of dollars damage dam dam- age ngel Great cities threatened with disease Food and drinking water v running short A inspiring Awe Indeed are these headlines But they arc are too general I i I Dogs Dog's l life c saved at Pomeroy Ohio Photo Cop Copyright right sal Newsreel to do justice to the spectacle The way to understand what they really mean is to get down in the flood zone or In the adjacent areas where the refugees have been rushed to safety There in the countless individual individual indi indi- vidual cases which may be seen hand first-hand are stories of or pathos suffering suffering suf sat fering humor selfishness generosity generosity generosity generos generos- ity and heroism that no statistics could measure Heroism Everybody's a n hero down here Heroes are arc a nickel apiece and most of them are name name- less Policeman Sa Saves They are arc of many kinds Picking h a a few out of the hat There is the parachute jumper who was determined to rush badly needed medical serums food and lamps to Paducah Ky one of the cities hardest hit Leaving Louisville Louisville Louis Louis- ville yule he planned to drop the food if it possible where the marooned might reach rench it it then to carry the serum down by parachute He got it there Nobody remembers who th the e Louisville policeman was who kept women and children marooned in a school from going hungry He swam quarters three of a mile through ice-cold ice waters to seek as as- At the end of his swim he tie had to break into a n store tore climb up some shelves and struggle with witha a water-logged water telephone Rescuers rowed like fury to remove remove remove re re- re- re move three expectant mothers who were marooned in the same place Th Their Thair ir batting average was only for only two of the women reached the hospital in time The third gave birth to a son in a rowboat tossing on the angry waves Throughout the emergency period the short wave radio operators were heroo When all other means of communication failed they 0 oft often it en came through In one instance they were credited with saving the lives of in in a single spot The victims were marooned on the second second sec see ond floor of a California Ohio I I I S f I ip MA 4 w r I I Bedridden 12 years this woman Is taken from her home at Junction Ill schoolhouse Police got reports via short wave that water was pushing up the floor After hours of struggle they succeeded In removing the trapped persons Rescue Animals Too Regular commercial broadcasting stations were heroes too and WAVE In Louisville did noble work in carrying bulletins and Instructions instructions to victims and rescue crews When these two stations were forced oft off the tho air nir by plant failures duo due to the flood other stations carried their bulletins of great Importance t to o 0 coas coast guard boats police squads and na national Honal guard units when units when these bulletins did not interfere with commercially com corn sponsored broadcasts But in Nashville cancelled all programs at nt a great loss in revenue to carry the Louisville bul bul- Yet I is chief competitor Heroism was not confined to the saving of or human life Rescue crews often orten risked their own lives to save dogs cats and other animals w who o were floating on debris One man manin manin manin in a rowboat lost his oars in rescuing rescuing rescuing ing a dog from a n floating crate A little while later the tile dog apparently apparent apparent- ly disgusted with an oarsman who couldn't hang onto his oars leap leaped d dof out of the boat and swam ashore Some animals did not fare so well weH Those in the Cincinnati zoo were starving until the Detroit zoological zoological zoological zoo zoo- logical park sent two tons of horse horsemeat meat All AU other meat had to be reserved for human beings Humanity is for the most part generous at heart When the Red RedCross RedCross RedCross Cross made it known that was needed at once the response was quick and sympathetic Even those who were caught in the catastrophe catastrophe cat cat- wanted to help One young mother poorly clothed said in a shelter house at Sharpsburg Pa I II wish I had something to give those poor people I know what its it's like Last year the nice dining room furniture I got for a 1 wedding gilt gift got smashed to bits Just little pieces it was when I went home They're Not All Generous One little girl obviously from an impoverished family stopped t at a n relief station and laid a freshly freshly- b d loaf of made home-made bread on c r z p- p 1 v J q T 2 gy g I y q iK W I t Homeless this tiny refugee the counter Mama sent it it she said Another little girl Mary iary Lynn Eisner nine of ot Cassville Wis V won the 10 bank night prize in the theater there She would have liked a new doll don or two but she sent the whole ten to the Red Cross disaster relief fund Some flood victims were not so generous or heroic In Lawrenceburg Lawrenceburg Lawrence- Lawrence burg Ind nd three tiny babies were found in a n deserted house They were cared for at an emergency hospital while authorities searched I for their parents In Cincinnati a flapper in gay orange ski trousers and a leather jacket was heard to say I wouldn't have missed it for anything She asked a n man at Dt her elbow I think its it's fun dont don't you ou He left her without answering out loud Human nature being what it is some persons In the flood area parade parade pa pa- rade their wealth before the eyes of at envying neighbors But wealth is is' no longer measured by money its it's measured by boots Those that have them love to turn them so that the yellow linings will be noticeable for blocks These who haven't say the darn things arc too hot and heavy anyway Some persons become equal to the tho occasion in unusual ways Take for instance Ida Webb and Virgil O. O can still smile for mother Then it was discovered that they had neglected to provide diapers for babies A rush call to merchants produced COO There were other changes In the order of or commerce One building had been a laundry with many trucks operating from it day by da day Now it Is a repair shop for outboard outboard outboard out out- board motors with the tiny craft entering the building through the back door There Is humor here too for even evena evenI a flood is not without its ironies and its paradoxes For instance one of the chief desires of or most refugees from the high water is a bath On the other hand there Is the case of ol the sharecropper who was being cared for in a Poplar Bluff Mo camp where the doctor in charge had ordered all an refugees to take a bath Say the sharecropper protested this things thing's gettin se se- se- se rious Fat Lady G Gets ts a a. In the jail at Parkersburg W. W Va 63 prisoners didn't mind the flood very much They were eating fancy vittles they couldn't even call can by byname byname byname name supplied by the city's foremost foremost foremost fore fore- most hotel In Cincinnati rescue crews heard that a n woman had been marooned and set out to get her They had to chop away part of her house to take her out she weighed pounds In Louisville a n rescue party took a woman from rom a flooded house and rowed her three blocks to safety Then she sho wanted to be rowed bick b She had left two dollars dollars dollars dol dol- lars in the home she fihe said The boatmen were gentle but firm Not even for two bucks they said Sights to be seen from the rescue boa boats ts were not all dismal There was the truck mired in a ditch beside beside beside be be- side a flooded highway near Cairo It was loaded with wax feminine figures clothed In filmy 1 lingerie A sign hung on one of ol the models read For sale sale cheap cheap Just visIble visible visible vis vis- vis- vis ible above 20 feet of or water in Cincinnati's Cincinnati's Cin Cm- Third street was the sign a n little weather beaten This lot for sale or lease No interruption from rom high water But perhaps the supreme Irony was uncovered by Red Cross relief relie workers when they opened a package package package pack pack- age some charitable person had consigned to the flood s sufferers It contained six swimming suits O e Western Newspaper Union |
