OCR Text |
Show LOSS OF LIFE IN DAYTON IS SMALL ! Latest Reports Indicate Early Lists Were Exaggerated Property Destroyed Will Be $1,500,000; Damage, $20,000,000 Water Is Receding Rapidly I TROOPS GUARD PROPERTY AGAINST LOOTERS Life-Saving Corps Recovering Bodies Factory Fac-tory Buildings Now House Ten Thousand Survivors Relief Trains Being Rushed to the Stricken District President Wilson Ready to Visit Ohio Washington, March 28. When President Wilson was advised today to-day of the progress of Secretary (larrison's special tnuu toward the flood district, the president was still holding himself in readiness to go to Dayton at an hour's notice from tht- secretary. special tram with relief supplies leaves late today. 8outh Dayton, Ohio, Mar 28 The lost of life In Dayton by flood will not he more than 200 people This was the general agreement here to- qr: after government life-saving crews had penetrated every part of the waterbound city Op to the proa-nt proa-nt forty -five bodies have been re- covered Twenty of thf?e were in I Riverdale fifteen in West Dayton. five in the business section and five in the south side residence section Three deaths from diphtheria were reported today and there is fear of an epidemic. Ollna. Ohio. .Varch 28. The waters wa-ters have receded in Pinna and 800 belies have Keen recovered It is he'leved there are no other victims This Information, the first direct ' to reach here, came bv telephone today. to-day. Relief measures hae lecn taken bv fit-, authorities The property . loss will be great as most of the' man.ifacturlnp plants were destroyed by 'he flood There is no such dis-tvesi dis-tvesi In Plqua as in Davton A com-, pany of militia from Covington is In ' ! ' Pttjuft, maintaining order and caring; f6i those made destitute by th flood i A report from Troy by telephone f wae that few If any lives had been Ll lost there, although the town suf-frreti suf-frreti great propcrt loss The high-1. high-1. nd on e;ther side of the .Miami valley val-ley was the salvation of Troy Dayton. O . March 28 The flood situation In Dayton today Is this Previous estimates of the number drowned are greatly exaggerated The property loss from fire will not exceed more than a million and a half dollars. The damage caused to mercantile houses factories and residences will run anywhere from ST.. ,000 to $20, 000,000 The water has receded from the business section of the clt) and from a large portion of the residence por-I por-I tlon. Residents in portions still inundal ed are being taken to sections not affected af-fected b the flood There is no lack of food. The tele phone systems arc being restored. There Is much suffering from cold, but all available fuel has been appropriated appro-priated and there is prospect of im mediate relief So far there has been no epidemic of sickness One thousand militiamen arriving today have the city In rigid control effectively squelching looters, sightseeing sight-seeing that will Interfere with rescut work and all disorder Touring the business sections today, to-day, officials found the high stage of I the flood was nine feet hi the corner of Third and Main streets In the irerj heart of the city The onrushing water flooded the first floor and every store In the business bus-iness district ThiB caused the greatest great-est financial loss The new steel high school was lev eled and the Leonard building on Main street v. as undermined so that It collapsed. Many houses were swept awaj iri Riverdale. West Dayton. North Dayton Day-ton and Edgemont Shelter for the Refugees, i The following buildings withstood I the flood and furnished shelter to about 7,000 people who were marooned In them from Tuesday until Thursday. Conover building, Kuhn's bulldinc, the Arcade, two Cappel buildings. Hawkah bank building. Schwlng build- iug. ; 1 building Mi-ndenhVl building, Rah Kuhnler building and the Brethren Publishing company e building. Many of the public buildings were t l destroyed. Among the latter were the Dayton club. Victoria, National and Colonial theaters. Beckel hotel. Phil 1 1 ph. Algonquin and Atlas hotels. Masonic Ma-sonic temple, postoffice and several churches The fire loss is positively limited to the destruction of the Dayton (Jus. Light and t'oke company's plant, the rnw of two and three Btorj buildings on both sides of Third street from Jefferson street to Third avenue, tin Troy-Pearl Laundry plant and two apartment house fires on the west side. Capture Jewelry Thief. A daring robbery was thwarted today to-day when the poli e arrested ;i ni.,n who was escaping from the itv with a satchel containing $50,000 in dia monds and jevvelrv which he bad stolen stol-en from jewelry stores A score of motor boats and the lif e-saving e-saving boats were in the flood distrlc early today and by tonight it was hoped hop-ed relief would be extended to ."11 flood victims that were still alive. No eftort was being made to take put any bodies, the first care being to provide help for the living. The boats began to return early from the nearer sections, each depositing depos-iting its load of from 15 to 2" sur.iv-ors sur.iv-ors Most of the people refe ued were so weak from deprivation and suffer-ing suffer-ing as to be scarcely able to move. At S o'clock several hundred patients were brought to the Cash Register 1 hospital on the south aide of the river. riv-er. Flood Suituation Brighter. The flood situation was much ' brighter today. The trucks sint iro i: the Cash Register company manned by men with military orders to con fiscate potatoes aud food from the farmers, brought back a good sup ply of vegetables and several relit 1 trains reached th city with supplies. The rescue work also had taken on a semblance of system and all the streets from which the flood had receded re-ceded were patrolled by militia. Per, pie were urged to get back to their bouses whenever possible. "Beware of thieves and burglars." said an official bulletin given wide i ll OUlatlon. "Don t leave your houses without protection It was thieves who scared you about the reservoir and natural gas explosions. The natural nat-ural gas has been turned off and there Is no danger of explosions ' Every Facility Is Free Sixty Catholic sisters at the acade my Of the Sisters of Notre Lame and IS persons for whom they had provided provid-ed reluge wen- lonnd b tin- Lui-Vllle Lui-Vllle life saving crew today to have been entirely without food or water since Tuesday. There were several eases of illness. The life savers left a supply of bread and water and plan ned to take runner uetp The Louisville men nlso carried relief re-lief to several hundred families in the low district in the vicinity of Ludlow and Franklin streets Here the flood had reached the roof of all two-Story buildings Only a few of the mos: desperate cases were brought out thi lirsi move being to leave L i ; 1 1 Hid water In as many places as possible The Fourth National bank building which was reported several timet 10 have been destroyed by the hr- was not burned, but the building Imn ately adjoining it was destroyed Money is of no use in Dayton at present. Every facility Is free to ever ev-er one without cost Refugees not living in Dayton are leaving the city j by huudreds on foot. Under Strict Martial Law ("nder strict martial law Dayton faced today the task of caring for an Increasing army of refugees and of r'C0erlng the dead With headquarters head-quarters at Bamberger park. Colonel Zimmerman, of the Fifth regiment. I Ohio national g-uard Inaugurated j piano for an organization thai will protect the city during the ensuing w e;s ot reconstruction Militia companies from all partt 0 the state reached Dayton during the morning and by noon every accei I lie street was under guard lernlers of the state board of he ilth, bringing carloads of lime and other disinfectants, were expected to reach here before night and begin the work of warding off disease. Many Seek Military Passes From hi? headquarters, roionel Zimmerman listened to the appeals of riior than 5000 persons before noon. Hundreds ol visitors waited for five iMurs In the lone lines of humanltv that circlerl through the park up to military headquarters Most of these sought passes to go through the flood 'area, where they thought they had a chance to reach marooned fiicnds and kinsmen Only a few pf the throng were al-, al-, lowed to go and they were compelled ;o prove especial causes before the j coveted passes were issued To those who asserted they had Starving friends imprisoned by the i waterfl Colonel Zimmerman rejoined that boatloads of provisions were continuously going into the inundated district. Will Reduce Number of Dead rhief of Police AllabacK today told two Associated Press correspondents 1 that reports he had received Indicated the number of fatalities to be far less than earh conditions Indicated j Ac. nearly as ran be ascertained, about 1lo persons were drowned in Riverdale, the first section of the city to be flooded by the breaking of rhe levee The rushing waters overturned over-turned several houses there and rushed them over and over with their joccupaiits inside In this vicinity, several boats laden with refugees, overturned both ref-I ref-I ugees and their would-be rescuers losing their lives. In West Dayton there was ronsid-ciahle ronsid-ciahle loss of life but the latest figures fig-ures are relativeh unimportant as compaied to the lowest figures In Cist Dayton. Davton View and Oak-wood Oak-wood the loss of life. Chief AUaback said was smell. In North Davton where the topog Iraph of the land made the situation r.iore dangerous than at anv other poir.t relief parties penetrated this morning and found that although there would be a large numher of fatalities, fa-talities, the drowned was not likely to be much greater than in Riverdale the other section that bore the chief brunt of the Hood Rescue Many Foreigners North Dayton's population consists largely of foreien-boi n people. The flrsl H Jcue party took off many of i these. The refugees conducted themselves in or leTl? fashion -nd aided their rexuers in every conceivable nian-iKi- I'ers'.-ns -it'iated in the business section appear to have escaped except ex-cept in very few instances Identification of the dead and compilations com-pilations Ol the numher of fatalities ;il , j,, i he li indB Ol I be militia under charge of Adjutant Ceneral ood. but ( this work hardly will get under way before tomorrow. No accurate estimates esti-mates can be m?de until the North iDaton situation Is cleared up Mayor , Phillips is marooned in his house G B Smith president of the Chamber of Commerce, is in active chmee of relief operations The Log Cabin, 115 years old. the first house built in i ia ton withstood the flood, although it is situated on the south banh of the Miami, right In the path of the torrential waters. River Rises Five Feet. BvSnsvlUe Ind . March IS The Ohio river today showed a rise of 5 feel aud 2 tenths of a foot since last night, aud Forecaster Brand issued a warning that all stock and movable properly affected by n 48 foot stage I of the river should be removed before sundown. Mayor Hellman is directing the collection of skiffs nnd motor boats to carry people from flooded districts. In addition the city authorities are constructing flood gates to keep the rising waters out of the city A record breaking flood stage of the river Is feared Relieved of Anxiety Fort Wayne, Ind.. March L'8 With the announcement today that the Grand reservoir a. Celtna, o. is safe, the people of this city were relieved Of HllM'1' V Inasmuch as the local flood conditions condi-tions arc much improved this after- noon no further danger was. expect- Operation of hired cars was resuiu-I resuiu-I ed today except in the heavily flooded ! dlst ri 1 1 Few Dead Found. South Dayton. v tfarcb 28. Comparatively Com-paratively few dead wc-ie lound in ! North Dayton today by the Louls- ville life saving crew, the first to cross the Miami into the section where It was thought the heaviest loss of life would be fOund. Indications there are in Kiverdale are now that the total loss of life by flood will not be more than 200 I persons Busch Sends Check St. Louis. Mo . March 28. The clt-' clt-' izens' emergency relief association, which is collecting funds for ihe Indiana In-diana and Ohio Hood sufferers, received re-ceived a check today for 126,000 from ' Adolphus Busch. Lcoompanyina the check was a letter let-ter directing that the money be turu-ed turu-ed over to the Red Cross for imme-: imme-: diale use Sheltering Foreigner. Chicago, Man b a private telegram tele-gram received today by .1. H. Clow & Sops from thS manager or their milU ,.t I'oshcekion o. wliTe a force if 500 men is employed, read as foi I low?: ' Mos' lisa Straus flood in history j j city. Water within two feet of top Jof pits sheltering foreigners of plant Mutt wan until water subsides." |