The True Story of Our National Calamity of Flood, Fire and Tornado | Page 9

bridge.
One man marooned with his family on the roof of his home shot and
killed his wife and three children and then himself rather than suffer
death in the flames, according to a report received by J. J. Munsell,
employment superintendent of the National Cash Register Company,
from a man who actually saw the occurrence. The bodies floated away
on the flood.
Rescuers tried to get to a raft that bore a man and four women that
whirled like a spool in the rapid waters. Then suddenly the raft was
sucked down in the water and another chapter was added to the tragedy.
WOMAN LEAPS WITH BABY
George H. Schaefer, a rescuer who went out into the flood with a skiff
and saved a woman and baby, told of his perilous trip.
"A house that had been torn from its foundation came floating up
behind us," said Schaefer. "The woman was frightened. I told her there
was no danger.
"Suddenly she stood up and jumped over with her baby in her arms.
She went straight down and never came up again."
Then there was the horror that William Riley, a salesman for the
National Cash Register Company, saw.
"We saw a very old woman standing at the window of a house waiting
for rescue," said Riley. "We rowed up to her. Suddenly the house
parted and the woman was engulfed. It was the last we saw of her."
There was the man who was nearly rescued. He had stepped into the
skiff and then walked back into his home, which a short time later
floated away with him. Incidents of this sort were multiplied.

John Scott ascended a telegraph pole and guided across the cable to
places of safety men, women and children rescued from flooded
houses.
Scott had guided a dozen persons across the swaying bridges of wire
when an explosion that started a fire occurred. The shock knocked
Scott from the pole and he fell into a tree.
"The last I saw of him he was trying to get into the window of an
abandoned house by way of one of the branches of the tree," said Frank
Stevens, a fellow employee of Scott. "The house was in the path of the
fire."
APPEALS FOR AID
Thousands of those who were fortunate enough to escape the first rush
of the waters were fed on short rations, and appeals for help were sent
out by many of the leading men of the city.
Three carloads of foodstuffs arrived from Xenia, but there was no
chance to deliver them to the victims of the flood until the following
day.
CRUEL NEED FOR AN ARK
Frank Brandon, vice-president of the Dayton, Lebanon and Cincinnati
Railroad, succeeded during the night in getting communication for a
short time from Dayton to Lebanon. He said that the situation was
appalling and beyond all control.
"According to my advices, the situation beggars description," said Mr.
Brandon. "What the people need most of all is boats. The water is high
in every street and assistance late this afternoon was simply out of the
question. My superintendent at Dayton told me that at least sixty had
perished and probably a great many more, at the same time assuring me
that unless something that closely approached a miracle happened the
death list would run considerably higher. We are now rigging up
several special trains and will make every effort possible to get into

Dayton tonight."
It was on these scenes of indescribable horror that the shades of night
closed down.
CHAPTER III
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