2000 DROWNED.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1708, 27 March 1913, Page 5

2000 DROWNED.

TERRIBLE FLOODS.

DAYTON CITY UNDER WATER. DEAD STREW 1 COUNTRYSIDE. By lelesrapli—"reus Association—Copyright Cincinnati, March 25. A' cloudburst, turned the Ohio Diver tributaries into raging-'torrents. Tho ivater was feet deep in the' streets of Dayton, a city of 11G,000. Thousands are homeless. The Ohio and Indiana Bridges were carried off. Whole areas of farming country are inundated, and trains are stopped.

FLOOD THIRTY FEET DEEP. THIRTY THOUSAND HOMELESS. — I FRANTIC APPEALS FOR HELP. ■ (Rec. March 26, 9.55 p.m.) Indianapolis, March 25. Thirty feet of water covers tho streets of Dayton, Ohio. Tlie city is in darkness, Scores of lives are reported to have been lost. The water is still rising, and all communications have been cut off. Port AVayne, Logan's . Port, Terre "Haute, and other'small towns, are inundated, but the loss of life is not known* though it is believed to be heavy. Frantic appeals for help have been received. It is reported that the reservoir at Hamilton broke, and the rush of waters overwhelmed the town, a largo part of the population, numbering a thousand, being drowned. Confirmation is impossible, owing to the disorganisation of communication.

Seven thousand »to known to be homeless. . y ' ( ■ After the' White River overflowed nineteen were drowned at Delaware, Ohio. By the overflowing of the river Olentagy scores were marooned in tress and housetops, and all the. bridges in the neighbourhood were destroyed. The country; has the appearance of a battlefield. Bodies are floating down' the 'Miami Kiver,' which is almost choked'' with, the wreckage of houses. Uncopfirraed • reports x assert that sixty persons were drowned along tho levees. Thirty, thousand are. homeless at Bayton, and in the surrounding country. Lowiston reservoir broke after a terrific storm, flooding city property. The damage is incalculable. The local authorities of the town, of Pern, Indiana, telephoned to Inditinopolis at 1 midnight asking for tho dispatch of six hundred coffins. A relief train has been spnt.

MASS,OF SWIRLING WATERS. • FOUR HUNDRED CHILDREN ' MISSING. ■ PEOPLE ON THE ROOFS: (Rec. March 26, 11.10-p.m.) New York, March 26." The latest news from Dayton is that two; thousand are reported .to have .been drowned.'..' Tj}o cjiief streets are a'mass of swirling waters, and tho down-town hotels and buildings are submerged to the third' filory, the people having taken refugo .on 'the roofs. ' ; ' A school which contained four , hundred children before the flood began is entirely submerged. It is presumed that all have perished. Tho' entire Ohio National Guard has been called'put.

Many escaped in' Wyoming Street by hanging on to the telephone wires and lowering thomselves into a boat, with which rescue wort was continued until daylight. , ' ■The estimates of the dead are unreliable, •

THE CIIT OF DAYTON, y The city of Dayton lies in Ohio, at tho confluence of Wolf Creek, Stillwater River,[ and Mad, River with the Great Miami, and is 57 miles nortli-north-east of Cincinatti. Tho population has risen from 61,220 in 1890 to 116,000 at the census of 19W. The city is served by four lines of railway, by ten inter-urban electric railways, and by the Miami and. Erie Canal. It extends more than five miles from east to west, and 3J miles from north to. south, and 'lies for the most part on level ground, at ail elevation of 710 ft. above sea level. Numerous good, hard gravel roads radiate from it into ! the surrounding country, a fertile farming region, which abounds! in limestone, used in .the construction of public and private buildings. Tho city contains many fino buildings, and has an attractive boulevard and park along tho river. The Mad River is made to furnish good water-power by means of a hydraulic canal, which takes ats water through th<* city, .and Dayton's manufactures are and varied, the establishments of the National Cash Register Company in 1907 employing about 4000 ' wage-earners. This company is,widely known for its "welfare work" on behalf . of its operatives. Baths, lnncheon-rooma, rest-rooms, clubs, leotures, schools and kindergartens have been .'provided, and the company has also cultivated domestic pride by offering prizes for tho best-kept-gardens, ctc. In addition tq cash registers, the city's manufactured products inchule agricultural implements, clay-working machinery, cotton-seed and linseed oil maohinery, filters, .'turbines, railway cars.- carriages, and wagons, sewing machines (Davis Sewing- Machine Company), automobiles, flour, malt liquors, papor, furnituro, tobacco, and soap.' The total value of the manufactured product under . tho "factory system" was about .£8.000,000 in 1905. The town was laid out in 1701!, and in 1841 was chartered as a city.