Thousands May Be Dead

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 24, 29 January 1937, Page 7

Thousands May Be Dead

Appalling Possibility in American Floods

Truth Concealed to Prevent Panic

United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph.— Copyright.

Received Thursday, 7.20 p.m. CHICAGO, Jan. 27. A sudden realisation that the dead in Lousville alone may total hundreds, broke over the harassed city. The Associated Press states that 120 bodies were recovered during the day in the submerged western area despite the strict censorship of the city and military authorities. It is learned that nine undertakers have been made deputy Coroners to deal with the situation. , Stories regarding tlic disposal oi the bodies fire conflicting. Health Commissioner Lea veil said: “An unknown number of badly decomposed bodies have been buried in shallow trenches on the highlands. It was impossible to identify them and even determine whether they were whites or negroes. There is no way of knowing how many are dead until the waters recede.” It is agreed by all authorities that many bodies may never be found. New York residents reported to the Associated Press that, in telephone conversations with relatives in Louisville, it was said that many hundreds of dead bodies were being cremated as fast as possible to prevent the spread of disease. Most are unidentified and cremation is making identification for ever impossible. It is reported that the city incinerator is being used for cremation, but the authorities have denied this. The bodies of two who committed suicide to escape suffering, were removed from one house. A relative of one of the New York sources of information, a war veteran serving with the volunteer police, said the refugees are dying like flies. Other sources said many looters were shot dead. They painted a word picture of miles of houses with water as high as the roofs. There is no possible way of knowing how many dead are in these regions. Conditions on the Indiana shore of the Ohio river opposite Louisville, where the normal population of a score of small towns in the suburban areas, is 100.000, are described as worse due to relief reaching there later. Many areas are completely isolated and it is impossible even to guess at the number of dead there.

Censorships and the impossibility of communication give rise to the wildest speculation as to what the number of dead in nearly a thousand miles of the worst flooded area will eventually total. Observers have been baffled by the relatively small estimate of the dead in the vast areas of devastation and now believe that all authorities have been co-operating in withholding facts to prevent panic.