CHAPTER VII

THE DEVASTATION OF COLUMBUS

THE RISING FLOOD--MOST OF THE CITY DARK--GREAT AREAS UNDER WATER--THE MILITIA IN CONTROL--THE RELIEF OF THE VICTIMS--THE EXTENT OF THE DISASTER--STORIES OF THE HORROR--ORDERS TO SHOOT LOOTERS--RECOVERING THE DEAD--GOVERNOR c.o.x INDEFATIGABLE--HUNGRY REFUGEES SEIZE FOOD--INCIDENTS OF HEROISM--SCENES OF PATHOS--LOSS BY DEATH AND OF PROPERTY--THE WORK OF RECONSTRUCTION.

At Columbus, on Tuesday night, March 25th, darkness settled down on a swirling flood that covered large areas of the city. Thousands of persons were separated from members of their families and were frantic because they were unable to get into communication with their homes.

THE RISING FLOOD

Hundreds of fathers, sons, brothers, sisters and daughters had left their homes on the west side of the city in the morning to go to work, before the Scioto River had reached a flood stage. Rising suddenly, the water cut them off from their homes and when night fell they only knew that their homes were flooded and that the members of their families were dependent for food and shelter on more fortunate neighbors.

Because the city was in darkness, only meager details of the condition of the flood-marooned inhabitants were obtainable.

Wringing their hands, weeping and appealing vainly for help, scores of girls crowded in as close to the water's edge in the darkness as state troops and policemen on duty would allow them, but there was no chance to cross the stream to their home district.

MOST OF THE CITY DARK

Owing to the high water, electric lights in the flooded district and a part of the business section of the city were out, and the water supply was cut off. The supply of gas was also cut off, with a view to preventing explosions.

In Columbus the west side was practically wiped out, and the reported loss of life ranged from a half dozen to 200. Houses were floating down the river with people on their roofs. Several fires in the submerged district added to the horrors. Refugees slept in public buildings, while militia helped the police patrol the streets, which were in total darkness.

It was estimated that over 10,000 persons were homeless on the west side as a result of the flood and that at least 15,000 were living on the second floors of their homes. Only about ten per cent of the street cars were able to operate and steam railroad and suburban lines were tied up.

Damage amounting to $30,000 was done by fires in the west side during the afternoon, which for a time threatened greater damage owing to the water supply being cut off. Even had there been water, most of the fire-fighting facilities were on the east side of the city and unable to reach the section affected.

GREAT AREA UNDER WATER

Bridges connecting the west side with the eastern portion of Columbus were swept away shortly after noon. Dozens of smaller bridges went down.

Hundreds of men were marooned in factories on the west side, and police and National Guardsmen were making rescues in boats where it was possible. All street car traffic was abandoned. Fifteen hundred homes were flooded.

With a great roar the levee at the foot of Broad Street let go shortly before eleven o'clock, sending down a deluge of water that swelled the Scioto River and covered a great area. Several small buildings collapsed. Just before the break the police ordered all persons in the lowlands to leave their homes quickly and flee for high land. All fire and police apparatus a.s.sisted in the work. The residents were told not to stop for clothes or valuables.

The Sandusky Street levee also collapsed, permitting the water to wash out a railroad embankment and pour into all the low districts between the river and Sandusky Street. With water to the hubs, a horse-drawn wagon galloped out West Broad Street filled with police, who shouted as they went a warning to all to fly to the hills.

While being swept down the channel of the swollen Scioto River just as darkness was gathering late in the day, a man, woman and child were rescued from the roof of a house that had been torn from its foundation by the flood. Two other children of the same family fell into the water and were drowned.

THE MILITIA IN CONTROL

State troops at the order of Governor c.o.x patrolled the streets in the flooded sections of the city and scores of automobiles were busy carrying the suffering to higher ground.

Meantime, the rain which began Sunday night continued, at times moderately and at other times in torrents. The fact that the water had already destroyed several bridges and broken a levee gave cause for the alarm that other levees might break and further damage result.

Because of the proportions of the flood, which washed out nearly every bridge of steam and electric roads leading out of Columbus, nearly all train service was annulled.

Floodgates were closed against all trains coming in or going out of Columbus on all roads except the Norfolk and Western. A train on that road practically swam into the Union Station at 9 P. M. after having crept along through high waters for most of the run from Portsmouth to Columbus.

During the day several trains on roads from the East were detoured through Columbus over the Norfolk and Western, but this was discontinued because of washed-out bridges between Columbus and Pittsburgh and other points. Norfolk and Western officials said they had no a.s.surance that they would be able to operate any trains from here.

Ten solid miles of Pullman and other trains, including the Twentieth Century Flyer, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, extended from Lima to Lafayette, held up by a wash-out. Repairs allowed the trains to move on about eleven o'clock.

In taking charge of the relief work Governor c.o.x issued an order directing Adjutant-General John C. Speaks to call out the entire National Guard of the state for duty in the flooded districts.

BRIDGES SWEPT AWAY

Bridges were swept away, barring those who would have fled to places of safety. The rush of waters caught hundreds in their homes, and as the darkness fell the scramble to escape became wild and foreboding. Those who were able to do anything sent their appeals for aid to outlying cities before the wires had absolutely failed.

Added to the terrors of flood and darkness was that of fire. In the wild rush for places of safety that followed the first warning of the danger from the bursting levees, lamps were toppled over, electric wires were crossed and soon flames were mounting high in many sections of the city.

Representative H. S. Bigelow introduced a bill in the legislature to appropriate $100,000 for the flood sufferers in Ohio, the money to be handled under the direction of the Governor.

With no change in the number of reported dead in this city, estimates on Wednesday placed the probable dead at from one hundred to one hundred and fifty. Columbus was still being drenched and torn by flood waters of the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers. The scene of devastation on the west side was partly made visible to residents of other sections of the city for the first time in two days. The isolation of the western section again became real when the last remaining bridge gave way before the torrents.

Numerous persons who were considered conservative a.s.serted that they saw scores of bodies float down stream and dozens of persons carried away in their houses.

Miss Esther Eis, rescued from her home on the west side, said she saw the house with George Griffin, wife and seven children collapse and disappear, and another house containing John Way, wife and five children, break up in the flood.

Besides the actual tragedies that were enacted in connection with the flood the most exciting incident occurred at the announcement that the storage dam, several miles north of the city, had broken, sending its great flood to augment that of the Scioto River.

The scene that followed was one of wild panic in all parts of the city.

Patrolmen, soldiers and citizens in automobiles, tooting horns, ringing gongs and calling through megaphones a warning to every one to seek safety in the higher parts of the east side, sent thousands in flight, while many, stunned by the supposed impending disaster, collapsed from fear or gave way to hysteria.

It was more than an hour before the report was officially denied. Police officials a.s.sert that the report was made to them by persons connected with the military end of the patrols.

City officials said that the storage dam was holding fast against the millions of gallons of water that were being poured against it, and they expressed confidence that it would continue to do so despite the great pressure upon it.

The Governor telegraphed the War Department at Washington, asking that 50,000 tents and 100,000 rations be made available for use and distribution by the Ohio National Guard.

Governor c.o.x also sent out appeals for aid to the Governors of all the border States of Ohio, including Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky. Tents and provisions were badly needed, according to the Governor's appeal.

After working all night in the Adjutant-General's office in the State House, officers of the Ohio National Guard reported that they had succeeded in a.s.sembling 3,500 militiamen, ready for service in the flood districts.

Mobilized at all points of the state, companies and regiments of the Ohio military force started at daybreak on Wednesday for the stricken cities and towns as soon as arrangements for their transportation, the most serious problem confronting the militia headquarters, could be arranged. The relief which they carried was held back by the lack of railroad facilities everywhere.

THE RELIEF OF THE VICTIMS

Howard Elting, president of the Chicago a.s.sociation of Commerce, telegraphed Governor c.o.x that citizens of Chicago were raising a relief fund for flood sufferers.

"I am pleased to state," the telegram said, "that $100,000 will be placed at the disposal of Ohio through the American Red Cross Society."