The True Story of Our National Calamity of Flood, Fire and TornadoMarshall, Logan
History
The True Story of Our National Calamity of Flood, Fire and Tornado
Marshall, Logan
Floods -- Ohio River Valley; Omaha (Neb.) -- Tornado, 1913
Six fires broke out in different parts of the devastated district, while
the rescue work was being carried on. The strong winds still blowing
fanned the flames and drove the rescuers from their work.
FAMILY BURIED UNDER HOUSE
Fred King, a glass blower at 2146 Dilman Street, was found with his wife
and baby covered by the heavy timbers of their home that had collapsed
when the storm struck it. King had been hurled from his bed a distance
of ten feet. Two heavy timbers had almost crushed the life out of him.
His wife was terribly injured. A few feet away the baby was picked up
dead. The mother in her death struggles probably tried to save the baby
by throwing it away from her.
Near the Greenwood school several more were killed and many were
injured. Mrs. E. J. Edwards, wife of a druggist, was knocked down by a
heavy timber that broke her leg and pinned her to the ground. When she
was found the woman was screaming for her child, and later the little
fellow, eight years old, was picked up dead and carried to the Greenwood
school building.
Remarkable escapes were made in the twenty-four hundred block on South
Third Street, some of the residents of the square being seriously
injured. Mr. and Mrs. George Carmichael escaped from their home as it
was blown away by the wind.
Many families were separated in the excitement and for two hours after
the storm had passed anxious husbands, mothers and children were
searching the debris for absent members of their families. Many could
not find the wrecked remains of their homes, so hopelessly tangled was
the wreckage in the streets and on the sidewalks, and in several cases
it was difficult even to find the place where the home had stood.
INJURED CARRIED TO HOSPITALS
Ambulances and moving vans were used to carry the injured to hospitals
and as these were soon filled stables and homes were converted into
temporary hospitals. More than two hundred persons were placed under the
care of doctors, but many were only slightly hurt and in some cases
women were found to be suffering merely from fright. These were soon
dismissed to make room for those actually suffering.
The scenes at the hospitals were pitiful. The agony of the sufferers was
increased by the uncertainty as to the fate and condition of their
families and friends.
Little children, lying in bandages about the hospital, cried out in pain
and fright. One little fellow with a big gash over his eye cried out for
his mother as he was being taken to the operating room. His father sat
near him and tried to lend what comfort was possible. A little girl in
one of the large rooms of the hospital played and laughed on her bed
while three anxious physicians worked with her sister, who had sustained
a compound fracture of the leg and a dislocated shoulder.
VICTIMS' FRIENDS CROWD TO FIND THEM
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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