Five wagon bridges, the Big Four Railroad bridge, the depot and a paper mill were utterly destroyed. Fifty summer houses on White Water River south of Brookville were washed away, foundations and all. People, bowed down by the calamity, gathered in churches, where religious services were held. None of the bodies were recovered for several days. Hall Schuster was drowned Thursday night in an attempt to cross the West Fork of the White River at Brookville to rescue Harlan Kennedy, a hermit, formerly a Methodist minister. Two hundred and fifty children rescued from the flood had only night clothes. Wagon trains carried food and clothing from Connersville to the stricken people. On Friday, March 28th, the list of known dead in Brookville was sixteen. Heavy loss of property and a food and fuel famine imminent were the precise situation. There were six persons missing, and it was feared that they had been drowned and their bodies washed away or buried in debris that had not yet been searched. Brookville was practically under martial law, and twenty men were driven out of the city after they were discovered looting damaged homes and buildings. NEWS FROM LAUREL News from Laurel reached Connersville on Saturday when Deputy Postmaster George Lockwood came through on horseback. He said the White Water River valley, eleven miles around Laurel, was flooded, and the damage estimated at $300,000. Four buildings and many small houses were wrecked in Laurel, but no lives were lost. Several farmers in the valley between Brookville and Laurel were missing and their houses had disappeared. Several other towns in the valley were inundated and many houses had been swept away. SURGING FLOOD AT FORT WAYNE At Fort Wayne, in the northeastern part of the state at the confluence of the St. Mary's and the Maumee Rivers, the flood surged for three days. A keeper in the Orphan Asylum and five men in a surfboat did splendid work in saving seventy-five inmates of the asylum from drowning. All life-saving stations in the flooded district devoted their utmost efforts to the work of rescue and used their funds and supplies without stint. The relief work was in every way well organized. SITUATION UNDER CONTROL On March 28th, with the flood receding at the rate of three inches an hour, Fort Wayne had the situation in control and stood ready to assist its less fortunate neighbors. Many of the refugees were able to get back into their homes. The property loss was estimated at $4,000,000, and it was almost certain that the loss of life would not exceed six. The pumping station had been started up the previous night, two locomotives sent by the Lake Shore Railroad furnishing the power. The water was being pumped from the river. The only drinking water available for several days was brought in bottles. CHAPTER XIV THE DESOLATION OF INDIANAPOLIS AND THE VALLEY OF THE WHITE RIVER