By indirect telephone routes on Thursday, Governor Ralston received an urgent call from Logansport for troops to aid in rescue work and to patrol the city. The city had been cut off from reliable communication with the outside world since Tuesday evening. The continuance of the high waters added hourly to the heavy property losses, and the snowstorm and bitter cold caused intense suffering. NEW DISASTER AT LAFAYETTE At 2 P. M. on Tuesday, March 25th, two spans of the bridge over the Wabash River at Lafayette went out, carrying a number of people with it. Boats below the bridge succeeded in rescuing all but one man. At 3.15 P. M. West Lafayette, where Purdue University is located, was cut off from Lafayette by the breaking of one of the levees and the submerging of the other. The river was two miles wide and business houses were preparing to move their wares, anticipating a three-foot rise during the night. No interurban lines were being operated and steam lines were making little effort to maintain train service. The business district and the south and west sides of Logansport were under water. The bridge at the Country Club had been washed away. A SECOND HORROR IN TERRA HAUTE All down the length of the Wabash the torrent raged. Hardly recovering from the daze of the Easter tornado, treated in another chapter, Terra Haute inside of forty-eight hours faced its second disaster, when the waters of the Wabash left the banks, flooding part of the residence section. The river was then rising at the rate of five inches an hour. Railroad traffic was suspended and interurban traction service had been abandoned. Residents of Taylorville, Robertsville and West Terre Haute deserted their homes, fleeing before the approaching waters. Five hundred homes were under water and the coal mines near the city were flooded. For two days the situation seemed to grow hourly more desperate. On Thursday the river had reached a stage of thirty-one feet six inches and was steadily rising. Four thousand persons were homeless, and those whose homes were on higher ground were without gas or electricity. Traffic was at a standstill. THE RECEDING WATERS But slowly the waters receded and the work of reconstruction was begun. On down the river the disaster-bringing torrent traveled. Throughout all southern Indiana the river reached unprecedented stages and hundreds were driven from their homes. Railroad lines were covered with water through many counties, and on March 31st the river was reported forty miles wide between Upton, Indiana, and Carmi, Illinois. CHAPTER XVI THE PLIGHT OF PERU: A STRICKEN CITY LAST MESSAGE FROM PERU--AT ONCE TO THE RESCUE--THOUSANDS MAROONED--TALES OF STRUGGLE--FAMINE AND DISEASE--GREED ABROAD IN THE CITY--REFUGEES URGED TO LEAVE--SEARCH FOR THE DEAD--SHAKING OFF DESPAIR.