USA > Indiana > Miami County > History of Miami County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 42
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About midnight on January 2, 1884, fire was discovered in Warner's store on South Broadway, opposite the Bearss hotel. The first floor was occupied by Warner's clothing store; Reasoner & Loveland's law office occupied the front part of the second floor, in the rear of which was about $4,000 worth of goods belonging to J. F. Whittenberg; and on the third floor was the hall of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. Warner's loss was about $5,000; Reasoner & Loveland lost about $500, most of the damage being caused by water; Whittenberg's stock was also seriously damaged by water; the Engineers lost about $150; Bouslog & Myers stationery store adjoining was likewise damaged and the J. M. Stutesman building was injured to the extent of about $2,000. Other business houses in the vicinity were slightly damaged, so that the total loss was about $15,000.
On Sunday, November 23, 1884, the store of Jacob S. Rannells at Perryburg, with the greater portion of the stock of goods, was con- sumed by fire, causing a loss of $12,000, partly covered by insurance. The loss preyed upon Mr. Rannells' mind until it is supposed his reason became unbalanced. Shortly after midnight, or about 1:30 a. m., on Wednesday, December 3d, ten days after the fire, Mrs. Rannells heard her husband call and entered his sleeping apartment to find him lying across the bed with a deep gash in his throat, inflicted by his own hand. On the table near by was a note which read :
"Dear Jennie :- I am troubled so I would rather die than live. I leave you and the children with God."
Dr. Ager was summoned and arrived a few minutes before the un- fortunate man breathed his last. Mr. Rannells had been in business at Perrysburg for some time prior to the fire and was considered one of
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the substantial business men of Miami county. He was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity and had a high standing as a citizen.
One of the most spectacular fires ever witnessed occurred on Novem- ber 17, 1897, when three oil derricks and nine tanks of oil on the Dukes lots in the northwestern part of Peru were burned. The fire department responded promptly, but when the water was turned upon the fire it only scattered the flames, the burning oil refusing to yield to the efforts of the men. This made the fire all the more dangerous and the men then undertook the work of saving the adjacent buildings, leav- ing the tanks and derricks to their fate. The flames rose to a height of one hundred feet or more and lighted up the country for a consider- able distance, the light being seen for miles. About one thousand bar- rels of oil were consumed and the tanks and derricks reduced to ashes before the fire burnt itself out, the loss reaching about $3,000.
About 2 o'clock a. m. on Sunday, January 27, 1901, fire broke out in the Emerick Opera House on East Fifth street, between Broadway and Wabash, and in a short time the building was a mass of flames. The damage to the building was about $20,000. Among the tenants who suffered severe losses were the Daily Chronicle, Griswold's confectionery store and Miller & Wallick's job printing establishment. For a time it looked as though the entire block was doomed, but by heroic efforts the fire department, assisted by a number of the citizens, succeeded in saving the adjoining buildings, though some of them were slightly damaged.
People living in the vicinity of Eighth and Wabash streets, in Peru, were suddenly aroused from their slumbers about four o'clock on the morning of March 12, 1902, by the noise of two explosions, one occur- ring soon after the other, and the fire department was quickly summoned to the scene. The explosions were in a brick building, the lower floor of which was occupied by Newton Sarver's meat market and the upper story by a family named Hays. It appears that Mrs. Hays awoke and smelling gas went into the kitchen and struck a match to investigate. An explosion immediately resulted, but no great damage was done. Mrs. Hays fled down the stairway, forgetting her child, but upon reaching the ground suddenly remembered and turned back for her baby. She had barely reached the ground the second time when the flames reached the leak in the gas pipes and caused the second explosion, which blew out the walls on three sides of the building. Next to this house was the residence of John H. Jamison and just beyond it was the house of Frank Kiley. The Jamison family hurriedly vacated the premises, expecting to see the house go the same way, but it was not injured. The Kiley house was less fortunate. Within a short time after the second explosion
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in the Sarver building the sides of the Kiley dwelling were blown out by a third explosion, the cause of which remains a mystery. Mr. Kiley was found unconscious and his son, Frank, Jr., was injured. The fire was easily subdued, but the loss by the explosions amounted to about $4,000.
On March 14, 1905, a fire started in George Moore's bakery at Amboy and for a time it looked as though the town was going to be wiped off the map. From the bakery it was communicated to John Little's meat market and from that to Edgerton's grocery. Herbert Cox's residence was the next in line of the flames and George Lewis & Sons' grocery was almost completely destroyed. The Amboy Mercantile Company was threatened, but the citizens managed to save it, as well as other buildings, and after a strenuous fight of several hours the fire was under control.
Three days after the Amboy fire the fine farm house of Frederick Roberts, about a mile south of the village of Peoria, with nearly all of its contents, was destroyed by fire.
Several destructive fires occurred in the county in the year 1910. About 8 o'clock a. m. on Saturday, January 8th, fire was discovered in the basement of the Endicott & Nesbit furniture store in the Louis Little building, on the north side of West Third street, immediately west of the first alley west of Broadway. Two business rooms were on the first floor, the east one being occupied by the furniture store and the west one, in which had been a motion picture theater, was vacant. The second floor was occupied by Company L, Third regiment, Indiana National Guard, as an armory. Just north of the alley at the rear of the building is the Wallace theater, which was in imminent danger of destruction, but it was saved by the systematic work of the fire department. Endi- cott & Nesbit's stock was practically ruined and the armory was so badly damaged that the military company was soon afterward disbanded. Some of the adjoining buildings were slightly scorched.
On the night of May 4, 1910, Charles Haskett's barn, near North Grove was destroyed by fire, together with four horses, two mules, four milch cows, a large quantity of feed and some valuable farm implements, the total loss amounting to over $3,000.
The saw-mill of Eisaman & Richer, at Denver, was completely con- sumed by fire on Monday, July 4, 1910, causing a loss of about $2,000. Several houses in the immediate neighborhood were set on fire by falling embers, but the citizens succeeded in saving them from destruction by good team work. The owners of the mill lived in Peru.
On Monday night, September 12, 1910, a severe electrical storm swept over the southern part of the county. Cyrus Crider's barn in Washing- ton township was struck by lightning and set on fire. A heavy rain- fall saved the adjacent buildings, but the barn was completely destroyed.
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In the chapter of Finance and Industry mention is made of several fires in which factory buildings were damaged or destroyed, particu- larly the fire at the Howe factory on February 10, 1871, in which E. P. Loveland and John Cummings lost their lives.
A STORMY SUMMER
Although thunderstorms are of no uncommon occurrence in the summer months, the summer of 1908 was one of unusual severity in this respect. On Tuesday, June 16th, a small-sized tornado struck the county near Chili, uprooting trees and doing considerable damage to buildings that stood in its path. John Tombaugh's barn, in Richland township, was partly unroofed and Frank Day's barn was seriously damaged. Fences were scattered in all directions. The wind was followed by a heavy fall of rain and hail that beat the growing crops into the ground, causing a heavy loss to the farmers.
On Saturday night following the above mentioned tornado a storm did considerable damage in Perry township. The barn on William Brown's farm, south of Mud lake, was struck by lightning and destroyed, with all its contents. Although the wind was not so great as in the tornado of the preceding Tuesday, the rainfall was so heavy that growing crops were severely injured by being beaten into the ground.
The southern part of the county was visited by a great storm on Sunday morning, June 21st, wind, hail and rain uniting to wreak dam- age upon everything that came in the way. The west gable of the United Brethren church at Waupecong was blown in; a great deal of valuable timber on the farms of George Miller, John and William Sims was blown down; few wind pumps in the path of the storm were left stand- ing, and the growing corn and orchards suffered from the hail that fol- lowed the wind. Some damage was done in Deer Creek township, but much more in Clay.
Another severe hail storm passed over Clay township and the south- ern parts of Washington and Butler townships on Thursday, July 9th. Vegetation of all kinds was beaten into the ground by the hailstones, which were of unusual size. Windows were broken, chickens and small animals caught out of doors were killed and the fruit crop was greatly damaged, thousands of young apples, etc., being knocked from the trees. Telephone and telegraph wires were broken by the wind and hail and it was several days before the service could be restored to its normal con- dition.
The last really great storm of the summer occurred on Wednesday night, August 12, 1908, and the northern part of the county suffered most from its visitation. Some damage was done by the wind, but the
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rainfall amounted almost to a cloudburst and flooded all the low fields in a few minutes. Two washouts occurred on the Vandalia railroad between Denver and Logansport and all trains were sent around by Peru over the Wabash and Lake Erie & Western.
HISTORIC FLOODS
The first great flood after the settlement of Miami county by white men was in the spring of 1847, which is still remembered by old settlers. Although there were several floods during the next quarter of a century, the high water in the Wabash river did not reach the mark of 1847 until the flood of February, 1883. On Friday, February 2, 1883, there was a heavy fall of snow, which turned to rain late in the afternoon. The ground was frozen so that the water could not penetrate it, the tempera- ture rose during the night and the snow melted, adding to the volume of water that was forced into the streams over the frozen ground. By eleven o'clock on Saturday morning the Wabash railroad tracks were under water and the channel of the river was filled with floating ice. Rain fell all day on Saturday and during the night it turned colder, the temperature on Sunday morning being only a few degrees above zero. When the people arose that morning they found the Strawtown pike under water from the bridge to the toll house, the Mississinewa pike was under water for a mile or more, and South Peru was inundated. Frank Henton and Lou Cole led a rescuing party to convey the people in boats to places of safety. The back-water had extinguished the fires at the gas works and the people had to return to coal oil, and in some instances to candles, for their light. All along the river, on the high grounds, could be seen little herds of live stock and the intense cold added to the suffer- ing of both man and beast.
As frequently happens in such cases, there was something of a con- troversy among the old-timers as to which was the highest flood, that of 1847 or the one of 1883. Jesse S. Zern, G. L. Dart, Coleman Henton and O. P. Webb maintained that the flood of 1847 was still entitled to recog- nition as the greatest in history, while James B. Fulwiler, J. D. Cox and Alexander Moss, the last named the most prominent colored man who ever lived Peru, insisted just as strenuously that the flood of 1883 broke all previous records. It appears that a mark had been made on an elm tree near the bank of the river and on Sunday night, when the water was at its highest point, some young men took a boat and a lantern and went out to the tree to investigate. They claimed that the mark of 1847 was under water, but on Sunday morning ice was found hanging to the body of the tree about three inches below the mark, so that the advo-
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cates of both floods claimed a victory and the dispute was never settled to the entire satisfaction of all parties.
A relief committee was organized and those who had been drowned out of their homes were given aid until the waters subsided, or even longer where it was necessary. Notwithstanding the local distress, the people responded liberally to Governor Porter's call for aid for the flood sufferers along the Ohio river, where hundreds of families were rendered homeless. Mayor Graham issued a proclamation calling a meeting for Saturday, February 24th, for the purpose of taking steps to act in harmony with the governor's call. Charles H. Brownell stated the object of the meeting and moved the appointment of a committee to act with the general relief committee and the Indianapolis board of trade. Mr. Brownell was made chairman of the committee, the other members of which were James M. Brown, Charles A. Parsons, John Muhlfield and John L. Farrar.
This committee appealed to the charitably inclined people of the county and received a large quantity of supplies in the way of food, cast off clothing and other supplies, as well as some cash donations, all of which were forwarded without delay to the general relief committee at Indianapolis, or such other points as ordered.
Twice in the early part of the year 1904 the Wabash river broke over its banks and did considerable damage. On Friday, January 22, 1904, the river began rising rapidly and the floating ice threatened to carry the Union Traction bridge at the foot of Broadway from its abut- ments. The bridge was raised about fifteen inches with jackscrews and chained, and was thus saved from destruction. Armstrong's meadow in South Peru was under water on Saturday morning, though the trees in that suburb east of Broadway were not entirely submerged. The cut on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad at Converse was filled with water and traffic was for the time abandoned. A portion of the Pan Handle Railroad along Big Pipe creek was under water and the train service all through the Wabash valley was irregular for several days. In fact, this flood was general all over the state.
The second flood of 1904 began on Friday, the 1st day of April. On Saturday morning the east end of Peru was threatened with inunda- tion and families began to move out of their houses. Much of the trouble in this section was caused by the Mississinewa river. The Chi- cago, Cincinnati & Louisville (now the Chesapeake & Ohio) Railroad, ran cars loaded with stone and scrap iron upon the bridge over the Wabash to prevent it from being carried away. The Union Traction bridge, at the foot of Broadway, was swept from its abutments by the torrent and demolished. No work was done at the Indiana Manufactur-
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ing. Company on Saturday, because the water was about fifteen inches deep all over the first floor of the buildings.
Again a relief committee was organized to solicit and distribute aid. William Demuth, the treasurer of this committee, made his final report on February 24, 1905, stating that his reason for the delay was on account of some of the subscribers being "a little slow in paying their subscriptions." According to his report the amount collected by the committee was $1,031.25, all of which had been disbursed in aiding the flood victims except $5.80, which amount still remained in his hands.
But the floods of 1847, 1883 and 1904 all sink into insignificance when brought into comparison with the great flood of March, 1913. Rain
NORTH BROADWAY, PERU, MARCH 25, 1913. ELKS HOME ON THE RIGHT, MASONIC TEMPLE BEHIND STREET CAR
began falling early on Sunday, March 23, 1913, and continued almost without intermission for more than thirty-six hours. The Wabash river began rising early Monday morning, but no special alarm was felt until eight o'clock that evening, when the fire alarm whistles at the electric light station announced that the river had broken over its banks and that the pumping station of the city water works would soon be submerged. The daily papers had previously informed the people what the signal would mean and as soon as the whistle was heard the citizens hastened to fill every available vessel with water, thus providing themselves with a supply until the waters subsided. Before midnight the electric light station was forced to close by the flood and the city was plunged into darkness. At daybreak Tuesday morning the eastern part of South Vol. 1-26
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Peru was under water and as the river was still rising at the rate of several inches an hour the people living in the west end of the town became alarmed. On Monday afternoon the back water from Bloomfield creek, half a mile west of Broadway, covered the fields eastward nearly to Pike street, and when the flood from the Wabash and Mississinewa rivers broke over the Wallace road a few hours later it was only a question of minutes until the entire south side was submerged. Many of the residents of South Peru saw what was coming and began their preparations for removal on Monday evening. All that dark and dismal night they worked to save some of their belongings from the ravages of the rising waters.
Early Tuesday morning the members of the Peru Commercial Club saw the necessity for some measures of relief and a committee headed by Frank D. Butler was appointed by the president, J. T. Kaufman, to canvass the business district for subscriptions. The court house, the Dukes Hospital, the Masonic Temple, the high school building, and other places were made ready for the reception and care of those who were driven from their homes. A food distributing station was established in the public library and a number of private residences in the more elevated portions of the city were placed at the disposal of the relief committee as places of shelter for the refugees.
The flood reached its height on Wednesday morning at about 2:30 o'clock. On Tuesday morning all of South Peru, eastern Peru as far west as Wabash street, all of Elmwood and North Peru were flooded, and on Broadway the waters had reached above Second street. They continued to rise rapidly and about 11 o'clock the Broadway bridge went out, carrying with it the bridge of the Union Traction Company immediately below it.
In the meantime the Associated Charities, under Mrs. E. W. Shirk, had begun the work of dispensing sandwiches at the court house, for many people who had left or been driven from their homes found it impossible to return to them and were in need of food. This work of feeding the people continued for weeks, or until normal living and work- ing conditions were partially restored. Thousands of all classes, at one time or another, had to avail themselves of the food here prepared.
By noon the water had crossed Broadway north of Sixth street and people living west of Broadway on Third and other streets, who had felt secure, inasmuch as the water had not risen quite to Third street from the river, were surprised to see the flood pouring in upon them from the north, the waters, as it were, having executed a flank movement and attacked them in the rear. By 3 o'clock in the afternoon, all the streets of the city were practically submerged, with the exception of
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perhaps a block or less each way from the junction of Main and Broad- way, which proved to be the highest point in the business district. There were only a few isolated points in the city which, like this, remained dry throughout the trying time. The Smith hill, on east Fifth street, was one of these places and hundreds of people were housed there, but on Fifth street only a few blocks west there were ten feet of water. The western part of the city did not suffer as much as the eastern. For half a mile east on Main street the water was six feet deep and flooded the homes, while on West Main it was perhaps not more than two feet
FIFTH STREET LOOKING EAST
FROM BROADWAY, BOATS LANDING ON COURT HOUSE LAWN
deep and invaded but few of the dwellings. Late on Wednesday after- noon the waters began to recede and by Thursday morning had fallen sufficiently for many people to wade out in rubber boots and make their way to the court house to assist in the work of relief. Thousands of people had been cared for there the night before.
.When the eastern part of South Peru became inundated on Monday night there were but few boats about the city. That night a few others were secured from people in the vicinity of Peoria. Among them was one owned and manned by Sam Bundy, a Miami Indian. It was about sixteen feet long and four feet wide, with a flat bottom, and well cal- culated to ride safely over the turbulent waters. With this craft Bundy saved 162 persons. About 11 A. M. on Tuesday nineteen boats came from Lake Manitou at Rochester, in charge of Clinton Ervine, and a few hours later forty-three more came from the same place, with a squad of skilled
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rowers under the leadership of the Knight brothers. Colonel Gignillat, commandant at Culver Academy sent one hundred boats manned by the Culver cadets. Seventy boats, including two launches, came from the Winona Agricultural College, with forty students of that institution as the life saving crews. Three life boats with their crews were sent down from the United States life saving station at Michigan City and on Friday these boats established the first ferry to South Peru, which place had been cut off from the city for three days. All through the city, over the flooded streets, went the boats rescuing people from perilous situations or carrying supplies to those marooned in their homes. Without them the suffering would have been much greater and no doubt many lives were saved by the prompt action of the boatmen.
No railroad trains could reach the city for several days, a portion of the Lake Erie & Western bridge was carried away, there was but one telephone line open to Indianapolis, the Western Union had one tele- graph wire open to Chicago, interurban traffic was abandoned, some of the cars being left standing in the flood, and for a time Peru was cut off from the rest of the world, especially on the south. On the north side the relief trains could come within a mile or two of the city and the boats did the rest.
South Bend has the honor of being the first city to render aid to the stricken Peruvians. It was quickly followed, however, by Rochester, Goshen, Elkhart, Valparaiso, Plymouth, Gary, Madison, Wisconsin, and Kalamazoo, Michigan, as well as a number of smaller places on the north, all of which hurried supplies to the flooded city. On Wednesday an express train arrived from Chicago bearing two hundred mattresses, three hundred blankets, three hundred comforts and other supplies from the Chamber of Commerce of that city. The Bradley Knitting Company, of Delavan, Wisconsin, sent a number of knit caps and sweater coats. As soon as communication could be established on the south Amboy, Converse, Kokomo, Marion, Muncie and numerous other places extended a helping hand. Most of these towns had extended aid to South Peru while the flood was at its height. It is told of Albert Conradt, of Kokomo, but formerly of Peru, that when he was informed of the situa- tion in his native town, he promptly replied: "Go ahead and get what the people will need at once and rush the stuff to them. Be quick about it and you may go as high as $5,000, which I will advance and run my chances of getting it refunded to me by the people of Kokomo."
At a meeting held in the court house on Thursday morning the follow- ing committees were appointed to carry on the relief work in a sys- tematic manner: Executive, Frank D. Butler, Lieutenant-Governor O'Neill, R. A. Edwards and Rev. A. M. Bailey; Medical aid, Drs. L.
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O. Malsbury, John E. Yarling and John H. Spooner; Finances, Joseph H. Shirk and Milton Kraus; Law and order, Mayor J. J. Kreutzer, Sher- iff Frank Hostetler and Prosecuting Attorney H. C. Phelps ; Publicity, J. Ross Woodring, Thomas Walsh, James Costin, Omer Holman and other Peru editors; Food supply, R. H. Bouslog, Joseph Bergman, Fred Ream, C. A. Holden and Ed. Ream; Bedding and clothing, Dr. C. E. Redmon, Charles R. Hughes, John W. Volpert and Albert Gallahan ; Boats, C. Y. Andrews, W. S. Mercer and Timothy Dunn; Sanitation of court house, Frank K. McElheny and Spencer Hammer ; Transportation, Andrew Stehle and H. P. Loveland; Labor Bureau, R. J. Loveland and Harry Crites. Trouble committee, C. Y. Andrews, chairman.
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