Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 84, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 April 1913 — FLOOD EXPERIENCES OF BILL BAT RELATED [ARTICLE]

FLOOD EXPERIENCES OF BILL BAT RELATED

John E. Alter Tells of Troubles in Getting Home From Cincinnati Had . Plenty. Editors Republican: After being marooned by floods in Cincinnati just one week, the C. H. & D. officials announced that they would try to run a train to Indianapolis, so I took a trolley line from Sycamore to Winton Place, four miles back among the hills, to a suburban station, whence he train took us to East Hamilton, thence by hacks to the river bank, where a pontoon bridge had been constructed oyer the Miami; but just before we arrived four boats took water from the waves and sank. After waiting two hours for repairs we became discouraged of any probability of a passage at that point. A company of us undertook a circuitous trip of six miles around by way of an upper railroad bridge and across the drift deposit flats: thence along the slippery paths through a downpour of rain, carrying grips and great-coat, climbing over hundreds of wrecked cars, creeping through ruined buildings which had been rolled, floated, twisted, broken, and then thrown across streets, alleys and roadways. At length, weary and muscle-sore, we arrived at an out-of-town crossing, where the train was due to call for us, sometime. standing for an hour and a half with no sign of shelter in a drenching rain, nothing in sight except a saloon on the corner (all saloons closed in Hamilton).. From this point we encountered shaky grades, weak bridges and washouts all the way home. At Connersville the washouts were disastrous. At Brownsville we were transferred miles around in township school hacks, hired by the railway company. This trip was rocky in the extreme. Pitch darkness veiled the scenes of desolation on every hand. The road grades were treacherous and the hacks reeled and plunged into holes, on hill slopes and among the rocks, until an upset or breakdown seemed inevitable; yet notwithstanding the gruesome fact that our little hack carried thirteen passengers, including the train conductor, we found the railroad again on the other bank of White river, but no shelter from blinding rain, which came down in sheets , while we waited for the train. From ' this point we were ordered, routed, and detoured about most of the night to Indianapolis, where but few trains were running, and those averaged seven hours late. Our train crew was ordered three times at different places, not to exceed five miles an hour. I purchased five different tickets on the way with a through ticket in my pocket. I came from Indianapolis to Lafayette on the Big Four, the only good run we had. We were greatly delayed at Lafayette and Monon. The railway officials were kind, courteous and obliging at all . points, ip a marked degree, though i many of them were worn out by excessive work and loss of sleep. One conductor left his train on the track, ran about in the rains the distance of two squares in a beating rain, until he found a country rig for a lady and her baby to ride in \ ■ But the great danger now is not . at points where grades and bridges ; are gone, but in the running of trains over treacherous, undermined grades. The roads, being with others in resuming train service, are causing passengers to run great risks in trying to get liome , or to flood stricken friends. Telegraph to your friends at once, , warning them not to travel for a few days yet, for hundreds of miles of track now being used is positively unsafe. All roads are working day and night with relays of laborers, and the grades, culverts and bridges are being made stronger every day. Hamilton and Dayton are under martial law and the Ohio river towns are under water. There is ( greater property destruction in i Hamilton than in Dayton. The loss and suffering in Cincinnati is much less than the towns of Covington. Newport, Belleview and Dayton, . Ky., on the opposite bank of the Ohio. Periously experienced, though cheerfully submitted, by BILL BAT.