IN BROOKVILLE

Sixteen persons were drowned at Brookville, when they were caught by the
east and west forks of White Water River which meet in that town.
Survivors told of attempts of men, women and children to escape by the
light of lanterns. Cross currents rushing along streets and alleys
carried them down to a united stream a mile wide just south of the town.

Five children, all of one family, were seen clinging to posts of an
old-fashioned wooden bed when they were swept into the main stream and
lost.

The person from Connersville who first talked with the Governor said
that a break in the White Water River levee had flooded the valley,
sweeping many persons before it. After that it was impossible to
re-establish communication even for a few minutes. Militia were ready
all during the night to hurry to the town, but no train was operated in
that direction.

PEOPLE GATHERED IN CHURCHES

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 Bro