sections around the edge of the city proper into
which disease-breeding filth had been washed.

Water still covered these low sections, and seemed likely to remain
there for a long time. There were few sections around the valley that
could be used for burning dead animals.

Citizens and officials who were becoming alarmed at the new danger
estimated that at least 500 dead animals were strewn about the city of
Peru alone. Most of them had to be fished out of the water wherever
found, and it seemed an impossible task.

SHAKING OFF DESPAIR

Slowly the city began to shake off despair and repair the damage done.
The property damage totaled $3,000,000. The Broadway bridge went down
when a large house lodged against it and in turn carried away the Union
Traction structure.

As Peru emerged from the flood it became apparent that the death list
probably would not run over twenty-five.

The indirect death list as a result of the flood, however, went much
higher, as scores of aged men and women, who for hours were forced to
undergo terrible exposure and later to endure unsanitary conditions,
perished soon after they were rescued.

CHAPTER XVII

THE DEATH-DEALING TORNADO AT OMAHA

THE BOLT OUT OF THE BLACKNESS--RESCUERS WORKING IN DARK--A CITY TO
THE RESCUE--PATH OF THE STORM--INTERRUPTED MERRYMAKERS--FAMILY MEET
DEATH TOGETHER--FREAK TRAGEDIES--BRAVE TELEPHONE GIRLS--VIVID TALE
OF THE STORM.

Easter Sunday did not dawn very brightly in Omaha, but in the afternoon
the sun came out warm and bright. The usual Easter promenaders thronged
the streets in holiday attire. Then, as the afternoon wore on, clouds
appeared in the sky. They gathered very quickly, came lower, and as they
approached the earth there was suddenly a fall in the temperature. In a
few minutes the sky turned black and then came the bolt of wind down out
of the blackness. Through more than three miles of the city it cut a
clean path of from three to seven blocks in width in which not a
building was left whole. Then the storm mounted the bluffs and sped away
to the northeast, carrying destruction with it.

Omaha's destruction was kept secret from the world for several hours by
the storm, for all wire communication was broken down in the wrecking
of the homes. Messengers with the news stories had to go to Lincoln, the
state capital, to give out first definite news of the disaster.

During the early hours of the night uninjured citizens wo