lity. All of the
supply and grocery houses were in the submerged district and there was
not enough bread to last the survivors another day. Every grocer in the
city was "sold out" before noon.

The flood came with such suddenness that food supplies in homes were
whisked away by the torrent that reached to second floors in almost the
flash of an eye. Skiffs skirted the edge of the flooded districts
attempting to take food to those whom it was impossible to carry off,
but the fierce current discouragingly retarded this work.

"Food, food, food," was the appeal that reached the outside world from
the portions of Dayton north of the rivers. The plea came from a relief
committee which started out in boats and met an employee of the American
Telegraph and Telephone Company, who attempted to drive to Dayton. The
telephone man immediately "cut in" on a line and transmitted the appeal.

The relief committee had progressed less than two miles from Dayton when
they met the telephone employee. They told him that any and all kinds of
provisions were needed and could be distributed, but the relief must
come soon if indescribable suffering was to be avoided.

Police officers of Dayton who were able to get about at all were
swearing in all available men as deputies, commandeering provisions and
charging the expense to the State of Ohio. The available supplies were
so slender, however, that thousands of persons on the north side of the
river were already destitute. Efforts to learn the condition of the
2,500 inmates of the old soldiers' home on the west side brought a
report that the institution was in no danger because of its location on
a high hill.

Leon A. Smith, one of the relief committee in North Dayton, was sworn in
as a deputy justice of the peace with power to enlist other deputies to
preserve order, guard against crimes and relieve distress.

"What we need most," said Mr. Smith over the telephone, "is food for the
living and assistance in recovering and burying the dead before an
epidemic sets in."

Farmers in the vicinity offered their teams to haul towards Dayton any
supplies that could be gotten together, and the housewives of the
countryside denuded their pantries.

Relief committees issued the following statement:

"An awful catastrophe has overtaken Dayton. The centers of Dayton and
the residence district from the fair grounds hill to the high ground
north of the city are under water.

"Bring potatoes, rice,