lattemoutb
oucnal
PLATTSMOUTH, NEBRASKA, M ONLAY. JUNE 16, 1924.
NO. 97
3
CITY VISITED BY CLOUD
BURST AT EARLY HOUR
TODAY WITH HEAVY LOSS
HEAVY WATER FALL FOLLOWED BY FLOOD IN
THE BUSINES SECTION THE EQUAL OF
ANY IN YEARS PAST.
Main Street a Raging
Building Occupied by Con Tschkert Wrecked, Rear of the
Ebersole Building Caved In and Basement at the
Ford Garage Filled when Wall Breaks
From Thursday's rally
The worst rain storm of many
years swept over this locality at an
earl; hour this morning and reached
the proportions of a cloudburst, with
the result that Washington and Chi
cago avenues and Main street were
rillea with a raging torrent of water
that for two hours tore its way
through the city and left in its wake
the ioss ii several thousand dollars
to the business men of the city and
the residents along the two ave
nues. The rain comm shortly be
fore 3 o'clock and soon the rain was
falling in sheets that offered the
. truing that the sewers would be
to cop with the flood water
that was pouring down the hillsides
Into the- low places and bent on fol
. wine be natural waterways.
At 3:3 the sewers on both Chi
cago and Washington avenues were
.'flowing and the wave of water
six feet in depth was sweeping on
toward the main section of the city
and on I he crest of the floods were
borne bcxes, timbers, limbs of trees
and wagon loads of grass and other
debris that effectively plugged the
E : iLiiets in the tj.ew acwft- dis
trict and with each" passfnr -minute
the water tearing through Main
street threatened to ?weep into all of
the business houses along the street.
As the flood waters from the
south side came down Chicago ave
nue, they swept into the garage of
the Plattsmouib Motor company, af
ter Having tore out a large section of
the retaining wall to the west of the
garage, and filled the cellar and
work rooms to the level of the first
floor, catching a large number of
cars that were stored there and be
Ing repaired, and will inflict a heavy
I - on George K. Petricg. the own
er, as the result. The water then
struck toward Sixth street and with
lull force the water and its debris
drove in the en'.ire front of the one
story brick building occupied by C.
C. Ts.hkert with his auto repair
.-hop and rushed through the build
ing, also tearing out the entire rear
.veil and causing the back half of
the roof to fall in. The water was
then rushing with great force and
to the depth eif several feet through
Sixth street and as the flood reach
ed its neight the rear of the build
ing of D. B. Ebersole of South Sixtn
Lreel i is undermined and caved in.
and with the water menacing the
buile :::g from the front threatened
the safety Of Mr. Ebersole and his
two sons, David and George, who ; at the store of the H. M. Soennich
nrere living in the wrecked building. 1 8t.n company in the Dovev building.
The water coming from the south ' were filled early in the flood, as the
was m. t at trie intersection 01 axin
and Main street by the great volume
that poured down from uie north
avenue and the back water covered!
the sidewalks on Sixth street to a!
e :h of . everal feet, filling the eel- I
iars along the west side of the street i
and at the F. G. Fricke & Company
rug siur- the water completely I
tilled the cellar as it did under the I
t re i If. D. Brown. In the Fricke
cellar there was a great deal of stock
and window glass carried that will
make Lheir loss one of the- aeaviest
in the city. i
The flood along Washington avenue-
v."us especially severe to the resi
dents along that thoroughfare, the'
flood waters leaving the creek at the
mouth of the sewer on Tenth street
and sweeping on down the avenue, j
At th residence of G. G. Meisinger j
and EL L. Kruger, the cellars were
filled and the water had commenced
to leak into the doors of the first
floor when the waters commenced
to subside. The residence oi Fred
Kunsman had water to the top of the
baseboards on the first floor of the
house and at the R. W. Cavender
home iht water completely filled the
cellar and threatened to reach into
the first floor. The flood swept on
and ra-d over the sidewalks into
the reside-nce of Peter Claus and al-
bq around the entrance to the home
of Perry Coffman. The raising waters
surrounded the homr of Herman
Keithstadt and two inches of water
covered the first floor of the home.
Mr. Keichstadt had gone into the cel
to carry out some fruit when
the water first came into the yard,
and was caught as the flood swept
into the house and only with diffi
culty was he able to make his wav
out or the cellar.
The water from Washington ave
nue covered the floor of the Fradv
ge with a coating of mud to a
River at 4 OXlock
depth of Beyer inches and also
I .r. I. A ,1 mt ( . . r l .... V. t . 11 L- 1 jt i. .1 J 1 .
of Mrs. G. G. MeL-dnger and threat
ened for several moments to inun
date the homes in that locality. As
the flood swept on toward the main
parr of the city it tore off the front
steps at the home of Mrs. John
Bauer. Sr.. and also flooded the cel
lar of the Bauer garage and left a
oatir.g of mud over the floor of the
building.
At the corner of Sixth and Vine,
the force of the water tore away the
rear doors of the Streight furniture
store and played havoc with the
stock of goods, tas water raising to
the depth of almost two feet in the
::.a:n portion of the building and
causing the collapse of the floor of
the workroom ;n the rear of the
building. This will be one of the
heavy losses as the furniture and
undertaking materials that were
watersoaked cannot be cleaned up
very satisfactorily. The waters also
swept into the cellar across the
street at the home of E. A. Wurl.
and In North Sixth street the wat
ers reached almost to the tops of
cars that were parked there and car
ried them out into the flood waters.
vt ral being carried to the lower
part of Main street bwfore they be
came stranded and one went aground
at the entrance to the Burlington
subway, remaining there while the
wa i er dashed completely over its top
throughout the course of the flood.
For the first time in years water
poured into the basement of the
Main hotel and on the west side of
the Coates block reached almost to
the windows on the first floor of the
building and was forced into the
plumbing department of the Kroeh
ler Brothers store, while the cellar
of the building was practically
filled with the flood water.
When the chief force of the water
had swept into Main street it soon
reached onto the sidewalks and in
many places where there were open
gratings in front of the stores, the
cellars rapidly filled and much water
seepi d through the walls into the ad
joining cellars that were protected
from the flood itself.
The store of E. A. Wurl at the
corner of F''xth and Main streets had
on- of the heavy losses of the flood,
as the water filled the cellar to a
depth of several feet, part of this
however breaking through from the
flooded cellars to the south of the
Store alonir Sixth street. The cellars
Water poured in through the
op- n
gratings. The ware house at the
rear of this building and across the
alley was filled to a depth of several
feet, causing the heaviest loss to the
firm as there was a carload of salt
and a large number of blankets stor- ,
od there. Another large building '.
used to shelter the delivery teams
during the winter, was wrecked as
the rushing waters caught it broad
sides. At the Airdome the water I
was several feet deep and the large
sections of seats floated areund in 1
the current, settling down as the
water receded in any but the right
places. The Soennie hsen company
building is being remodeled and for
tunately the cellars did not contain
any merchandise. The cellars at the
Chase meat market and the drug
store of Weyrich & Hadraba were
partially filled with water coming
from the adjoining buildings.
The firm of C. E. Wescott s Sons,
which suffered so heavily in the
flood of 1907, was more fortunate
this time1, as the water passed them
by and ail that they had was a
.-mall amount that seeped in later
from the nearby cellars.
East of Fifth street on the south
side there was not much damage to
speak of. as the cellars that had any
water was largely from seepage and
i will not cause any severe loss,
i On the north side of Main Btreet
j the cellars near the Coates block
I were filled with water and the rear
wall of the kitchen of the Wagner
' cafe had a small hole torn in the
bricks that caused some mud and
water to wash in on the floor of the
kitchen but this was soon cleaned
I up. Water also made its way into
i the cellars of the Mauzy Drug Co.,
and the Nebraska Gas and Electric
j Co. office, but without heavy loss.
j The
floor at Mauzy's was covered
with three inches of mud and water
that swept in through the back door
entrance and took a lot of scrub
bing to clean up. but none ef the
stock was damaged. The other build
ings in the block did not receive any
water to speak of. although the de
bris washed clear to the front doors
of the various stores and indicated
the danger point that they had
reached.
Several automobiles which were
parked along Sixth street were wash
ed from their parking spaces ami
swept into the young river that was
rushing along the street.
The sweep of the storm covered
all directions near this city and the
vicinity of Lincoln avenue also was
flooded to some extent, although the
storm there did not do the amount
of damage it did in other sections
of the city and which is most for
tunate as the Burlington shops lo
cated in that part of the city fared
very well in the general conelitions
and with the day s work the damage
that has been done in the shops will
practically be cared for. The great
er part of this damage was from a
coating ot mud that followed the
overflowing of the waters and made
some disagreeable features in a few
of the buildings and loose scrap lum
ber in the yards was washed around
to some extent and the turntables
received a dose of mud and water
that required some work to clean up.
The lumber department of the shops
experienced the most severe force of
the flood and which will require the
straightening up of the piles of dif
ferent kinds of lumber that were
scattered during the storm, and will
provide a real task for the Fourth
ward councilman who presides over
this department of the shops.
With the general severity of the
j storm, it is very fortunate tnat the
I Burlington escaped so lightly.
J The sidewalk leading to Winter
j steen hill near the lower entrance to
the Burlington shop yards was wash
ed out for a distance of several feet
and the bank there caved in also,
and which will make it necessary to
1 lay a new walk there for the use of
I the residents of Wintersteen hill.
HAS A NARROW
ESCAPE FROM
LOSING LIFE
Lee Cotner. Night Man at Petring
Garage. Caught in Basement
when Flood Strikes.
From Thursday'n rs41y
Lee Cotner, the night man at the
Petring garage at Sixth and Pearl
streets, had a very narrow escap
from death this morning that he will
long remember as being the closest
call that he has experienced.
Mr. Cotner. at the time the heavy
rain was falling, had gone to the
basement to clean the sewer inlets
in case any water should get into
the workroom of the garage and was
also fastening the doors on the west
side of the basement when the re
taining wall at the west side of the
auto store yard gave way and an
eight foot wall of water struck the
doors and splintered them like kind
ling and hurled Lee into the midst
of the swirling waters and to add to
his peril the entire place was in
darkness.
As the first force of the water
came Mr. Cotner started to swim to
where he thought the stairs were
located and very fortunately was
able to find them at once and as he
made his escape, the celler filled up
rapidly with mud and water, mak
ing the experience a real thrilling
one for Mr. Cotner. A chance blow
on the head as the doors caved in
would have resulted in Lee being
drowned as the water filled the base
ment of the garage to a level with
the main floor.
DETORDING M. P. TRAINS
From Friday's Iaily
Owing to the difficulties experi
enced with the high water at the
Pappio which has made the Missouri
Pacific more or less trouble through
the overflowing of the water near
their bridge, the trains on that road
were detoured yesterady afternoon
and last night over the Burlington
from LaPlatte to Gilmour Junction.
The detouring of the trains made
necessary the use of a number of
the local Burlington yard men as
pilots for the M. P. trains and Ever
j ett Gooding. Everett Noble and F.
J A. Thackery spent the time in guid
ing the trains over the South Oma
j ha line of the Burlington to the
Junction point. "Beck" and Thack
! ery drew the honor of conducting
; the passenger trains through while
j "Woozy" was the guiding star of
. one of the freight haulers of the
rival railroad.
TAKE MOTOR TRIP
Mr. and Mrs. C. D. Eads will leave
today on a motor trip to the former's
old home at Burlington, la. Their
daughter. Miss Fern Eads. who is a
teacher in the Gallatin County High
School at Bozeman. Mont., will spend
the summer at Yellowstone National
Park. She will come to Omaha for
a visit with her parents about Sep
tember 15. World-Herald.
Business forms of an Yanfls print
id at the Journal office.
LOUISVILLE HAS
ANOTHER HEAVY
RAIN LAST NiOHT
Mill Creek. Running Through the
Tov.n. Overflows and Causes
Damage to Lowlands.
From Thursday's Patty
The terrific electrical and rain
storm that swept over this part of
the state eariy ihis morning, gave
the town of Louisville a very near
repetition of the flood of September
2Sth last that wrought such damage
to the nronertv and resulted in the
loss of twelve lives.
The terrific rains in that vicinity
formed a dense body of water that
soon transformed Mill creek into a
raging river and the stream bank
full was halted in its journey to the
nearby Piatte as it struck the Mis
souri Pacific bridge which deflected
the water into the nearby lowlands
and caused it to spread out over a
considerable area. The residences in
that part of town were soon sur
rounded by a sea of water, but the
people living there succeeded in milk
ing their getaway in safety to high
er lend and no loss of life was re
ported. The water backed up as high as
the foot of Main street, but there
was no damage to speak of caused in
th business section of the town by
the Mill creek flood waters. How
ever, the heavy rain brought a large
volume of water from the hills into
main part of town and filled the cel
lars along the street to a consider
able depth and caused damages to
stocks of goods that were in the
cellars.
East of Louisville the storm was
exceptionally severe and the loss to
farm crops is beyond estimate, as
practically every farmer had their
crops washed out and in many c ases
l::rge numbers of chickens were
drowned and stock suffered injury
from the onrush. ng waters. At the
home of W. F. Diers in Eonisville,
a iarge stone wall was caved in and
will cst quite a sum to replace.
At the farm of William Lohues.
two and a half miies southeast of
Cedar Creek there were several mules
and horses drowne during the
storm and a great many chickens
were also drowned in the vast sea of
water that swept over that locality.
The Burlington suffered some loss
at Cedar Creek. where the tracks
were washed out and tied up traffic
along that line.
Storm Does Damage in the
Four Mile Creek Neighborhood
Thomas Wiles, who owns the farm
that is bc:ng farmed by George Sian
der, northwest of this city on the
Four Mile creek, was informed last
night by Mr. Stander that the storm
early Thursday morning had done a
great deal of damage in that locality
and especially to the farm land and
crops.
Two foot bridges over the creek
were washed completely away and
160 rod of wire fencing on the farm
washed out by the force of the flood
waters from the creek and the well
used for watering stock completely
ruined by the overflow:.:!! water
from the creek.
In addition Mr. Stander had forty
acres of corn washed out which will
be a complete loss. Mr. Stander. w ho
has lived there for twenty-seven
years, states that i: was the worst
storm in his experience and did the
most damage that he has been thru
in all of these years.
Storm at Weeping Water
Alsc Does Much Damage
The worst storm of the season
broke in fury Thursday morning at
3 o'clock and continued for three
quarters of an hour. A high wind
prevailed and the rain fell in s! eels.
Branches of trees were blown down
all over town and everything loose
was blown away.
Telephone lines were down, so
that reports from outside did not
come in very fast Thursday morn
ing. The Omaha train was sent back to
Union to see if they could reach
their destination over the main line.
The track at Meadow was washed
out on this line.
Elmwood was reported under wat
er in the low section.
The Weeping Water here was al
most bank full at i o'clock, and was
rapidly rising.
The roads will not be bad, except
in the low places, for they will be
beaten smooth.
Anton Jorgensen says there were
two big trees torn out by the roots
at his farm west of town Thursday
morning.
Ole Olson had a load of hay over
turned on Gospel Hill by the storm.
Weeping Water Republican.
SMALL RUNAWAY OCCURS
From Friday's Daily
Last evening while Claus Boetel
Sr.. the dravman. was engaged in
loading some lumber and cement in
to his wagon on Third street, the
steed which does the heavy work of
hauling the wagon, concluded to
take a spin on his own hook and for
a few moments he made the rcord
of Man-'O-War look like a starter.
The horse was standing near the
edge of the sidewalk while the ma- l
terial was being loaded into the
wagon and presently a truck came
along at the same time as a car
approached from the south and both
attempted to pass and the two with
the wagon made the road rather nai
row and the result was that the
auto grazed the hfrse and caused
him to sunt out running and it was
several minute later oforo he ani
mal was stopped on eParl street by
several passers by and held until
Mr. Boete-1 could reach the scene
and tame down the horse which war.
badiy frightened.
Purchases Thoroughbred
Bull to Head His Herd
From Thursday's Daily:
Luke L. Wiles, one of the best
known Red Poll cattle breeders in
the state, has a very fine herd at his
home just at the outskirts of the
city and yeierday he disposed of
one of the fine thoroughbred bulls of
his herd to L. N. Jirousek, of Nia
brara. Nebraska, and who will add
the animal to his large herd of
thoroughbreds. Mr. Jirousek feels
very fortunate in getting the new
addition to his herd which will give
him one of the best herds in the
northern part of the state. The
animal will be shipped at once to the
Jirousek farm.
UNLUCKY THIRTEENTH
From Friday's Iaiiy
Today is classed as one of the
real unlucky days of the year as
it has the combination of both Fri
day and the 13th of the month,
either one being enough tn make a
crap shooter lay down the bones for
the day. but coming on the same
date they make even a Mah Jong
player carry a rabbit's foot to keep
off bad luck. However, as one of
our friends said the day is not so
unlucky as the republican conven
tion has adjourned and wished all
the bad luck in the country that
they possibly could.
STORM ODES
DAMAGES TO GQGD
MAN If BRIDGES
Conuty Commissioners Receiving Re
ports from Ail Over County As
to the Damage of Storm.
Fr"m Fridays laHj
The extremely wet season that has
visited this part of the fair state of
Nebraska and with the storms of the
most unusual severity raging over
Cass county the toll in the way of
damage is beginning to come into
the board of county commissioners
who have jurisdiction over the
bridge work over the county.
Commissioner Farley has the re
ports of two bridges along the us
ually peace Four Mile creek being in
bad shape, one em the Louisville road
near the C. F. Vallery farm and one
on the Cedar Creek road and which
I soon as the weather will permit
will be looked after.
One bridge a mile east and a mile
north of the town of Elmwood is also
reported as being in bad shape and
one also near Wabash. In Elmwood
precinct another bridge has been out
of commission and also one in the
vicinty of Greenwood.
These may be small jobs, how
ever, as they are generally occassion
ed by the washing out of approaches
to the bridges rather than the
bridges themselves and can be fixed
up as soon as possible. In other
cases the bridges have been weak
ened by the fact that the high waters
have undermined them and these
will take more work to get into
shape.
The storms will provide a great
deal of extra work for the road over
seers and in addition to their regu
lar maintaining work will keep them
rushed with work for several weeks
at least.
Mother Gives Birthday
Party for Young Son
Mrs. Ralph Larson entertained
her three little nephews. Clemens,
Herbert and Vincent Sundstrom, at
a birthday party in honor of the
first anniversary or her little son.
Ralph Edward Larson, junior, last
Monday afternoon. The little host
is a fine boy and is showing strong
indications of being capable of great
administrative ability and he han
dles the reins of government very
admirably and the Courier joins with
the host of friends of his parents in
congratulating them as well as the
little junior and wishing him many
happy and prosperous birthday an
niversaries. Louisville Courier.
The young man is the grandson
of Mr. and Mrs. L. G. Larson of this
city and the many friends of the
family here will be pleased to note
that the little man is showing such
progress along the highway of life.
Miss Marie Sperry departed this
morning for Omaha where she will
spend the day with her mother. Mrs.
Grace Sperry at the Immanuel hos-
! pital where she is recovering from
a recent operation. Mrs. Sperry is
now doing very nicely.
HEARING ON IN
JUNCTION AGAINST
QIJINTQN BEGUN
Judge C. A. Stueffer, of Omaha, Here
Today to Hear the Matter of
Restraining Application
From Friday's Dally
A large and distinguished portion
of the bar o the state of Nebraska
was present this morning in the dis
trict court to try before Judge C. A.
Stuefier of Omaha, the matter for
the application for a restraining
order against C. D. Quinton. Abra
ham Lincoln Tidd, Ralph J. Haynie,
and Andrew F. Sturm.
The restraining order was issued
by Judge Stueffer on June 1st and
covered the matter of the surrender
of the possession of the county jail
by the defendant Quinton to E. P.
Stewart, the present sheriff, the for
bidding of the defendants to publish
notices purporting that C. D. Quin
ton was the sheriff of Cass County
and also from stating to other parties
that the plaintiff, E. P. Stewart was
not sheriff of Cass county and that
the defendant Quinton was the
sheriff.
This morning when the case came
up for hearing. Judge Ben S. Baker
of Omaha, A. S. Lewis, Jr., of Omaha
and W. A. Robertson of this city ap
peared for Mr. Stewart, Judge Paul
Jessen and D. W. Livingston of
Nebraska City and A. L. Tidd of this
city for the various defendants.
The plaintiff in the action pre
sented several stipulations as to the
facts in the case, that the defendant
Quinton had refused the possession
of the jail to the plaintiff and as to
statements made to other parties
that Quinton and not Stewart was
the legal county sheriff.
For the defense Mr. Livingston
made the statement of the case to
the court in which he presented his
side ( f the case, contending that the
application of Mr. Quinton to Gov.
Bryan to be relieved of the office
applied to only the serving of papers
in the case in which he was a de
fendant, that the appointment by
Governor Bryan of Mr. Stewart was
ilUgal and that further on the ap
pealing of the" case in which Quin
ton had been convicted of znaife
asence in office, to the supreme
court, the sentence and the remov
al of office made by Judge Alexan
der C. Troup of Omaha, was su
spended. The defense also present
ed a number of affidavits from the
defendants in support of their con
tents ns.
As the case was only about half
completed at the noon hour the
court took a recess until 1 o'clock.
After the offering of evidence the
matter was hurriedly argued to the
court this afternoon and taken un
der advisement by the court and de
cisions will be announced later.
Train Service Demoralized
as a Result of the Rain
From Thursday's iJally
The railroad traffic into this city
was very much shot as the result of
the storm of last night and this
morning and both the Burlington
and Missouri Pacific suffered from
the effects of the storm very much.
The Burlington nad a washout at
Chabo and on the Louisville line
near Cedar Creek tnat delaved No. 6
from the west for several hours and
FOG!
Some folks move about in a contin
ual fog as far as their financial affairs are
concerned. They never know where their
money has gone, what bills have been paid
and when, or hew much money they have
on hand.
Clear up the fog by carrying a Check
ing account at the First National Bank.
Your check stubs and canceled checks
will show clearly where ycu 'and at any
moment.
The First NiqnalBank
TME BANK WHERE 7pU EEL AT HOgj
WJUTSHOUTH "NEBRASKA
"The Bank Where Yon Feel at Home!"
it was not until 11 o'clock that the
connection with the west was made
bv a stub train to Pacific Junction
The Missouri Pacific was suffering
from a washout between Nebraska
I City and Auburn that closed their
Omaha line for several hours. This
afternoon the Pappio creek is over
flowing and threatening the Bur
jlington line near Bellevue, where so
j much trouble was experienced last
i fall.
BOTTOM UNDER WATER
The bottom lands east of the Bur
lington station has a fine accumula
tion of articles today as the re
sult of the flood of the early morn
ing hours and everything from the
heavy concrete intersection mark
ers that formerly graced Main street,
to lumber by the wagon load is to
be found scattered over the bottom.
The area there was a sea of water
during the storm and the swift
stream pouring down from the hills
took everything loose with it and
left it lying along the bottom. The
enormous force of the water broke
down the entire west side of the
fence at the baseball park. From
somewhere the flood waters picked
up a fine assortment of brick that
had been deposited along the road
way east of the station. The; farm
of August Bach on the north side
of the road has receved a large dose
of water and which has spread over
the newly plowed ground that was
just bt mi planted.
SOME FINE STRAWBERRIES
The publisher of the Journal is
indebted to Julius A. Pitz for one of
the finest boxes of strawberries that
has been his good fortune to see the
present season and which was grown
at the home of Mr. I'itz in tht south
portion of the city. The strawberries
ore of large size and the most de
licious flavor and as a whole are as
nice as could possibly be found any
where. RETURNS FROM A
PLEASANT TRIP TO
THE HOLY LAND
Father Ferdinand Suesser, Who Has
Been Journeying Through
Scenes of Bible Returns
Yesterday afternoon Father Fer
dinand Suesser, the rector of the
Holy Rosary Catholic church return
ed home from a three month's visit
abroad and which included a jour
ney through the holy land and ths
pilgrimage over the scenes of the life
of Christ and which gave the genial
rector the opportunity of personal
observance of the Bcenes and the
land which has occupied the? great
part in the world's sacred history.
Father Suesser was one of a large
party of tourists that made the trip
and which also enjoyed brief visits
at the seaports of Naples and Egypt
and also a call at Rome, the seat of
the Catholic church.
The members of the parish and
the many irfends outside of the
church are pleased to have him re
turn safely and enjoying a tine trip
and will await with interest the
account of the trip when the priest
will have recovered from the fatigue
of the trip and give an account of
his experiences.
