DISASTER 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.