CHAPTER XVI
The Plight of Peru: A Stricken City
LAST MESSAGE FROM PERU—AT ONCE TO THE RESCUE—THOUSANDS MAROONED—TALES OF STRUGGLE—FAMINE AND DISEASE—GREED ABROAD IN THE CITY—REFUGEES URGED TO LEAVE—SEARCH FOR THE DEAD—SHAKING OFF DESPAIR.
Of all the cities devastated by flood in Indiana, Peru was the most desolated. Situated on the Wabash River just below the entrance of the Mississinewa, it suffered more than any of the stricken cities through which the angry, swollen waters of the Wabash flowed.
"This probably will be the last message you will get from Peru," said the man who telegraphed to Governor Ralston on March 25th, asking for coffins, food and clothing. "Two hundred or more are drowned and the remainder of the residents are waiting for daylight."
AT ONCE TO THE RESCUE
Governor Ralston immediately communicated with State Senator Fleming at Fort Wayne and asked him to forward the coffins and other supplies as requested.
When the messages of distress from Peru were sent forth South Bend and other cities sprang nobly to the rescue. They found the people half crazed from exposure, want and fear. One of the rescue party who made the trip in the first boat that entered the city said: