ilding to the next by crawling on narrow planks. I counted
hundreds of bodies lying in the debris, most of them covered over with
earth and showing only the outlines of the form."

A Sad Hospital Story.

On a cot in the hospital on Prospect Hill there lies at present a man
injured almost to death, but whose mental sufferings are far keener than
his bodily pains. His name is Vering. He has lost in the flood his whole
family--wife and five children. In an interview he said:

"I was at home with my wife and children when the alarm came. We
hurried from the house, leaving everything behind us. As we reached the
door a gentleman friend was running by. He grasped the two smaller
children, one under each arm, and hurried on ahead of us. I had my arm
around my wife, supporting her. Behind us we could hear the flood
rushing upon us. In one hurried glance, as I passed a corner, I could
see the fearful crunching and hear the crackling of the houses in its
fearful grasp. I then could see that there was no possibility of our
escape, as we were too far away from the hillside. In a few moments it
was upon us. In a flash I saw the three dear children licked up by it
and they disappeared from sight as I and my wife were thrown into the
air by the vanguard of the rushing ruins. We found ourselves in a lot of
drift, driving along with the speed of a race-horse. In a moment or two
we were thrown with a crash against a frame building whose walls gave
way before the flood as easily as if they were made of pie-crust, and
the timbers began to fall about us in all directions.

"Up to this time I had retained a firm hold upon my wife, but as I found
myself pinned between two heavy timbers the agony caused my senses to
leave me momentarily. I recovered instantly in time to see my wife's
head just disappearing under the water. Like lightning I grasped her by
the hair and as best I could, pinioned as I was above the water by the
timber, I raised her above it. The weight proved too much and she sank
again. Again I pulled her to the surface and again she sank. This I did
again and again with no avail. She drowned in my very grasp, and at last
she dropped from my nerveless hands to leave my sight forever. As if I
had not suffered enough, a few moments after I saw some objects whirling
around in an eddy which circled around, until, reaching the current
again, they floated past me. My God, man, would you believe me? it was
three of my children, dea