The 1913 Dayton Flood:
Unsung & Unafraid Heroes

Podcast Script

Group 1

My name is Coby Cook, I am a narrator & researcher for the Unsung and Unafraid documentary.

On August 21st, 2019, Dr. Robert Franklin’s Radio Production class met for the first time. Just a week later we found out we would create an audio documentary on the forgotten heroes of the 1913 Dayton flood. Dayton experienced one of its worst tragedies in 1913 when a great flood cost not only lives but also $100,000,000 in damages. When we needed it most, 500 men traveled to Dayton to help rebuild the city. These men have been forgotten by historians, but over the next hour, we will unveil one of Dayton's greatest stories never told.

Felicia Chapelle: I’m Felicia Chapelle. This is an hour-long documentary produced by Radio Production students in the Mass Communications Department at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. Join us as we examine the unfortunate tragedy of the 1913 Dayton Flood, and share the untold stories of the 500 men who risked their lives to save a city that was not their own.

Markia Durr: March 25th, 1913, Dayton. White dress, pigtails, pink hair bows, wet shoes. It’s 8 pm - me, mamma, and papa are eating dinner at the table. The crackling static from the radio overpowers my ears as we try to listen to the news. The lights begin to flicker. Papa goes down to the basement to check for lanterns and make sure everything is okay. I can see the worry in mama's eyes that this was not going to be good. She abruptly follows him downstairs to go find candles too in case of an emergency. Now there is just me, the radio, and a warm bowl of spaghetti and meatballs which gets cold quickly as I am losing my appetite due to my apprehensiveness.

The windows are punched with hard raindrops and aggressive tree branches. The wind is singing on the door like a fat opera lady and the radio says, “Be safe folks ya hear, this is…” The radio goes out and now there is just me and the raindrops. The basement door opens and I feel the water on my new shoes that papa had just bought me. The stairs and I look at each other from the basement entrance. I get up leaving the food and walk over. As I am filled with adrenaline, I make my way downstairs. Click! Clack! Swoosh! My feet drown as the water connects to them. I feel myself become shorter and shorter with every step. When I make my final step and can see the basement, there is no mamma. There is no papa. There’s water flooding my dollhouse, flooding our couch, flooding mamma’s record players and papa’s toolbox. My eyes fill with water as I am faced with doom and distraught about where my parents could be. “AHHHHH!” Mamma gasp for air as she comes up and makes eye contact with me. She swims her way to the stairs and grabs me so tight I thought I would pop. We run upstairs, close the door, and fall on the living room floor. 

Mamma is crying. I am in terror. But there is no papa. The door starts to creak. Water starts seeping from the crack at the bottom. Mamma says, “I love you.” Thinking this is her last words to me, the door opens. Water burst out. Revealing himself from the water is papa. He grabs us and says, (Jwan) “This is it. The basement is flooded. Outside is flooded. We’re flooded. I love you girls.” 

Markia Durr: I’m Markia Durr and that was a reenactment of a young black girl’s experience during Dayton’s 1913 Flood.

Markia Durr: More than a century ago, Dayton, along with the lives of its inhabitants, was historically changed forever. March 21, 1913, seemed like a regular rainy day in the lives of Daytonians. Sadly, the rain never stopped. Dayton was known for experiencing major floods almost every other decade in the 1800s – but this one was definitely different. Within three days, there was almost a foot of rainfall that fell through the Great Miami River watershed, which caused a horrible 90% runoff. ‘We spoke to Dontae Jones, a meteorologist with WHIO Channel 7 in Dayton, Ohio.’

WHIO Meteorologist Dontae Jones (Channel 7): That would be a perfect example of areal flooding because that didn’t happen over the course of hours but over the course of days. And more than likely, that was from the Great Miami River which would mean that if we’re looking at areal flooding, it’s usually river flooding or from a stream or lake as opposed to flash flooding.

Coby Cook: That was the voice of Dontae Jones, Meteorologist with WHIO Channel 7 in Dayton, Ohio.

By comparison, the volume of water that passed through the river channel equaled the monthly flow of water from Niagara Falls. The rivers overflowed, and the levees were no match for that amount of water, which left Dayton 20-feet underwater.

Coby Cook: The following is Deacon Johnnie Freeman, author of The Forgotten: Hidden Heroes' feelings of the untold stories of the forgotten heroes. 

Deacon Freeman: “I think it’s amazing. For so many years, you have stories in newspapers and then you’re able to uncover them like an onion, with many layers to them. Then you are able to really bring it forward for everyone to see. Now everyone’s like “Oh my goodness, I had no idea.” Then you think to yourself, “Praise be to God” that you were able to do that. Many days I told myself that I wasn’t going to find a lot of information. I kept asking God for guidance because he can find all things. The Bible says, “He who lacks knowledge ask of the Lord.” So I went ahead and asked him to help me find it. I kept trying to find different things, people, etc. When I finally got everything, something inside me told me, “That’s all.” I feel very proud about the forgotten heroes. They came all the way to Dayton from Chicago to help. Then there’s special heroes like William Abernathy, W.G. Sloan, the left-handed pitcher. I think those two heroes made completion of everything that went on during the Dayton 1913 Flood.”

Coby Cook: That was Deacon Johnnie Freeman. Author of The Forgotten: Hidden Heroes. 

Markia Durr: 1913 was the 50th celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation. Black people were free of slavery, but the fight for equality was still being fought. That year, President Woodrow Wilson’s administration was in the process of establishing federal segregation across the United States - separating schools, workspaces, and restaurants by skin color. To be expected, Dayton was a very segregated place around this time. Poor, inner-city black folk lived near the river in shacks, whilst the working middle-class individuals lived in inner-city neighborhoods. 

Coby Cook: Johnnie Freeman, author of The Forgotten: Hidden Heroes shares his thoughts on a Chicago lawyer.

Deacon Freeman: “It seemed like the lawyer from Chicago did have an issue with stuff going on. He said the military was treating his clients unfairly and he had proof on it and documents. It seemed as he had first-hand knowledge that the military treated them wrong.”

Coby Cook: the voice of Johnnie Freeman, author of The Forgotten: Hidden Heroes.

Markia Durr: Dayton had never seen a flood like this before. They were not prepared for this natural disaster. We spoke to Dontae Jones, a meteorologist with WHIO Channel 7 on how common such a weather pattern like the one back in 1913 was.

Meteorologist - Dontae Jones (Channel 7): Weather conditions like this were very uncommon. Oh, very uncommon. Very uncommon. Usually, you don’t get that amount of rainfall in that amount of flooding. 

Markia Durr: Because the flood happened in 1913, technology was not as advanced as it is today. Unfortunately, Dayton had little warning that the flood storm was coming. Meteorologist Dontae Jones thought that residents of Dayton had no real chance of finding out about the flood beforehand. 

Meteorologist - Dontae Jones (Channel 7): Back in 1913, I don’t think they could have accurately forecast something like that. I don’t think the technology was quite there back in 1913 to forecast something like that. 

Coby Cook: WHIO’s Channel 7 Dontae Jones.

Markia Durr: The rare nature of this flood totally took Dayton by surprise. The severity of the flood went down in Dayton’s history books. Here’s what Meteorologist Jones had to say about the flood’s rarity.

Meteorologist - Dontae Jones (Channel 7): That’s just very rare, especially with Dayton not being close to any tropical systems. You know, usually, on the coast and in the south where you are susceptible to hurricanes or tropical storms or tropical depression, that’s where you would get that type of flooding. So that’s where you get that type of flooding. I’ve spent my last five and a half years in Eastern North Carolina, close to the outer banks, and so we usually get a tropical system, whether it’s a depression, or tropical storm, or hurricane every year. So that type of flooding was common in those type situations, but in Dayton, we don’t get those tropical systems. So it’s very uncommon to get that.

Coby Cook: A terrible forecast, meteorologist Jones thought. 

Hypothermia is a medical emergency that occurs when your body loses heat faster than it can produce heat, causing a dangerously low body temperature. Coldwater can kill you in less than a minute. It's actually so dangerous that it has killed a lot of people within seconds. Thousands of people have drowned after falling into cold water and a lot of them died before they even drowned or had a chance to reach safety. 

It's a scientific and medical fact that most people have trouble understanding - because they have no personal experience actually being in cold water. When they hear or think about 50F (10C) water, it doesn't sound particularly cold or dangerous, because they're mentally comparing it to 50F (10C) in air temperature.

With the flood occurring in March, the air temperature was still particularly cool. Anyone that thought they could survive in the dangerous waters had something else coming for them. The body’s normal body temperature is around 98.6 F. Hypothermia occurs as your body temperature falls below 95 F. As the body’s heat temperature drops the heart, nervous system and other organs cannot function properly. When a person has signs of shivering, slurred speech, a weak pulse, clumsiness or a lack of coordination, loss of consciousness, low energy, or a weak pulse it could be a sign that someone is experiencing hypothermia.

Unfortunately with a flood happening it’s harder for rescuers to reach people that could be in these or any kind of dangerous situation. In the flood, there were more than likely a number of unsolved hypothermia cases. A person can usually last up to 15-20 minutes in cold water before muscles get weak.

Markia Durr: This is Markia Durr, and you are listening to the Forgotten, Unsung, and Unafraid.

Markia Durr: With Dayton being built on the river’s natural floodplain, it was just a disaster waiting to happen that many people weren't aware of. At the time of the flood, disaster preparation wasn't really a common thing, and with the few levees that were built, there was never any indication that anything harmful would happen. The weather that occurred and caused the flood didn’t seem out of the ordinary at first. There was a series of three storms, three days in a row. No one ever imagined that it would be a match for the durable levees, and they definitely didn’t think it was strong enough to destroy what was, at the time, a major American city. 

The first portion of the storm arrived on March 21st, 1913. There were heavy showers and strong winds. On the 22nd, there were clear skies and sunshine. However, out of nowhere the temperature dropped by 40 degrees and a second storm arrived. After a third storm on the third day, the soil became saturated. All the rainwater was now run off with nowhere to go but the river. March 25th, all of the city’s levees were in danger of overflowing and collapsing. By 8 a.m., the levees began to overflow and water started flooding the streets. In the next hour, half of the city would be flooded with waters three feet deep, and by midday, it would be ten-feet high. By March 26th, the water height had doubled, reaching twenty feet high. This is the time when everyone had to get creative. Thousands of people were getting anything to make and build shift rafts, boats, and anything that would keep them afloat.

It nears eight o’clock in the morning on the busy streets of Dayton and the movement of the people is increasing.  They are going their ways gayly or quietly; there is no more danger, all is serene and secure.

Ten minutes! A fragment of time. Ten minutes and the careless stream of people has changed to a white-faced frightened, bewildered throng frantically seeking refuge from an awful fate that has stolen on them unawares.

A rush of water came down the center of Jefferson Street. At first sight, it looked as though a fire hydrant might have been opened. For the moment I was more curious than alarmed.  I walked on to the Beckel Hotel. The water covered the street and began to think her all close to the second-story windows is the second over the curb on the sidewalk. I went in. The elevator was not running and I hurried up the stairs intending to leave my satchel and coat in my room and return to see the strange sight.  I began to think there might be some serious inconvenience coming.

I entered the room, dropped my coat and bag, and looked out the window. A seething, foaming torrent was rolling down Jefferson Street. Before the mind could grasp what had happened, a horrible crash sounded, apparently beneath me.  The floor vibrated under my feet, and plastering commenced to drop from the ceiling. Women’s screams sounded from the next room. I sprang to my door. It would not open. But I heard men’s voices outside and I shouted to them to throw their weight against the door and they did so promptly and by doing so saved me the horror of being entrapped on the fourth floor of a sinking building.  The occupants of several adjoining rooms were released in the same manner. Walls were cracking and trembling and plastering was falling. Someone shouted; ‘Fire!’ but was sternly silenced.

We fled down the stairs, joined on every floor by ashen-faced men and women.  It was the only time there was a semblance of a panic, and that was over in a moment.  I think that all must have realized, as I did, that something awful but unexplained had happened, and our lives might depend on keeping cool and quiet.

When we reached the second floor the office I had just quitted was filling with a mass of muddy, black water that roared as it poured in, and rapidly mounted the stairs.  It was evident that the only exit from the house was through the second-story windows.

Something fearful had happened and something worse might follow it as suddenly.  And ten minutes before we had all been so secure. We had never realized that “in the midst of life we are in death.”

Before noon Jefferson and Third Streets were raging, roaring torrents of a depth of twelve to fourteen feet.  It seems to me that the main current of the Miami river must have been diverted through the principal streets of Dayton.  The storerooms opposite us filled to the ceilings. Down both streets poured a mass of drift, now a lot of chairs and tables from some home, now counters, shelving, barrels, boxes, crates of fruit from some grocery; several pianos, piles of lumber and worst of all, every few minutes some struggling, drowning horse.  Some of the wreckage drifted clear, some struck poles or street lights and broke into fragments, some were hurled against and shattered the plate glass windows of stores. It was a sickening sight of ruin and destruction. The rooms on the third floor directly under the one I had occupied had fallen clear through to the basement, leaving a horrible gap. My room had sunk, but not fallen. A jewelry salesman said his trunks with $30,000 worth of goods in them went down with the lower room.  It is not certain yet whether this accident was due to the water undermining the walls or to the explosion of a small boiler in the basement.

These are the words of Judge Walter D. Jones, from Piqua, Ohio. During the flood, Jones was in the Beckel Hotel, located on the northwest corner of Third and Jefferson streets. These statements were taken during his interview with tell Telephone News.

Markia Durr: One fallen hero was William Abernathy. Abernathy was not only a husband and a father but also a hero who risked his life to save his family. He was only 33 years old when his remains were found at the end of 50 Eaker Street. Many people considered him a true hero. Here’s Author Freeman’s take on William Abernathy: “110% he was a hero. I think that William saw himself as doing something naturally, without thinking. He didn’t think that he would be swept away. That’s like if you’re driving down the road and seeing an accident, and wondering whether to keep driving or help out. I remember I came up onto an accident, and I pulled on the side of the road and I saw this injured person. I wanted to help but I didn’t know CPR so I just stayed out of the way. I thought maybe I should learn and practice CPR so I can help someone. Another time, I was driving in London and was on the phone with my wife. I saw a train all of a sudden, and then I saw a big fire. I noticed a car on the side of the road and people was jumping out and running toward the fire. It was a plane that had crashed, so I ran out without hesitation to help and got my dress shoes, khakis and dress shirt muddy. I had just completed CPR just a couple weeks before and so I was ready to assist. So, yes, I think William was a hero. He didn’t think about his own safety first - he saved his wife and his two sons, and I would love to find out the history of what happened to his two sons. It would be great to find out if they went on to do great things.”

Coby Cook: Johnnie Freeman, Author of The Forgotten: Hidden Heroes.

Markia Durr: Similar to the 1913 Dayton Flood, Category 5 Hurricane Dorian struck two of The Bahama Islands: Abaco and Grand Bahama on September 1, 2019, until September 3, 2019. Dorian was amongst the worst experience for any natural disaster in the country. More than 2,000 residents lost their lives at the hands of Dorian and even more lost their homes. The morgues in both Nassau and Abaco reached capacity within a week of the hurricane. The disaster totaled a damage cost of over 7 billion dollars.  Imagine winds of 185 mph stationary over an island...Terrifying. Devastating. Disastrous.

Exactly like the unsung heroes, brave Bahamians risked their lives traveling to Grand Bahama and Freeport to rescue families and pets to transport them to safer islands. Also, United States rescue crews, the Coast Guard, Air Force, and Marines came in by sea and air to lend a helping hand to The Bahamas. 

Similar to the way William Abernathy saved his wife and two sons during the 1913 Flood, during Hurricane Dorian, a blind father, Brent Lowe, saved his 24-year-old disabled son who was crippled by cerebral palsy. Lowe carried his son on his back and pushed through the waist-high crashing waters, rain, and debris until they were both safe. CNN spoke with Brent Lowe about his life-threatening experience days after the storm.

Coby Cook: A CNN audio clip on Brent Lowe saving his disabled son during Hurricane Dorian.

Markia Durr: During Hurricane Dorian, a fisherman also watched helplessly as his wife drowned in front of his eyes. Here’s what he told CNN. 

Coby Cook: A tragic recollection of a fisherman watching his wife drown during Hurricane Dorian.

Markia Durr: The Dayton 1913 flood is so historic because of how bad it really was. This flood displaced over 65,000 people and killed over 360. To this day, it is still the deadliest natural disaster in all of Ohio’s history.

Word got out to some courageous men in Chicago who were willing to risk their lives to save the people of Dayton. One, in particular, was W.G. Sloan, who went from a starting left-handed pitcher for the Dayton Marcos, an amateur baseball team, to an underrated hero who saved over 300 lives. 

An ad was posted to neighboring cities and states crying out for help. Dayton was in devastation - in major need of laborers to help with the relief efforts of cleaning up the city. The city was a total disaster. Most people were either dead or injured, so seeking outside assistance seemed like the best option. The ad stated that Dayton needed people to come to help clean the city. The city would cover the laborers’ transportation, food, and lodging, and they would get paid *x* amount of dollars a day. Many people migrated toward Dayton for the new job opportunity, the majority of them being African American.

As a result of the tragic flood, an estimated 360 souls were lost, 65,000 were displaced, and the city needed over 100 million dollars for damages.

​

Podcast Script Group 2

(Beginning - Before Script)

Dorian Palmer: August 21st, 2019 was the day that we began our journey into uncovering some of the historical oversights of Ohio history. Over the next couple of weeks, we familiarized ourselves with the book entitled, “The Forgotten: Hidden Heroes” by Johnnie Freeman. Dr. Robert Franklin challenged our class to produce an audio documentary with and informative website to help acknowledge the compelling story of the 500 Black men from Chicago that Mr. Freeman set out to reveal.  Most of us had never done anything like this before, so it left us all with an anxious feeling. Dr. Franklin told us that what we were doing was something that would be groundbreaking, innovative, and inspirational. He told us that we are Central State University students and that these types of trailblazing projects are what we do. Central State University is home to the first in the nation HBCU federally licensed radio station, WCSU. WCSU is the only minority owned and operated non-commercial, Ohio Public Radio (OPR) station broadcasting in the state.  We feel that it is only right we continue to add excellence to the legacy of Central State University. Visit our website for more information about our radio documentary and podcast production, “The Forgotten: Unsung and Unafraid,” at vharris7wixsite.com/website. Enjoy our presentation. 

Podcast Script Group 2

(End - After Script)

Dorian Palmer: Dr. Robert Franklin’s Radio Production class began on August 21st, 2019. With 20 students enrolled, we began our journey into uncovering the untold story of 500 Black men traveled from Chicago to help Dayton residents recover after the great 1913 flood. We were first introduced to the syllabus, the concept of radio, and was told to read the book entitled, “The Forgotten: Hidden Heroes” by Johnnie Freeman. In week 2, we discussed historical events and characters that referenced in Freeman’s book. Next, we presented scripts with different topics to obtain a better understanding of the elements of radio and documentary production. Our task as a class was to produce an audio documentary companion piece that literally and figuratively gave voice to the unsung heroes featured in Mr. Freeman’s book, The Forgotten Hidden Heroes and some of today’s unsung heroes. 

To accomplish this objective, we divided into two groups. Group 1 was in charge of assembling the first thirty minutes of the hour-long documentary, while group two constructed the second half including the credits. Group 2 came together during the 2 hours 40-minute class sessions and assigned roles and tasks to the members of each group. The assigned roles for each student were producer, researcher, interviewer, reporter, writer, narrator, and blogger. With the roles assigned, the student researchers sought information on unsung heroes similar to those of the 500 black men from Chicago who helped in the 1913 Dayton flood. Student interviewers arranged appointments with people who will be an asset to the documentary. Writers formatted a script that consisted of an outline of how the second half of the documentary would be. We made progress-recording interviews, editing and transferring the edited to flash drives. 

By the end of November, our team had numerous revisions to the script; time-stamped the interview audio files, narrated, and recorded the script.  The bloggers formed a web page where others can follow the production of the documentary with video and photo elements behind the scenes. Visit our website at vharris7wixsite.com/website for more information. Thank you for listening to The Forgotten: Unsung and Unafraid.”