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They were not able to save all their patients. In those days before antibiotics, George Cartee and his mother, Mrs. John Cartee, who came in already suffering from pneumonia, died in the facility. The staff was more successful with others who had fractures of the leg and skull, and had suffered from exposure.
A baby who had been diagnosed with double pneumonia called for all the ingenuity that could be mustered when doctors said he needed an oxygen tent. One was quickly improvised from materials at hand, and little George Hooten lived to tell the story of his rescue.
One account of his rescue says that he and his family had been living in a tent on the Canal Road near Hardentown.
When they weren’t actually totally involved in caring for the sick and injured, the medical staff also provided typhoid inoculations to the general public. As a result, there was not a single case reported despite the unsanitary conditions caused by the flood.
Mrs. Robert Nanz cooked all the meals for the nurses and served them in her home.
On Friday, an already dire situation was made even worse as the Miami Fort (Columbia Power) plant across the Miami River went out of commission and all electrical power to Lawrenceburg ceased.
Right, clockwise from top left: Most buildings in downtown Lawrenceburg, including the courthouse, had water approaching the second floor. Officials
at Seagram’s Distillery used two locomotives to furnish steam heat when the fires in the furnaces were extinguished by high water. Trestles were repaired or replaced as necessary.