People/Characters Walter D. Jones

Walter D. Jones (b. c1857) of Piqua, Ohio, married in 1879; he and his wife Laura had a daughter and two grandchildren.  He was a common pleas judge for Second Judicial District, who was spending the night at the Beckel House in Dayton, Ohio.  He was kept there by the flood, but it was actually one of the better places to be – at least they had food and beds.  The guests were forced to retreat to the second floor, the northeast corner of the hotel collapsed, but they remained there until March 26 when a fire broke out nearby.  Some 200-300 people, including the dying owner of Beckel House, who had to be transported on his mattress, a maid with a broken arm, and children, climbed across the roofs to the Callahan Building which they hoped would be safer.  In the end, Beckel House never caught on fire.