Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 April 1882 — MISSISSIPPI FLOODS. [ARTICLE]

MISSISSIPPI FLOODS.

The Waten Slowly Abating. The Chicago Times correspondent telegraphs from Helena, Ark., as follows : “Every heart seems weary and saddened by the distress that surrounds the city. There is nothing thought of except the relief of the sufferers, and every one here has done his part in succoring and helping the afflicted. The stratus remain unchanged in this section. The water falls very slowly, contrary to the expectations of every one; and it is feared that it will remain np some weeks longer. .It has become a monotonous sight to every eye. Commissioner Mangum cannot fulfill all the demands coming from individuals and from the mass. In Desha county the sufferings seem to be very great. These advices come from Arkansas Uity, where the greater portion of distress is situated. But few supplies have reached them, the greater number being distributed at other points. Rations are eagerly prayed for, as the suffering is great, and help must reach them from some quarter.. A gentleman in conversation told the writer that near him lived about 1,800 people without food or money, and unable to help themselves in the present state of affairs. He was then on his way to Memphis to see what arrangements he couffl make to alleviate the condition of his neighbors. From all parts the same accounts of misery are told. Cattle and mules are dying, and have died by hundreds. Human beings and animals are housed together, the humans willing to share their very last with their horses ana other animals, not only from affection, but for the intrinsic value they set upon them. A gentleman who has visited the distressed regions remarked that the dogs looked more prosperous and in better condition than the people themselves. The gnats are becoming a greater pest every day. They are having a most fatal effect, and will continue for some tune. It is as great a calamity as the flood. Lieuts. Satterlee and Richards visited the overflowed region around this place. They have already visited other portions of the flooded country, and say that the horrors art not in any way exaggerated. They have estimated that the number of people requiring to be fed is : In Phillips county, 6,000 ; Monroe county, 600; Chicot county, 3,000; Desha county, 3,500.' These gentlemen give most graphic pictures of what they have seen and experienced. Lieut Richards left for Mississippi county, and Lieut Satterlee for Lee county, to make personal investigation of distribution of supplies. In Laconia Circle, a particularly rich and flourishing section, great suffering exists. Houses are being used for the refuge of both cattle and human beings. The steamer Dick Jones, just returned from Sunk Lands, reports the horrors more and more terrible. The people were still eating drowned carcasses and some few a little boiled corn.” A St. Louis dispatch says : “About <B,OOO in money and large amounts of provisions and clothing have been raised here for the benefit of the overflow sufferers on the Mississippi river. Caph Lee, in charge of the Government relief expedition up the Sunflower and Yazoo rivers, estimates the loss of hogs total in the kazoo country, the loss of cattle fully 75 per cent., and the fencing, with many of the smaller houses, destroyed.” A telegram from Natchez, Miss., reports: “ Natchez is crowded with refugees, and droves of stock are passing through town. Parties from the neighborhood of Lake Concordia and Tensas nver report great destitution. The water rose so fast that many people had to place pickets across the rafters in their houses and take refuge there, they having no means of getting away, and many of these houses are tottering from the force of the current. Tensas river is rising five inches in twenty-four hours, and if it continues at this rate the fives of these people will be in great danger unless they are speedily relieved. There is a perfect panic among the negroes, many being so terrified as to be unable to make the least effort toward saving themselves or families until roused by the whites.”