Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 April 1882 — MISSISSIPPI FLOODS. [ARTICLE]

MISSISSIPPI FLOODS.

Helena, Ark., April ,3. The flood with all its inconvenience ib still upon the people, and it will still be four or five weeks before th® ordinary business of life can be staried. The water falls so slowly that it is barely perceptible, and then where it has fallen it shows tbe terrible destraction that he® been wrought by the water. The levee np and down the river on both sides is a perfect wreck, and in many places there is a total disappearance of all the smaller houses. A gentleman just in 'from the Oldtown region' gives a terrible account of the suffering. The buffalo gnats are becoming the most terrible plague ever known in. tips country. They -are killing and destroying animals by the wholesale. It is a common eight to see In the- upper portion of the town, mules drawing a wAgon with a tin bucket of smoking coals, a method taken to dnve the gnats away. The smell of the dead animals is something appalling, and there are hundreds of animals that ought to be killed and put out of: their misery. The buzzards are flying in thousands, and have become as tame as chickens. In Tunica county the situation is terrible. There is no chance of starting a crop for many weeks yet to come. There must elapse many years before the effect of this disaster will pass away. Ths colored families, which numbered about sixty persons, who were in such a destitute condition, have been relieved by the rations shipped on the steamboat- John 8. BrAnsford. At Laconia Circle the present report is that the people will be unable to start a new crop on the present limited number of stock, and there is no possible chance for them to procure any more. In Lee county most of the ground is covered with seven feet of water, and the cattle are dying very fast There is a fairer outlook along White river. The water is falling faster and there are some spots of groufid to be seen. There is reason to hope that they begin plowing in about three weeks. A Memphis dispatch says: “The river continues to decline steadily fit has fallen twentyseven inches from its highest point Between here and Helena, Ark., land on both sides of the river is coming gradually to view. Above the decline has bepn greater and the prospects are proportionately brighter for the farmers.” A New Iberia (La.) dispatch says ; Father Coughlin,, parish priest at Lorenaville, on the east side, eight miles from here, reports 1,200 persons now homeless on account of the flood, and application® for shelter in his church and 'stables ar® numerous; He is asking for local contributions. Their distress is' represented as appalling. Tbe water of Red river through Bfeyou Cour Tableau, as well as that of the Mississippi through Atchafalaya and Grand lake, will certainly bring us to the level of the lake. We are now past the high-water mark of 1874. and will proßabiy exceed it two feet or more.”