Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 February 1884 — DEVASTATION. [ARTICLE]

DEVASTATION.

Terrible Destruction Wrought, by the Floods m the Ohio Valley. The Waters Beach a Higher Point Than It Has Been for Centuries. Untold Suffering at Wheeling and Other Points Along the Roaring Biver. Hundreds of Towns and Vast Stretches . of Country Inundated—Starvation and Famine. [Special Telegraphic Corresnondence of Chicago Times.] CINCINNATI AND UPPER OHIO RIVER TOWNS. The situatibn in Cincinnati and her subuibs is one that calls for commiseration. A year ago this week the whole country was aroused by scenes of destruction and distress, and tonight the damage exceeds the wildest estimates of last year. The stories of the floods in Hungary and Austria are dwarfed by the size of the mighty flood that at this moment is rolling in resistless volume down the Ohio. Within cannon shot of the center of population of the United States is a community of 300,000 souls, rich and prosperous beyond most cities of the country, nearly one-fourth of which will be, before this flood reaches its utmost height, driven from or imprisoned in their homes, and dependent on others for food and shelter. Not a gas jet is lit in all the three cities. The face of the sun has not been seen for days. The full moon*s.gentle rays, thinly filtered through the clouds, is the only source of light at night. Away from the struggling beams of coal-oil lamps and scattering electric lights, the gloom that has settled as a pall over’the people is in full keeping with the sadness of nature's self. A prominent business man said a few minutes since that never in all his life had he felt as gloomy and disheartened at the prospects of the future outlook as to night. The direct loss in Cincinnati alone of over $1,000,000 last year will be multiplied several fold before Saturday night next. Again the tributaries are rising, and where it will end is a matter of the wildest conjecture. Conservative people gave seventy feet as the least figure at which the river would stop. Many believed that it would go still higher, but it is all a matter of guesswork. The rooms of the relief committee is piled to the ceiling with provisions and clothing, and a couple of policemen, stand at the door to keep back the crowd.

A special from Maysville, Ky., sixty-five miles up the river, says it has rained steadily all day and the river is rising one inch an hour. All business is shut down and citizens are assisting the needy. The greatest suffering is in the suburban town of Chester,where thousands of people are quartered in halls and school houses. Relief committees are distributing provisions in skiffs. In Maysville the water is up to the center of the town. Never has there been such suffering. The Emmet Rifles were ordered out by the Council to patrol the streets, but nearly all of them got drunk, took possession of the skiffs, and did more harm than good. The Manson Company has given the city of Maysville $2,5000 for aid. Many houses pass down the river. At Aberdeen, Ohio, nearly opposite, the suffering is intense. Loud cries are heard from there as houses tumble down and are carried away. Above the city, in the upper suburbs, the situation is worse than ever. At California it is terrible-beyond description. The entire town is completely submerged, and many of the houses along Front street are almost out of sight. Many are on the verge of complete destruction. Not a solitary light is. to be seen and not a voice to be heard. Qhisculum is at present under water; Columbia is very badly submerged, both above and below. One-third of the town is under the flood. There was no gas lit last night. Much suffering prevails. Delta, Tusculum, Columbia, and East Columbia are deserted and tenantless. Pendleton is in the same condition as Fulton and Columbia. A local relief committee has been busy for the past five days ameliorating the condition of the sufferers. The public buildings are all turned into marine hospitals. The people of Austinburg and Sandfordtown are in a deplorable condition. Covington stands apparently high and dry, but gas has been shut off, and the citizens may look for a cut-off in the water supply. At Newport the situation is proving worse hourly. Many families in the extreme lower portion of the flooded district were forced out of the second stories to-day. The situation in East Newport is terrible. The houses in that locality are ail threatened with destruction. Four thousand people were fed ty the committee at noon, and as many more were turned away dinnerless in the rain because all supplies had given out. There was nothing for supper. Advices from Pomeroy, 245 miles up the river, say the town and its surroundings are almost entirely submerged, and the destruction has been terrible. The water was eight feet higher than ever before. The town has had no telegraph or railroad communication for four days. Provisions are almost exhausted, and appeals vere made to the country at large for aid. The special was sent to Athens, thirty miles, by messenger. Point Pleasant, W. Va., four miles above, telegraphs for speedy aid. A Parkersburg dispatch says' that the crisis has passed there. The river reached fifty four feet. The town suffered severely, the estimated losses being about SI,OCO,QOO. At Gallipolis, Ohio, 5,030 people are camped on the hills in terrible want for food and shelter. One hundred and fifty houses have floated away. Nearly every business man is bankrupt. A house went by Middleport this 'morning with a woman sitting on the gable end. Men rowed out and appealed to her to get off, but she refused, saying she had four babies below. The glass was broken, and the children were seen floating dead. New Richmond, Ohio, has been cut off for six days from the outside world except by skiff. There is water in every building, and hundreds of houses are submerged. The water is twenty-six inches higher than a year ago. The village of Rural, Ky., is entirely swept away, only two of thirty-six houses being left. WHEELING, W. VA. The city of Wheeling suffered greater loss last week than it has in all its hundred years of existence. Nothing like it has ever visited the city before. To-day was really the first day of relief since last Wednesday, and as soon as the light broke thousands left their homes to view the ruin the waters had wrought. The island was the principal place of resort, for there the destruction was the greatest. No accurate estimate can be made for many days yet, but it is certain that the loss in the city of Wheeling alone will not fall short of $4,000,000. As an idea of the general destruction wrought, the loss in pianos alone will reach $60,000. The relief work goes bravely on, and what can be is being done. Food is now plenty, and no one suffers for something to eat. The city authorities are cleaning the streets of drift, and people are making some effort to restore their homes. NEW ALBANY, IND. The river is rising one and a half inches an hour, and is now sixty-eight feet eight inches in the channel, against sixty-nine feet in 1832, and seventy-two feet in 1888. Six hundred residences are flooded here, and the number is being added to stekdUy. But five of the many factories in the city are running. Thousands of working people are idle. Families are huddled together by the dozens in small, unwholesome, damp houses, and sickness is increasing as a result. There is a great deal of real suffering, and scenes like this are frequently met that touch the hardest heart. The situation in this city is grave, and- the suffering is great. The city authorities and citizens are doing all in their power to relieve it. There will certainly be three feet more of a rise, and this will involve a heavy loss here. It cannot now be estimated with any accuracy. At Jeffersonville the sit *tion is

perilous. nearly me wnoie town is noooecs and people have moved into the second stories, of their houses. AURORA, IND. The dismal predictions made yesterday in regard to affairs at Lawrenceburg have been verified. The water has keen rising ra; and with it comes destruction. Upward of forty residences now are more or less wrecked or moved from their foundations, some of them several squares. People all over the town are leaving their houses, but they are compelled to leave their goods, as there is no place to take them, and even if there were a place to put them, they could not be moved, so strong Is the current through the town. Provisions are scarce, and there is much suffering in prospect. LOUISVILLE AND LOWER RIVER POINTS. This city is filled with alarm at the encroachments of the flood. The river has been rising a half-inch an hour for eighteen hours, and the signal service department predicts that the flood will exceed the mark of 1883 all along the Ohio. At this point that height has almost been reached, and a great deal of water is reported coming. So far as Louisville Is concerned, there “ a need for immediate subscriptions to the flood relief fund, but no outside aid is neoessarv yet. From points down the river terrible accounts come of destruction of property and distress of people. The steamer Ariadne arrived from the lower Ohio this evening, the first boat up in a week. She left Uniontown, Ky., last Friday morning. At Uniontown the water was within two feet of being over the bank, which at the town is some three feet higher than inrther up the river. The water must by this time have got into Uniontown, and flooded the whole place. Above Uniontown the country has been flooded for days, and farms are much damaged. Mount Vernon .Ind., is stiH above water, as at Henderson, Evansville, and Owensboro. The water is in all the stores of Newburg, Ind.,, and business is entirely suspended. At Rockport the railroad depot is under water, and the eastern end of the town is flooded, but the main business portion is above water. At Grand ' View the shipping warehouses and the lower end of the town are under water. Many people have deserted their houses, and there is some distress. The business section is still above water. Lewisport was three teet above water night before last. A rise of three feet would have flooded all the houses. Troy is all under water and no business is transacted. Every house in Tell City is in the water. The people there have become navigators, and every house has its boat. At least 500 skiffs may be seen moving about the streets. At Cannelton the water extends back for three blocks. Cloverport, east of Clover Creek, was submerged, and steamboats cannot land at the regular landing. Tobinsport and Rome, both in Indiana, are entirely inundated. Stevensport also is all under water, and there is no landing for boats. Concordia is all under water, and the people have taken refuge in the hills back from the river. At Alton, Ind., the water covers many houses entirely, and is up to the eaves of all of them, even those in the rear part of the place. The people have all deserted. At Leavenworth, Ind., the water reaches to the hills, and covers the entire away ♦ the awnings in front of stores. Even that section nearest the hills is submerged, the back water having come in through a creek that runs by the place. The river in front of Amsterdam is flooded. One-half of the business is on the river ahd is flooded. At Mauckport the water has flooded everything. The place has a number of saw-mills and flour-mills, which have suspended operations. West Point is flooded and business is suspended. Capt. McCoy, of the Ariadne, says of the flooded-eouutry: “The people were generally prepared for the flood before the water caught them, and the damage will not be nearly so great as it was last year. If the flood does not go down soon, however, there will be great want of provisions, though I think there is as yet no suffering.’