Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 February 1891 — HAVOC BY HIGH WATER. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HAVOC BY HIGH WATER.

JOHNSTOWN, PA., IS AGAIN FLOODED. * offering and Devastation Canted by the Swollen Rivere—General Suspension oj Business and Travel. Concerning the rising flood, a Johnstown, Pa., special says: Stony Creek began to overflow its banks and soon the water came pouring steadily into the streets and flooded the business district of Johnstown. Both the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers are rising rapidly and feeding the flood. Thieves took advantage of the excitement and began plundering right and left. By orders of the Mayor armed men were detailed in all parts of the city to remove property to places of safety and to show no mercy to anybody who was scon to steal anything. .A mounted patrol was established and worked in connection with the gangs of volunteers in the Tousing of sleeper* and the moving 'of property. The railroad people sent a crew of men who worked all night at the stone bridge keeping the arches clear. Seven meg imprisoned in the town jail were liberated because the authorities found that they might be drowned like rats in a cage, as did actually occur at the time of the great flood. Many bridges have gone down. All over the city business men hastily rigged pumps and are laboring to get the water out of their cellars, but with discouraging results. Both the rivers are swelling from hour to hour. The marks show a depth of'twenty-five feet. This is past the danger point, and both rivers an'd all their tributaries are growing larger. A height of thirty-three feet at least is looked for, and the greatest efforts are being made to meet thia emergency. Should the water go higher

io effort can avert enormous loss of life end property. Word comes from the lower part of Allegheny that a house has been swept away and all Its occupants drowned, but no names or particulars can be obtained at present. All the large stores on Pennsylvan'a avenue, a short way from the Allegheny River, are flooded, and the work of removing property is very dangerous and slow. All of the railroad* are seriously disabled by landslides and washouta and all trains which have not been abandoned are very late. At Jeannette many persons have abandoned their homes to.the'flood, 1 and have sought'personal safety on the higher ground. Many bridges and houses have gon* down already, and the water is rising at that 'point very rapidly. All railroad traffic has been suspended at - Washington, Pa., since the bridge* are not considered safe, and at Temperanceville, a suburb of this city, the Chartier Creek covers half the town and is spreading. Hundreds are homeless, and since all the trains are tied up they can only seek tho higher ground and take with them what few belonging* they can carry in their hand* A message from Bradford tells that both branches of the Turva Creek have become roaring rivers, ana Davies, Florence, Foreman and Ann streets are inundated. The water has come into the Bevlrio and Seifangs mammoth iron works and ail the tires are put out. At Pittsburg, the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers continue to rise and have reachod'tho highest stage since the flood of 1884, the marks injioth rivers registering 27 feet The men and those in possession of reliable information from *up-rlver points expect th* waters to reach the thirty-foot mark. In this event all of the First Ward of Allegheny and a large part of that city kuown as Manchester will be submerged. Every person in both cities owning property in places Hable to be affected by the flood is preparing for the worst Already many of the mills, glasshouses and factories along both river banks have closed down, while scores of residences between Sharpsburg and lower Allegheny City are surrounded by water, in some Instances reaching to the second floors. Traffic on the Pittsburg and Western Railway has been entirely suspended between Sharpsburg and the depot at Union Bridge. Water covers the track from four to six feet almost the entire distance. Op the lower Mississippi the continual rise of the river, says a Helena (Ark.) dispatch, is causing much anxiety. In the neighborhood of the Williamson plantation the levee is quite bad and • considered dangerous. A large body of men have been pnt to work to construct a “run around” In that locality, which Is 300 yards in length, It is hoped that this Will prevent an incursion of th* water, which is barely two feet from the danger line. At a recent meeting of the Academy of Sciences the Prince of Monaco read a paper demonstrating the possibility of shipwrecked people, who have taken to • the boats and are without provision, being able to sustain life with what they could catch in a drag net trailing overboard over night One of the chief features of e the use of paper fabric for building purposes is the ease with which it can be worked .Into sheets of any required width or thickness that will notboaffected by changes of temperature or humidity. The following surnames appear in old English records: Duck, Duckrell, Drake, Sheldrake, Wildrake, Wildgoose, Mallard, Duckworth, Peter le Goose, and Walter le Gows. Now is always the very best time if «* will only make it so.

LOWER ALLEGHENY CITY.