Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 May 1912 — LOOTERS ADD TO HORROR OF FLOODS [ARTICLE]

LOOTERS ADD TO HORROR OF FLOODS

Break Into Deserted Homes and Steal Valuables. FIVE NEW GAPS IN LEVEES Another Great Torrent Sweeps Over Inundated Parishes and Great Loss of Life Feared—Sugar Crop Ruined. New Orleans, May 10. —With the Mississippi river and its tributaries still rising and not yet at flood crest, and five new gaps in the levees since Wednesday night, the flood situation Is growing worse hourly. At Torras 1,400 feet of levee went out, widening the crevasse to 3,000 feet and sending a great flood of water through the already inundated parishes of fointe Coupee and St. Landry and reaching as far as New Roads. Heavy Loss of Life Feared. New Roads has been abandoned by nearly all its inhabitants, only a few persons remaining in the town. The population is dense in this vicinity and it is feared that the loss of life on the river side of the town has been heavy. Two breaks occurred at Moreauville and one near Longbridge in the Bayou Des Glaizes levees. Half of Moreauville is under water. Fifty per cenL of the sugar crop in this section has already been ruined. Calls for help continue to come in. Motor boats and skiffs are being rushed to the marooned families as fast as they can be obtained and government agents are confiscating boats whenever any are found. Looters Add to Horror.

Refugees report that hundreds of persons are marooned in the tops of their houses and in trees. Few of them have any food. To add to the horror of the situation looters are rowing about in the more populous districts breaking into partly submerged houses and carrying off the valuables. Millville authorities took drastic action to prevent the speculators trading upon the misfortune of residents across the river by ordering that live stock shall not be ferried if in charge of a trader. Refugees Ar* Hysterical. Hundreds of refugees stopped here to be fed and then passed on to Baton Rouge on special trains. All told harrowing tales of suffering and many talked hysterically for fear that their families had been drowned. Most of the fleeing families are large, few having less than four or five children. One white woman climbed down the steps of a rescue train with 16 children in her care. She said they all belonged to her. Families with eight, nine and ten children are numerous. The majority of the negro refugees seem to be little by the scenes of distress and their own thrilling experiences.