Jasper Republican, Volume 2, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 October 1875 — The Floods In Texas—Accounts of Some of the Disasters. [ARTICLE]

The Floods In Texas—Accounts of Some of the Disasters.

The New Orleans Bulletin of Sept 28 gives the following particulars of the terrible effects of the inundation at Indianola: Thursday at ten a m. the wind was blowing fearfUUy, the water still coining in higher, and in two hours rose six feet, Submerging most of the town. The alarm spread like wildfire. Those who had boats were plying about in the waves taking women ana children to places of fancied security. Families were sent up to the highest portions of the dwellings, household goods were confusedly hurried into garrets and the whole town was one scene of terror.

There were no means of leaving the town and so all had to secure themselves as best they could. Midnight Thursday a heavy current set in, running through the town, and then commenced the dull crash on all sides of falling houses. The water by this time had reached a point covering the whole place fully six feet Looking out, nothing could be seen except housetops and the white foam on the heavy rollers. With every crash, above the screaming of the wind and the roar of the waters, could be heard the wail of despair from drowning women and children. Frantically clinging to the remnants of the wrecks, mothers with children in their arms vainly implored for help when all around were unable to render any. The scene beggared description. Strong men, overcome with emotion, wept like children, and some Wanted to rush forth to certain death rather than suffer to see the victims perishing before their eyes whilst they were powerless to render assistance. Not an eye was closed that night in Indianola. The loud splash and cracking of timbers proclaimed another house gone and the sound was echoed by piercing screams. About daylight Friday morning the wind lulled ana the water fell as rapidly as it had risen, and by noon it was possible for people to get about in the higher portions of the town. The severity of the damage done was then fully appreciated. Not a house in the place but showed evidence of the gale. Squares completely vacant, stores and houses having been carried off by the current, ieaving only the foundation to mark the spot where once they stood. As soon as the citizens were able to get out they set to work relieving those still in peril. Those confined in the upper stories of the dangerous buildings were taken out and the corpses caught by falling timbers removed. It was a sad work, and nobly did the people*respond to the call for duty. It was then that the most heart-rending scenes were met Here a little girl, almost nude, wading in the water in search of father, mother and sisters, whose bodies lay bleaching on the sand, miles distant; there, old men, pale with emotion, looked for their grandchildren whose prattling voices were forever stilled by the treacherous waters. No pen could portray the sad picture of Friday at Indianola. A'town of 3,000 inhabitants under water for twelve hours, with 250 of their number suddenly stricken down, could not but tear-stain the paper and make the hand of the chronicler tremble. Up to Monday evening last ninety bodies had been recovered and given Christian burial. As there were no coffins left after the storm in Indianola, friends of the deceased were forced to devise from dry-goods boxes, in fact, from everything, a covering for those who died. Fathers bore to their last resting-place the flowers, of their family flock, and alone buried those who were dearer 'to them than life itself; husbands laid away beneath the sands the remains of wives, children and fathers. Singular to say, most of the bodies were not found in the town. The tremendous current swept even many of those who were caught beneath fallen buildings, and carried them back to the lake in the rear of Indianola. Along the shores of this could be seen, protruding through the sand, almost buried, the arms or heads of the victims. It was next to impossible to recognize a single one. The action of the waters and waves had been such as in cases to completely behead the drowned. The last remnant of clothing was torn from them, and only in cases where a bracelet or finger-ring remained could friends identify the lost. It would seem almost as though the demon of cruelty had been at work. Headless trunks, armless bodies, all were scattered about on the beach, memorials of the storm’s dreadful work. It is rather surprising, writes a Paris correspondent, to see how the dress of even the most fashionable American ladies at home occasionally differs from the Parisian model, which they all profess to copy. For instance, a party of elegant and wealthy New Yorkers arrived in Europe about six- weeks ago, all wearing bonnets with immensely-broad, turned-up brims, the tike of which had never been seen in Paris during the entire season. So much attention, in fact, did their novel head-gear excite that they were all forced to pay an early visit to the fashionable milliner. As a passenger train halted at Laramie the other day for dinner an insane woman leaped from one of the cars, threw her babe into a mud-puddle and ran frantically up one of the streets, howling as (4* went. The mother and her infont were placed aboard the train again,

tt b believed that the abducted child, Charley Ross, b still alive and will jet be found. “i, fire discovered ii* the Nick of Time,” says the Troy Timet. That’s a bed place for a conflagration to break oat. There are said to be two million Williams in the United States, to say nothing of several hundred thousand spurious Bills. The Democrats of Pennsylvania inserted an inflation plank in their platform at their late convention, while the convention of that party in New York struck out boldly for hard money. Do the Democrats really favor either? Can any one tell what they fa'vor ? The First National Bank at Valparaiso, says the Vidette, has at the cost of SSOO procured a new and wonderful safe lock, which not even the one who locks it can unlock, till the time expires for which it has been locked. This b the second one adopted in this State. mmmmttkmkmmmmmmmmmmm Hon. Carl "Pchurz will nu.ke nine speeches in Ohio during this campaign in favor of hard money. The Democratic plats orm favors inflation, and hence the eloqnent Liberal will not speak in lavor of the Democratic nominees.— Tally-one for Sehur*. John Bigelow, a Republican, heads the ticket nominated by the New York State Democrats, which is considered an insult by the Bourbon element. They say it is equivalent to announcing to the people . that no suitable man for the place can be found among the Democracy. The announcement may or may not be correct, but the selection of a Republican looks significant. Montgomery, Alabama, was the first capital of the Confederate States. There the Confederate government first establbhed itself, and the first Confederate Congress assembled. It b extremely notable that the Alabama Constitutional Convention, which is now in session in Montgomery, and is Democratic by a large majority, has unanimously adopted the following as a section of the bill of rights of the new constitution which the Convention b framing for Alabama: -*“The people of this State accept as final the establbhed fact that from the federal Union there can be no secession of any State."