Rensselaer Democrat, Volume 1, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 April 1898 — WORK OF THE WATER [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WORK OF THE WATER

REVIEW OF THE PESgLATIQN AT SHAWNEETOWN. \ Exaggerated aa First Reports Were, the Truth Shows that the Disaster Was Frightful Submerged Homes Are Pillaged. Many Absolutely Destitute. Pillage and plunder have been added to the horrors of the Shawneetown flood. It became necessary to call out armed men to guard the salvage. Hundreds of houses were entered by vauda's and money, jewelry aud other property stolen Monday night. Men armed with loaded Winchester rifles and shotguns have patrolled the levee, on foot anil scoured the town in skiffs. The maytjr had almost decided to call for militia, but was dissuaded from his purpose; A lynching was narrowly averted Tuesday afternoon by the prospective victim's fright. He had been accused of attempting to break open a Hood sufferer's trunk. Constable F. O. Miuter ordered the man, a negro,VTom Hancock, to leave town at once on pain of death. ‘‘l'll string the rope nround your neck myself,” the constable declared, and fifty voices yelled approval. Hancock fled down the levge. Mayor Carney, at the request of the citizens’ committee, detailed special officers along the levee, and to scout in skiffs. The citizens’ executive committee is composed of Charles Carroll, chairman; Karl Ko’edell, treasurer; Itev. Fred Bueckman, secretary, and Mayor Carney. Chairman Carroll's apprehensiveness that armed militia might tend to additionally demur; alize the situation deterred the mayor

from appealing to the Governor for the declaration of martial law. The revised list shows twenty-five dead beside two unknown negroes, the bodies of whom were recovered Tuesday afternoon. Unofficial estimates place the dead at from thirty-five to sixty. The fatalities are expected to reach this number, as many persons are unaccounted for, as in the case of a wagon and team containing three persons which is reported to have been blown off the rock road into the flood waters. The work of the forces engaged has been almost exclusively of rescue and relief. No effort had been made up to Wednesday to recover bodies, most of which were supposed to be imprisoned in collapsed houses. The entire time and energies of the relief committee have been devoted to the survivors. Twelve hundred persons are absolutely dependent on the charity of the public. Every man, woman and child in Shawneetown. rich or poor, must receive provisions through the relief committee until the property buried in the stores of the city is recovered. A careful estimate of the damage to property places the amount at $150,000, divided equally between business houses and residences. Relief boats from Evans-, ville'and Cairo brought in additional provisions Tuesday. The homelesswere sheltered from the cold, cutting rain Tuesday night for the first time since tlie town was inundated. Tuesday afternoon 500 tepts arrived from Springfield by direction of Governor Tanner, and fifty more were sffiit by the 1 Citizens of Harrisburg. The only dry spot in the city is the. levee, an apparently solid embankment about ten feet above the water’s edge and fifteen feet wide. On either side as far as the eye can reach .is a desolate, watery waste. System of Relief Work. ■/ The work of 'caring for, the survivors has progressed rapidly and good results have been accomplished. The relief eom-

mittee inaugurated a systematic plan of extending help. In addition,to food and clothing -received, a large barge of coal came from Cascyville by way of Evansville, lud. The arrival was a Godsend, for the weather is cold and the lack of clothing, next to hunger, has been the Neatest Want of the survivors. An atf--peal was issued to the public asking for money contributions to enable the population to survive. Money is to be sent to

Charles Carroll, chairman of the relief committee. Funds will be required to replace the wrecked houses and to repair the damaged dwellings of the poorer inhabitants, and unless outside help is extended the future of the town is doomed. Two hundred sufferers were sent to Moo.lt Vernon, Ind., Tuesday, in a body, and an equal number went there in a small craft. Hundreds of others have gone to relatives in neighboring towns or sought refuge in the hills to the northwest of the flood. But scores of sdffering householders cling with desperate stubbornness to their wrecked homes.

Hundreds of persons who have not already removed their remaining ail to other places announce they will live in Shawneetown no longer. In fact, it is conservatively predicted that when the flood subsides the town will have lost more than three-fifths of its population, chiefly by removal to.other points. Of the 500 houses in the town at least 100, mostly small frame structures, in the .jioorer portion of town, south of the break, were destroyed. Every other building in the city was damaged from $5 to $5,000. Following is a list of some of tlie heaviest sufferers among the business men; Frank Armstrong, hardware, $800;

Lowe Brothers, general store, $1,500; Krebs & Shaw, grocery, $1,500; Goetzinan Brothers, grocery and wheat, $3,,500; Koopindoffer & FroClieh, hardware, $3,000; Ed Ehrenweine, drugs, $2,500; Robinson Brothers, drugs and hardware, $5,000; Charles Smith, restaurant, $300; Charles Carroll, block of dwellings destroyed. $2,000; Charles Carroll, general store, $2,000; J. FI Nolan, grocery and dry goods, $000; Riverside flour mills, $500; Upper mills, $200; H. ~ Drucker, clothing, $1,000; A. Mever, clothing, $750; Ambrose Eswein, groceries, $1,500; Allen & Loomis, clothing, $1,200; A. Richardson, general store, $1,200; Kareher &

Scanlan, lumber, $500; Ross & Allen, general store, $1,500; Alts. Ellis Eddy, miUinopy, $500; Shawnee News office, newspaper, $200; the Immaculate Conception, Alethodist and Presbyterian I churches and parsonage, abdtit ssooeach. The colored Baptist church was swept away. It was a small frame building. The electric light plant was almost destroyed. The pumping plant, completed a few weeks ago by Fairbank, Morse & C 0.,, of St. 1 xuiis, at a cost of $4,000, was also destroyed! It was used to pump the sewage and rain water from the lowlands aiHoiuing the city on the south. Immediate relief from the flood victims’ hunger and exposure is being furnished -by, sympathizing sister gities with a readiness that augurs well for the unfortunates. 1 ' ’• ’ r''

RELIEF MAP OF IN UNDATED SHAWNEETOWN. With a ratine of hills to the west, levees on the north, east amt south, the little town was in a veritable “pocket.”

THE OLD DETER MILIS.

THE FAMOUS SHAWNEE HOUSE.

BASK Of SKA SHAWNEETOWN.