Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 October 1879 — INUNDATED. [ARTICLE]

INUNDATED.

Graphic Aerssst of the Terrible Flooda -la gpain—To was Swept Away* sad Thousands of I*lve« &M> A London special of the 24tb tothd New York Ifcratd gives the following graphic acoount of the terrible effects of the recent heavy rains and floods in Spain: , . . . MB news has bera bregghtjo rile rapere for the Mediterrenaansteome** touch at Alicante, to the north of itjiind Cathedral, the la» *esvy rtone wlnd^ltsMSSSni.^^l cteys hot. Even tills torridro* gion had known no such heat for s genera* Sr.JSvmfiSi£igHS seemed extinct. Carriages would drive pSSVg fisSSSEEma Kss?k when the a! Wltl Wtin, wind was felt from tne direction of Cartagena, The sky clouded over. In anlnstsnt therc was a gathering of nos and mantillas, and the crowd turned mistily homeward. "Soon the rf*water. No such temnest had bora seen within the

«« »uvu wuiw ■ ~rr T over the bridge that leads to the divides the town Into two portions., he saw a hug stream of water rushing between the arches. He found that the river was rising rapidly. It had already overflowed the banks, and was stealthily climbing over the stone parapet which protects the frontage. The watchman knew that no time waa. to .be lost. the streets. Few of then* tadttoe todo more fill snatch up a fittlto clothing. Down tne main street, the Calte del Caballeros, rushed affrighted women. Bands of swarthy gltana ms about.” says one of the raff erera, “we oould hear the distant roar of the water tearing past in the Seguera until low rumbling crashes told of the inundation breaking into the streets. Suddenly all the gas-lights went out. Then everybody knew-that the flood was advancing. FroS tfreet, balcony and house-top came the cry,‘Dm water terising. The confusion was unparalleled. Through gardens, vineyards, mulberry groarea, the Murciaaa were pouring in a ranrused, struggling mass, all with the one Idea of quitting the town and outst ripping the flood.’' In the suburbs of Sun Benito and San Lorenxo, before half the people could get out of their beds, they had the waterbver the lower floors of their houses. The ohurch doors were soon forced open by the flood, which, went on its way laden with broken stools and altar ornaments, with vestments of priests and the red tunics of choristers. It Invaded the nunneries and hermitages, the oratories and convents, sweeping from their niches the carved Images of saints. It poured into the cavalry barracks where the soldiers could be seen running up and down stairs with their regimentals under their arms. It skirted the great Episcopal Palace and the Colleges of Ht. Fulgentlus and St. Isidore., Many of the public buildings and institutes it mired as it swept on to the railway station. There it extinguished the lights apd lamps then burning in the grounds outside, and carried away the small open-air buffets where fruit, drinking water , and anisette were sold. K tore up the sheds and embankments, destroying telegraph posts and tearing up.rails.

“ During: this terrible nightj” said atownsman, “our authorities, and, In particular, our admirable dvU guard, .worked with a will to rescue women and children. Thev had to work by such glimmering light as their torches would yield. Sometimes they were knee-deep, more often they were Up to their waist*, in water. The gallant fellows waded into the submerged streets, seizing such fugitives as they met half drowned ana frightened out of their wits, calming others who were screaming at the windows, and encouraging those who rushed about wildly on the house-tops, until boats, barges and even carriages could be brought into use, and the inhabitants saved from abodes that were momentarily threatened with ruin. Several times during the night was heard the crash of' falling houses and splintering timbers, and above the noise iota tne wailing shrieks of unfortunate beings that could not escape, and were soon smothered in the ruins or in the torrent’*' Acts of extraordinary heroism were performed by the authorities, the board and the civil guards. One guard five times braved the torrent, with the water up to his ohest. Each time be came, back with a child in his arms. Then he started back on his sixth voyage. He had left the mother in the house with a babe at her breast. He fought hi* way through the water, rather swimming than wading. As, he neared the house he saw it totter. Before he could make another step it was gone, and the mother and babe were swept past him on the bosom of Hie flood. T"

Nor were the higher classes less generous in their efforts to save the drowning people. One nobleman In his carriage rescued them by dozens, until his horses, dead-beat and hairdrowned, oould no kmger pursue the work of charity. And as fast as the rescued were brought in they were carried either into private dwellings or into the Government House. The Bishop opened his palace to several hundred, and set soup and wine before them. When the day broke, with a gloomy, overcast sky, the Mure lans almost forgot the horrors of the night as they gazed on the plain which the day before had been a lovely tropical garden. As far as the eye oould reach there was seen a level expanse of water: where palm-trees waved their branches, and where villas lay amid the bowers of orange-trees, a swollen, muddy stream went hurrying along, carrying the debris of farms ana cottages. Villages and farms all shared the same fate. No intelligence oould be obtained from the survivors, as the roads were impassable. The line of railroad was for miles destroyed, and the telegraphs had oeased to exist. The scenes of distress were piteous to behold. Little girls went weeping from house to house, seeking their mothers who had been drowned. Families there were which had not one member left to tell the tale of that night of terror. .Patriots, civil guards and volunteers of all classes sallied out in carriages and on horseback, and very soon returned to say that the retiring waters had left nothing hut a thick coating of mud and debris on the once cultivated huerta. Fra Alta Torre and Mondnermas were a beat) of ruins, from the midst of which rose the spires of their Churches and the gable* of a few of the largest bouses, whose Inhabitants had escaped by spending Hie night upon the roofs. Beuiajain, Lorca and Carravaca suffered no leas damage than the other villages of the plain. As for the hamlets of the Vega, they contained nothing hot rains of buildings and dead bodies. Within forty-eight hours one hundred and sixty corpses had been brought ia and laid by one hundred and forty-two/others which had been taken from the riverside houses. In many parts at the Vega the stench was so great that neither the civil guards nor the itprudentto attempt any 3 3he dead were placed side by side in a building set apart for the purpose. All day long the relation* of those that were missed thronged the house of death striving to recognize a familiar face. Borne of the richer classes had already made preparations for the burial.

and masked men were met harrying ajongtbe streets, and boys hearing crosses and flags with reUgtous inscriptions. It was as though a plague had visited the town. Never had Murcia and the valleys known such a disaster since the floods of ISOI and 1802. At Alicante, the chief commercial port of Valencia, the whole plain Is covered with raging waters, which form a lake nearly thirty leagues in extent. The inundation passed ovgg - the enormous stone table in which, as in * niosaie, Alicante is inlaid, streamed through its damp arches, if* half-dark piazzas and narrow streets, and wrought havoc only second to that which ravaged the plain.of Murcia. In line, the amount of damage is as follows: The villages of MonduermasTFra Alt* Torre, Ami errs. AlcantvQia and Laura have been swept away. Murcia, OrtbueUTlr rca and Aliens have bees partially flooded. T*n thousand inhabitants and one hundred families are destitute. The loss of pmporty exceeds 50,000,000 francs. The loss of life Is: atXorca, one hundred; at Ortiuicia, eighty ] at Murcia, more than a thousand. Ttae-e are the latest official returns; but it U feared the total loss of life will exceed three thousand. The King has already visited the flooded districts, and has subscribed fifty thousand francs toward the relief of the inhabitants. —He had vague ideas of house-fur-nishing, ud he asked her what kind o. carpets he should get lor the parlors She answered, “ Axminster. AjM then he warmly protested that it was none of toe minister 1 * business. * —“ Farting is such sweet sorrow,” remarked the fiy when his glued to the sirujM|jtcher :