Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 February 1883 — Page 3

THE FLOOD.

laiarMßMthiß&M and Horrible Suffering lL«f4he Situation—Sample Telegrams— Projects Greatly Improving. Kot aDaoe the “memory of man runs«th n have tbore been such high or de* vastating floods on the Ohio river, or probably in thin oountry, as has been recorded the past week or mom. Thenigh««t point reached waa 66 feet 4 inches, bat m damage can not be measured by r depth nor| time, and the suffering, which, though being alleviated, can never folly be known. We quote dispatches, which only fairly reflex the ooak dition along the river: AT LAWRENCBBUBG. Cincinnati Commercial-Gazette. The situation at Lawrenceburg is worse, Sinoe 4 o’clock yesterday the city . has been isolated and eat off from all of communication, save a steamer r Vhich could effect a landing. A city with a population of 6,000 inhabitants, situated but twenty miles from f the capital of the great valley of the Ohio, by water ranging in depth /from sixty-five to twenty feet, and at the | highest possible point within the limits .the. water is at least five feet deep, and £ the onrrent in the streets is almost as ri «wift as it is in the channel of the great •i^er. ! The citizens have been compelled to •eek safety in the court-house, churches, v and such other places as could toe found. }•.. With the river rising as it is, the lives if<of the entire population are in danger. * . Hour by hour and minute by minute e ndanger of being swept away accumulates. wA number of the buildings are but frail fabrics. The rushing waters are wave by y-.wave eating out the foundations. Cries f‘ £or mercy and help have all day gone up win chorus. The bright skies which yes■fcterday overhung the inundated city sont - no hope or relief to the panic and grief£’■'stricken people. At this hour (2 a. m.) the water is still *> rising, and from calculations based upon h! the condition of the water here, it must *be at least six feet deep on the court--house square, the highes point in the illelated oity. AT LODISNILLE, Six miles of the water front of Louisville are under water, for half a block or more, and many persons have been forced to flee their homes. The water has risen so rapidly that the United States life saving crew has been busy saving 'people and rescuing endangered property. A large territory in the east part or the city is protected by a dyke used as a railroad embankment. It came near giving way last, year and this year it is feared that it £Will|be washed away. It is estimated that 5-1,3,500 people will be driven from their homes if the dyke gives way. Fifteen c .hundred people are out of • employment by the factories stopping. A BAD BREAK. The cut off dam at Louisville broke * A away and a wall of sixty feet of water poured on to the lowlands. A dispatch says that not less than two hundred and fifty houses are floating in the ■ Hewly flooded district, but it cannot be learned how many were occupied at the * hour of the break. Certainly some families had removed in advance. No one can say positively that a single life has been lost because no dead bodies have recovered, but there is no doubt that numbers have been swept away. The cocupants of the houses in some instant 066 have climbed to the roofs and holding lighted lamps or candles, guide the lifesavers to them. In other instances the '-going to houses from which screams are heard find no one to saya on reaching AT FRANKFORT. \ . At Frankfort, the capital of Kentucky, Hie city is almost inundated.' The rail- ; ways are flooded and all business stopped. Three hundred acres are under water and 600 families are homelesa The water has < invaded the penitentary and the life priss oners in the lower cells have been moved » out for the first time in the memory of the oldest inhabitant" At New Haven, ! the Bolling Fork has inundated the town and swept away the railroad. Dr. N. G. Leake, a prominent citizen, was swept . sway in a skiff and after swimming some distanoe lodged in a tree. After several j, attempts he was rescued, bat died in ,1 twenty minutes from exposure. Trains , *ll over the State are delayed and withdraw. A REPORTED DISASTER. jL. A shocking disaster oocured at Cincin- ■ nati, on the morning of the 13th inst. "Both the freight and passenger depots of , tl;e Cincinnati Southern railroad were and fell into the surrounding water, carrying with them one hundred »or more people. The depots were one- . story frame structures, resting on the McLean avenue bill, which was almost . povered by water. • On both sides of the j f luU the water is from thirty to fifty feet deep. The earth had become so soaked

whicn sent & current moncr uue u®mL» Crowds of people have beenm that vwmity loooking at the flood*, ancf it is supposed these are the victims. This report is corrected. Probably eight lives were lost . AN INCIDENT. An incident of the flood of most distressing features, was the fuoeral of the nhild of Mr. Joseph Hilton, on Elm street, which died just as the water was entering the house. A casket was carried to the house in a skiff, and a few boms afterward, a funeral train composed •f several skiffe, containing friends who had heard of the bereavement, left the house and proceeded to the Newport bridge where a hearse was waiting to carry the remains to Linden Grove oeme tery, Covington. The grief-stricken parents followed in a skiff containing the remains, and indeed, deep was their grief as they were following to the grave their last child, this making the third that they have lost sinoe the beginning of the new year. Short farewell services were held at the grave. Then the sad parents had to return, but not to a comfortable home, but to one filled with water, and they were compelled to wefrk faithfully to save their household effects. Another distressing scene occurred in Eglantine street. The remains of Mrs. McCarty were lying in state at her late home. The water rose snddenly, and before assistance arrived the casket containing tfye remains was floated about th§ room in the water. The remains were removed to tne house of a friend in higher quarters, wheuce they were buried. DATES —AT CINCINNATI. The river is rising again. There is great distress among the people living in the bottoms. Business is generally suspended * and everybody is looking after the 6,000 people washed out of house and home. Many cases of extreme destitution are reported by the relief boats, and in some cases the frantic cries of starving ohildren for food are heartrendering. The bakeries not inundated are pressed to their fullest capacity to keep the supply of bread. There have been some fears of a meat famine on account of the difficulty of receiving live stock, but several thousand rescued distillery cattle can be utilized in case of necessity. It is estimated that 1,000 business firms and manufactories are prostrated by the great calamity, and that 32,000 workmen are thrown cut of employment. The water is deep enough on Pearl street to allow skiffs to run within one square of the Burned house. It reaches the market house on Pearl and Broadway, and covers the side walk in front of William Glenn & Son’s premises on Vine street A iamp post here is bent over, a boat having collided with it There are over 300 families in the old Spencer house and over 160 in the Broadway hotel, all suffering from the necessities of life. There are now several of the inmates sick and in need of immediate attention. The actual loss sustained to business houses and manufactories will amount to #1,500,000. AT JEFFERSONVILLE.' More than two-thirds of the city is submerged from three to twenty feet deep. A number of cottages and houses in the low part of the city have been swept away, and hundreds of homeless citizens are quartered in the second stories of the public buildings and business houses. Food is sent to them in skiffp. Belief committees are doing all that can be done The loss is estimated at half a million dollars. A telegram from Jeffersonville says: Our city is flooded with water from two to twenty feet deep. Five thousand 'of our people are homeless, many of whom have lost all they have on earth. A large number of cottage houses in the lower part of the oity are swept away. Hundreds of people are quartered in the second stories of the public buildings and business houses. The soenes of suffering are appalling. It is still raining. The lose will reach SBOO,OOO. STILL GOING HIGHER. At 1:46 o’clock Thursday morning, the river was 66 ft 4 inches and still rising. The first authentic reports place the number of deaths at the Cincinnati Southern depot at fifteen drowned. In some cases the cries of the starving • children are heartrending. Steamers have all stopped running, there being no plate to land. But a single road is now able to reach its depot. NEWPORT, KENTUCKY. The city has just passed through a small pox siege, and one-third of the oity is now submerged by the water. Three thousand families are suffering and destitute, Belief is called for. LAWREN OEBtTBG The water ooursee through some of the principal streets with such force as to render navigation dangerous. The loss will be at least $300,000. No . lives have b:en lost, About fifty houses were washed away. • MADISON. The destruction and suffering will be

The town ie completely submerged not •house but what is setting in water. Many residences are being anchored by cables. 1 LOUISVILLE. The entire seven miles of river front is submerged and the water is creeping into the second stories of buildings. Thieves are plundering in every direction in the submerged districts. AT PORTLAND, KY„ One thousand five hundred people are homeless, JEFFERSONVILLE. Two-thirds of the oity is submerged and the loss is estimated at half a million dollars. NEW ALBANY. One thousand families are homeless in this city and vicinity. Belief is being organized. The damage will amount to $300,000. The river is rising threefourths of an inch per hour. The weather is warm and raining. No lives lost. Dispatches of the 16th do not improve the situation: In Newport, opposite Cincinnati, onethird of the town is submerged, and 5,000 families destitute. The citizens here have raised $36,000 in addition to the $75,000 voted by the City Council to relieve suffering thousands. Many have been sent from here to neighboring towns to relieve the distressed inhabitants. New Albany is flooded far and near and 7,000 people are thrown out of employment. Jeffersonville is entirely inundated, there being seven feet of water in the main street ok the city. The destitution and want is terrible.

4 LAWBENCEBtJBG. The situation of the citizens of this place who are imprisoned in the Court House is constantly growing more dangerous. Added to the irregularity of the food supply and crowded quarters, there is a possibility that tile Court House itself may collapse from the undermining of its foundation by the flood of waters. Should that occur, the loss of life will certainly be great Every hour the rescue of these people is delayed increases the horror of the situation. A fall of buildings in various places clearly indicates that such a fate may await the Lawrenoeburg Court House, and there is even more danger of it occurring while' waters are subsiding than while they are rising. The very best estimates put the families in Cincinnati, Newport and Covington affected in their homes by this flood at 2,000 in Newport and Covington, and from 4,000 to 6,000 in Cincinnati. This includes tenement houses in all these places, and in Cincinnati many large tenement houses are in the flooded districts. This would make nearly 30,000 persons in families affected by the flood. Dispatches of the 16th show the waters to be receding, but the suffering continues. The river, even should there be no more rains, will not assume its normal stage for several days. The Mississippi at Memphis is rising rapidly and j great destruction is feared along its I banks. The dispatches of the 17th show the waters to be slowly receding, but the suffering continues. We give descriptive dispatcher of the awful work of the waves, which fairly represents the situation all along the river: APPALLING destbtjction. The extent of the suffering among the working class at Lawrenceburg is appalling, especially as in almost every instance they have lost everything they possessed, and will be out of employment for months to come. There are 800 heads of families deprived of their only source of revenue and for the time being they are absolutely dependent upon charity for the necessaries of life. It will be a week, at least, until they are able to move back to their homes—that is, those among them whose homes remain standing. Five thousand mouths are being fed daily by the oommittees at distributing points. It is almost impossible to communicate between the old town and and the new town, so strong is the current that-flows between them. Residents of the former are supplied from the wharfboat with provisions from down the river, and those of the latter at the engine house with provisions from Indianapolis. Hundreds have fled to Greendale above the city on the hills, and hundreds less fortunate in finding quarters, have slept in box cars, or have found no refuge at all. Another dispatch says: The Relief Committees are getting matters pretty well systematized, and food is being distributed, but suffering and anxiety is beginning to do its work, and many constitutions are being sorely tried. What the end will be no one ean predict. Oae end of the furniture ware rooms of E. B. Dobel, fell in, carrying all the floors with it About thirty persons were in the upper stories at the time, and went down with the crumbling building. Not a life was j lost The wardrooms were four stories

almost total. The market house was' filled with SIO,OOO worth of furniture, and it and oontents were swept away. The loss of the stove works and various manufacturing eatabUshmentstwill enumerate many thousands of dollars. The lorn of household effects is enormous scarcely » family canaping. Steeple anxiety continues to inerease; richness and misery in appalling forms fill every family. A number of ohildren have been bom, and as families are packed promiscuously together in publio buildings, the inoonviences beoome intensified. The Court House alone shelters 400 persons, while skiffs can pass over the first floor and through the building. Coal mm be obtained only by fishing it from the water and drinking water has to be brought from Greendalef AT MADISON. The water js twelve inches above high watermark in 1832. The Belief Committees report that over 550 families have been driven from their homes by the flood; this does not include business houses and manufactories. Large numbers of excursionists are arriving hourly to witness the flood and destruction.

The city has a ferryboat patroling the river front to save persons and property. She steamed down town to-day, lashed on to a house floating down, towed it below and turned it loose to prevent it striking against any endangered buildings. The Davis Canning Factory has been moved 100 yards from the foundations. The starch works oontain about 200,000 bushels of corn in the ear, an are one-toorth submerged. I'M gas works are completely WirouDded and inundated, so that Madison baa L’flfU id darkness for two nights. At Fia.tem every house is submerged and many upset,the families camping on the hillsides At Milton, opposite Madison, every house is submerged except the Kingston Hotel, in which some twenty familum are sheltered. At least a dozen business and dwelling bouses have either floated off or have moved from their foundations. The Afrioan ohuroh has floated down and is right in the middle of the streets. The reports from the floods of the 18th. show the waters to be reoeding, but the cold weather increases the suffering. Most heart rending soenes of destruction are reported, but the open handed charity of the entire country is alleviating the most extreme oases And doing all that can be done to prevent starvation or even avoidable suffering. Other rivers; are also creating distraction their banks. The Wabash being much higher than was ever known, The Maumee at Toledo, suddenly rose past the danger line and the loss will aggregate hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Leavenworth, Crawford county, is entirely under water. The damage to property is enormous. The flood is two feet higher than in 1832. Many houses have been washed away. Perhaps six or eight out of 200 or 300 dwellings are firm on their foundations. Owners were compelled to weight them down with heavy slabs of stone to keep them from floating away. Steamers run through the streets as far as the hill. On Nelson street the water is twenty feet deep, and two or three feet on the second floors of two story buildings. The supply of provisions is exhausted. There is much suffering among the poorer classes, many of whom are camping on the hilL W. D. Allen's stock of dry goods, valued at $3,000, is said to be a total loss. The Legislature will be appealed to for additional aid. The S6OO sent will not feed one-third of the destitute people. APPALLING CONDITION 'AT LAWBENCBBUBG As the river falls a most appalling and inconceivable condition of affairs is revealed. Houses rest one upon another in a v recked and shattered state; treetops along the streets serve as anchoring places for out-buildings, sheds, haystacks, furniture, and almost every imag. inable article that will float. Churohspires have obstructed the onward course of lumber piles from up the river, and almost every roof that has not been so far beneath the surface of the water as to allow the passage of obstacles over it lias something resting upon it Everything s in a state of ch aos and ruin indescribable, and beyond the imagination of those who are not here to eee it Overturned houses by the scores have been washed from their foundations and rolled over and over, to lodge finally in the streets and about the corners, until it will be next to impossible to distinguish where the thoroughfares were when the waters reaoh their level, whenever that may be. Comparatively nothing has been saved from the general wreck and all have suffered alike. Among the: merchants, scarce one will have remaining a dollar’s worth of marketable wares. So swift and sudden was the rising of the strea n that no time was allowed for the removal of goods all the available boats being pressed into the more important service of saving human lives. As the flood crept rapidly up

; barlns way. Bitch stocks as hardware* dry goods and heavy stuffs coaid not be handled, and even where they have not been carried away bodily by the current, they have been completely ruined and will be worth only what they may bring as old metal and rags. The losses of the merchants are beyond repair. Fortunes, the accumulations of lifetimes of careful application and untiring efforts, have been swept away, as it were, in a moment and ruin and disaster stales them in the faoe.

FLOATING ITEMS.

CINCINNATI, It is related tbai an Irish wdruan in one of the flooded houses reoeivad $1 from the relief oommittee Saturday, and with it made the following original investment: Eighty cents worth of eggs and twenty cents worth of “tobaeder.” She was evidently observing Lent. There is one saloon-keeper who was driven oat by the high water with his family, who has retired from business, and has four or five houses of his own from which he obtains rent, and has money laid aside for, a rainy day, who is a daily applicant for relief from the oommittee. Another individual, who ia a contractor, president of two building associations, and Las money laid np, also accepts i;eli*i from the Same source. Saturday a female with a small babe in her arms called at the engine-house, and related a pitiful story of ber nnfortunate oiroumwt&uoee, was furnished with an abundance of goot She departed, and shortly after another wo* man' appeared on the soene, bearing the identic*! baby that had been’ there before. She through the same pathetic business, waa pro yided ? ot bb® ber predecessor, and went away rejoicing. Scarcely fifteen minutes had pa** w b® n a third one made her appearance, oarr *' ing the same precious specimen of infantile humanity. She tried the same old raoket, but tae machinery was out of gear, and the thing didn t operate.

A Large Cat Ranch in Texas.

Cleboume Chroaiole; Several parties in the oity gratifed their curiosity this week in a walk half a mile south of town, to visit perhaps the largest eat ranch in Texas, or, for that matter, in America. The oats, we presume, are the property of CoL B. J. Ohambers. Ip the snmmer of 1881 the wheat on the farm was threshed and a considerable quantity of stiaw was left in rail pens. A few oats at once took possession of the pens. They havemultiplied,until now at least 500 oats, black, white, yellow, gray,spotted—in fact, every color known to the feline tribe, to say nothing of kittens—can be seen with but little trouble by visiting the peas. The Secretary of the Interior has transmitted to Congress a request for an appropriation of $1,348,000 to supply with oxen and oows 2,680 families of Sioux Indians who have gone to farming at the various agencies, in accordance with the stipulations of the Sioux treaty of 1868,

THE MARKETS

INDIANAPOLIS. nhofttuiMMu •••••«••• #llO a tin Corn M ® 55 Oats 41 Bye •02 4 Pork—Hams • •••••••• UH Shoulders. 0011 Breakfast baoon eee#eee#eeee*ee ll* Sides 11 Lard 1254 Cattle—Prime shippinc steers #5 2> ® #7# Fair to good shipping steers. 180 0 100 Common to medium 4 Ou ® 4 25 Prime butcher oows a heifers I s»i® 800 □ Fair to good A 75® 4SB Common and medium...... t 78® Sto Bulls « •») 4 400 Hogs.—Choiee heavy shippers 46 00 ® $715 Good hoary packers OH.® 8 00 light mixed «oi® 800 Sheep-Choice to prime 5 uo® B SB Fair to good t 50® 4 7S Common it 25 0 4 00 Apples—Cooking, ty bbl. it k>® 4 00 Potatoes,—Early Bose 75 ® 00 Beane .. 2 7» ® 2 75 Butter—Dairy U ® 29 Country, choice IS Eggs 24 CHICAGO. Wheat 41 >0 « 41 0054 Corn.... .... 54 « B 7 o*te 15 4 20*4 P0tk.m........ . 8 f (i 10 15 Lard 1 21 ll 22 TOLEDO. #heat ... U #lls Corn, new ••••eeeee •••#•*•• ■»••• • •••••*•• {j • W Oats ............. 2‘« Clover Bead • •••#•••# 7 it CINCINNATI. Wheat - «> 12 «#1 12 Com ./fl 02 Oats vi n at NEW yon Wheat. <.#124 Corn. L. (W t to date t-'< ® 53 BAI/TIMor Wheat 2 4 t 2414 C0m.... 7454 Oat* 4 51 Bye. ................. I T 2 „, -i. . . . . ; , r L N* U 5 V 141 k. ImhtU.