Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 July 1888 — FLOODS IN MEXICO. [ARTICLE]

FLOODS IN MEXICO.

Prof. John W. Scott, the father-in-law of Gen. Ben Harrison, is an SI,BOO clerk in the pension office at Washington, and is the oldest man in actual service on the rolls of the Government. Murat Halstead and Gen. Harrison were students together at Miami I niversity. The following table shows the length of each of the past Republican Conventions in days: D«y» of . bar* oI Year. duration. Year duration. 1866 2 1«2- ’ - 8 1864 ._. 1 1880 6 1868 r 1884- < The only convention in the past which equaled the present one in duration was that held in 1880, at which Garfield was nominated. The deiay in reaching a choice was due principally to the contest between the forces of Grant and Blaine. The convention began on Wednesday, adjourned on Saturday night to Monday, and completed its labors on Tuesday night.

Telegraphic communications, which have been interrupted for several days by the floods, have been restored, and the particulars of the terrible disaster on the line of the Mexican Central Railway, particularly at I eon and Siloa, are obtained. During the past ten days the table lands between the City of Mexico and Zacatecasy have been visited by unprecedented rains. At Silao 325 houses were destroyed, but the destruction at Leon was even wprse.

Monday night brought to that city one of the most terrible scenes ever witnesssd in any country. People believing themselves to be secure from the flood went to bed in those parts of town where the water had not found its way. The steady downfall of rain with the extensive water bed of the outlaying country, increased the flow of the river and rapidly extended its channel, until over half of Leon was under water. Houses tumbled in rapidly, having been worn away by the water, and the loss of life commenced, unparalleled in the history of any of the great inundations of modern times. As the buildings fell the unfortunate sleepers were eit her crushed to death or drowned. One whole night of terror followed. Men, women and children fled to the street in their night clothes, some to find shelter on higher ground and others to be swept away by the flood. On Tuesday morning rain was still falling, and there was no perceptible decrease in the stream of water. The loss of life reached into hundreds, but the threatening danger had closed the channel of sorrow and the hushed voices denoted nothing more than fear for the future. All night it poured,until Wednesday morning saw the lake surrounding the city undiminished in size with steady rain disturbing its surface. In the afternoon, however,it ceased’ raining, and the waters commenced to recede. The people recovered from their fright, though water was still covering a portion of the city. It is estimated that 700 persona perished. The destroyed houses are estimated at 2,000 and the loss at $2,000,000.

Many other towns have been badly damaged, but loss of life is only reported from Silao and Leon. The estimate of loss of life and property given are the smallest reported,but are certainly within the bounds of truth. The very last statement just received places the number of houses destroyed in Leon at 2,224 and the homeless families at more than 1,000. More than 250 bodies have been recovered from the ruins, and there is no probability that the entire number will fall short of 700. Information has been received at El .Paso from the flooded district in Mexico that 1,500 lives were lost by the inundation and that 1,000 bodies have been recovered. Leon is a city of 100,000 inhabitants, and a large part of it is in ruins. The Mexican of Customs at El Paso Del Norte received an official dispateh stating that one hundred miles of the Mexican Central railroad is impassible and that it will be ten days before mails can get through and twenty days before freight can be moved. * — ; The general passenger agent of "the Mexican Central railroad received a telegram at El Paso, Tuesday, from the Mexican Central agent at Silao, saving that in two days the track would be so that passengers could be taken through the flooded area with one transfer. Steps'are being taken for the relief of the sufferers by the terrible overflows along the line of the Mexican Central. It seems that 1,500 people were drowned in Leon alone. Oyer 1,000 bodies have already been recovered. In some districts the drifting water is full of dead bodies floating ar thick as drift-wood, and tbe steneh pervading the country is frightful. Measures are being taken all over Mexico to raise funds for the sufferers. ~

A Chicago Police Justice has made a funny legal blunder. He has built a ~ftge~bouse mi Another huhi’h lotrnndffie man will neither buy let him removeit The surveyor got the wrong line,and the owner of the propertv wasn’t say inga word.