Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 61, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 April 1898 — WATER IS FALLING. [ARTICLE]

WATER IS FALLING.

Condition nt Shawneetown—Tie Kxtreme Nambor of Dead and Missin* Now Known to Be Forty. Shawneetown, 111., April 7. —No additions have been made to the list of dead and missing and all people here agree that the number will not exceed 30. All but 40 of the town’s population have been accounted for, and as no bodies have been recovered it may be that fewer lives are lost than even the conservative ones estimate. A police force of 20 has been organized under command of Van Calvin to protect the tovyn from vandals. The guard patrols the north and south levees,while a number of men are stationed at the base of the hill back of the city. Perfect order is maintained, and as the water is now falling it is believed that the danger is over, with a prospect of entire reliefs, from the flood within ten days. F. E. Minter, acting coroner, and W. P. Walters, health commissioner, have a dozen rowboats patrolling the streets in search of the dead. After dragging the water for six hours Wednesday morning they failed to And a single corpse. Hundreds of horses, mules, cows and other animals perished, and the carcasses are floating along Main and intersecting streets. An effort will be made to-day to get them out before they endanger public health. Two car loads of provisions arrived here Wednesday from Cairo and Elizabethtown, 111., and New Madrid, Mo. The supplies were brought by the United States steamer Vidalia, which flies the hospital flag and carries a store of medicines and relief supplies. Her services are not needed, and Charles Carroll, chairman of the local relief committee, sent her away with the request that she look after other submerged towns along the river. At Uniontown, Ky., several houses went off their foundations Wednesday morning, but no lives are lost. The people are in no need of help, and although their town is under water they sent men and provisions to the relief of Shawneetown. Raleigh, Ky., is still in danger of being swept away, as the houses are undermined by the water, but the people are in places of safety on high ground. Along the Ohio river between Shawneetown and Mount Vernon are to be seen herds of cattle, horses and mules huddled together on little knolls which stand in the river like islands. When the river is confined to its channels these islands will be part of pasture lands three miles back from the stream.