Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1864-04-11

tons came, and nothing more: Oh. God
the food the food Many Of the poor,
sskcd, and destit7te creatures were ta-
ken into the police-ofice, where, round
a great are, they lay or stood, talking Of
their Losses or mourning for their dead
until morning broke, when they sailed
forth 10 the hope Of saving come remuan.
of their goods, or hoping against hope 10
meet the one they had mourned as
dead
Never, probably, before has an acei-
dent Of this same kind occurred 80 Ia
mentally fatal in the loss Of human life.
Whatever the sudden and tremendous
dcod could reach il seems to have de-
stroyed, and, calculated only by the
aumbsr of houses swept away aud the
persons missing who were known 10 have
been in them on that fatal night. there
is every reason 10 fear that the live2
sacrificed BY this awful calamity will
not be less than two hundred, il they DO
not unfortunately exceed even that
number OF the damage done to prop
erty il is impossible At this early date to
form eYen conjecture. The devssta-
ton in this respect is unparalleled A
large, populous. and thriving district has
been almost obliterated from the earth,
scarce more than traces Of the houses
and factories that once stood ther0 nov
remaining. The Don owing to late heavy
rains, was unusslly high, and the addis-
ional water thrown into it has laid hun.
dreds Of acres under water, and Of the
destructive character Of the food there
were abundant evidences on every hand.
Timber in large quantities, bedposts, feath-
er beds tabesl, clocks, and various
kinds of household furniture passed
down, and several careases Of cattle also.
The water is yery thickly impregnated
with mud-a proof that it must have
swept with terrific violence over the land
adjoining the river Fish, pike in par
tieular, have been left in large quantities
on land from which the water has sub
sided.
LATERr- Every additional inquiry
made into the circumstances Of this sp-
pailing calamity shows that It has been
much more disastrous than was NJ first
anticipated. Il is now estimated that the
loss Of life will exceed two hundred and
fifty, and that the value Of the property
destroyed exceeds half q million From
Bradheld, where the reservoir burst,
down the course Of the rivers for
twelve or fourteen miles the country
is laid waste. The reservoir covered an
aera Of seventy-six acres, aud would hold
il4,O00,OO0 cubic feet Of water. The
embankment, which crossed the end oi
the valley, was an enormous erection,
with al average hight OF eighty.dye feet
and forty feet IN thiekness Il was three
hundred yards long. Between Mailock
and Hilsborough distance Of four
miles, the gFeatest loss of life has been
caused. Within this tract whole rows Of
houses have been swept entirely away,
in three of which alone there we're twenty
five lives lost In The opposite row the
whole OF the inhabitants were drowned,
aud scarcely any Of their bodies have
been discovered The food seems 70
have swept off every thug before Il, from
the confluence Of the Loxley and the
Revillin 10 the Don. Between Wsrdsend
and Sheffield on the Don, tho bodies
we're seen lying in the mad aud ruins
There were fourteen in one place, ten
in another, and thirieeu IN the third.
Al Neepsend nine hundred acres OF gar
dens were doeastatedh and whole families
we're swept away Au official repos,
juat received states that ose hundrd and
fify-six dead bodies have been recoy-
cred; seventy have been identified
Large numbers are not Jet found.
Bodies have been dicovered as far down
the river as Doncastsr. The inhabitants
Of the submerged districts have lost
every thing, and an appeal for instant
help will be made, hundreds have moth
ing lefs Of their property but their night
dresses The inquests were opened on
Saturday night, and then adjourned for
ten days There were then ninty bodies
in the work-house, and the coroner said
be had been informed there had been
nealy two hundred found