The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-07-31
wina and water.

this beautiful little town presented O
scene which, for excitement and terror,
hasFarely been surpassed in the annals
of our State,s For q week past, the Co-
dorado River has been very high, render.
ing it difficult and generally dangerous
to cross even in q skiff, thus cutting of
nearly all communication with Bastrop
and Austin, the stages and mails being
hemmed up and unable to get out.
Thursday night, the good people of La
Grange went to their beds, leaving the
river still some ten or fifteen feet within
its banks. and at 8 o'clock it broke over
its banks above and below, thus throw
ing two immense tides of water upon the
town. At IL O'Clock, the water had met
IN the flats or valleys between town and
the river on the Southwest side, and was
swelling very rapidly. At IL o'clock, it
found its level, and having driven all the
inhabitants out of the Western portion of
the town, it began turning over the
smaller houses and floating them away
toward the Gulf. At 1 O'Clock, it was
within block Of the public square, and
rising so fast that it drove the crowds
back from its edge. Here the scene beg
CARED description. Great crowds of wo-
men and children stood at the waters
edge, and with wringing hands and
straining eyes saw their homes filed by
the ruthless flood, and many of them
swept or turned over where they stood,
while the crash of furniture and smash.
ing of doors and windows told too horri-
bly the ruin that was going on within.
Men rushed back and forth on horseback
or afoot, seeking their families, or asking
for assistance to tie a house already
swimming. or claiming help from the
idle lookers-on to move their furniture
from those not yet inundated, but were
soon to share the general fate. Wagons
loaded with furniture ratified to and fro
at full gallop, some to the high ground
with their confused mass of household
wares, and others to take off the remain
ing stores. Before o'clock, the public
square was sheet of water. Store doors
were thrown open, and merchants and
clerks strove to save their goods by
piling them in their second stories and
on their counters, while every man and
everything available was put into requi-
sition to save the women and children
from the mad torrent, which was now
rushing over three-fourths of the town.
But the day sank into the night, and all
night through efforts never ceased, al
though in the darkness but little could
be seen, yet the sound of the hammer
and saw indicated the er tempore con-
struction OF boats and RATS, while the
lowing of cattle, the shouting of men,
the screaming Of women and children,
crying for help, mingled with the iIs-
creasing 6each,like roar OF the mighty
surge, filed the midnight air. They
filled the Imagination with horrible fan.
cies, and the steady rising of the waters,
the roni6 oprrapto rr1ob;no, oro,,l a. n
corners, bade them speed with their good
work or it would be too late. A boat
was made of the boards of houses, and
filed with strong oarsmen, who went
through the streets and yards searching
for those who needed help. There was
no party distinction; friend and foe allied
together to meet the common enemy.
Slowly, one after another, they brought
off the few who had "determined to stay
and meet the fate of their homes" but
who became terrified when they found
it so far exceeded their expectations.
Saturday morning came and found the
little town, which but the day before
looked so fair and quiet in the conf
dence of its security, now deluged with
remorseless food; for on the square
and in every store stood four or five feet
of water. It was wholly deserted, and
oil the inhabitants had fled to the high
grounds and hills in the Northern and
North eastern suburbs. There was o
scene of general confusion. Every house
was filled with the fugitives, not only
homeless, but without food-for they
had not time to take provisions with
them; or, if they had, they were too
terrified to think of it. The scene was
terrible. For fifteen miles, as far as the
eye could reach to the North, West and
South, the country was one unbroken
sheet of water, except one hill, of some
two and half acres, about five miles
away.
All of Rabb's Prairie was under water
and fair estimate may be had of it's
depth when we say that the water reach
ed nearly to the second story windows of
Captain McDow's large residence, which
stands on the general level of the prairie.
Here and there, away in the distance,
among the clumps of oaks whose matted
branches Tapped in the CLASSY food,
might be seen the roofs of houses but
yesterday occupied by prosperous plant
ers. Nearer. above and below on the
South and Eastward, the zig-zag track
of the river was marked by the rush of
great oaks and cotton woods that stood
for years. Side by side with these, in
wild confusion Hootad tho roof, 80