The Hickman courier., 1874-05-16
THE FLOODS.
Continued Distress In Arkansas and Re-
IOyv-aIore Relief Needed.

| applications for relief from the over
flowed districts, particularly from the
lower portion of Arkansas, where the
destitution is greatest, and where the
| following extracts from letters will give
q good idea of the suffering ann dssii-
tution, and appeal to the philaNhropic
/ throughout the land:
A well know planter ising from
Bernard, Cbicot county, Arkansas, says:
! There are needed in this section rations
for thousand persons, and forage for
/ their stock. whose Ian s are under wa
| ter. The destitution here viii be very
! great. nearly every one in the over
| flo ved district having lost their stock
and having nothing left to aid them in
| purchasing the necessary ratlOns. These
| parties all require help until they can
raise some corn. Help us all you can.
! Our people are truly suffering, and I'M
less we get aid TO make at least some
corn, this portion of the country VIII
y as2an doneS by tallY one-halt .. the
petition fIom $50 colored laborers
from Arkansas City and vicinity, is for
warded by J. w. Dickinson, which SAYS
The undersigned; colored people OF
Arkansas City and neighboring planta-
tions, would respectfully state that we
are in desperate condition, only a few
! of us having a few days rations, and
| they have been furnished by the owners
| of plantations who now have not
enough left for their own families. The
water stands as high as four feet above
! the floors in many of our houses. Some
| of rs have had to move out and herd
| with others as best we can. Over all
| the plantations the water stands fro .
to . feet. The levees are all broken,
| the fences gone and our stock Gas been
! greatly reduced from drowning and
/ starvation. Our friends, the white pee
| pie, have done all they could and caa
do no more now. We can s5e nothing
| but starvation and death to many of rs,
unless the good people viii aid us and
that soon.
Mr. Dickinson, in forwarding the pc
tition, says 1t does not make the con
dition as bad as it really Is. Some of
these families are on my place, and /
have been feeding them for four months,
| three of which they have been cooped
mp in their houses on platforms three
feet above their floors. I cannot feed
them any longer, but hope something
will be done for these poor negroesA
They will suffer. Some of them have
not enough left for their own families
long, and the others are living on hom-
my alone or Parched corn.
On the other side of the river fTam
where these letters are written, therN is
considerable destitution, but Gov. Ames
and other state officials are taking steps
to relieve them. But in Arkansas, ow-
ing to the troubled condition of affairs
at the capitol, nothing is being done for
them, and they are entirely dependent
on the charities of other states. The
relief committee is doing good work,
but cannot relieve but a small portion
of the immediate district.
Citizens complain of the action Of the
New Orleans relief committee in not
sending supplies outside of the state Of
Louisiana, but this doubtless aris s
from the scarcity of supplies aud the
great amount of destitution nearer New
Orleans. The Memphis relief commit
tee are actively engaged ia collecting
supplies to relieve the immediate wants
apprehended from a rise n the 81.
Francis river =
The governor of Louisiana and relief
committee receive letters daily from the
overfowed parishes, giving details OF
the condition of the inhabitants. Re
cent letters from Calahoula, Caldwell,
Concordia, Franklin, Ouchita and Ten
sas parishes, show no improvement, but
ness. From the great mass OF correc-
pondence the following Is selected as
showing substantially the purport OF
the whole:
Mr.. Redditt, writing from Cuba,
Ouchita parish, says All the country
for miles around is submerged. Twelve
farms are almost entirely under wa
ter within three miles of this place, a th
n population of 700 persons, from he
breaking of the Cuba levee. The leyee
broke April Sth, and the current of wa
ter was so strong that it washed away
everything except my dwelling hOuseand
store house. My corn, horses and oxen
are all gone. The water in my dwelling,
is four feet deep, and rushes through in
such a current as TO make 1t tremble
like a leaf But do not look to me
alone. There are six or seven hundred
others similarly situated within three
miles. W. J. Ellis has lost everything.
The water on the floor of his dwelling
is five feet deep, and hehas not one pound
of provisions on hand for himself and
fifteen freedmen, and no chance OF get
ting any in the neighborhOod.
DR.. r. c. Burch, writing from Bosco-
bel plantation, Ouchita parish, says
there are 800 people within the limits OF
his practice many of whom are suffer
ing from sickness, caused byeexposure
on account of the overflow. te is una
bic to supply the demand for medicines,
and askes that medicine be furnished,
Offering to distribute it to the sick and
suffering.
The rise in the ST. Francis, which set
| in few days since, has overfowed
banks in two or three places, and plan
| tations under cultivation have been
| drowned out. There is but little desti-
| tuition in this valley, and planters are
| hopeful of the waters soon running of
and being able to resume planting. The
rise has broken the levees in several
places near the mouth, including Jeffer-
| son and st. Clair rivers, near Island 63,
and threatens several others. The
! levees at Helena and Friar's Point are
reported in danger. While the river IS
| inside its banks down to Augusta and
below there, planters are yet hopeful OF
being able to make crop. In the low
| er Arkansas river the water is off of all
the plantations except Rawlins', and
the planters are at work.
The relief committee write to Gov
Kellogg "In accordance with your re-
quest this morning, we submit the fol-
| lowing information From the 23d of
April to the 9Th of May, fifteen days,
we shipped to the overhowed dlstrlc1s
$50. .4S8 rations of bread-stuffs and 353,
4OI of meat, of which the government
supplied 162, 1873 of bread7tuffs and
11S' '825 of meat The shipments made
in excess of receipts from the govern
ment proceed from private contrlbu'
tions. We have been far from supply
ing the demands on us. We estimate,
from the best information we can gath
er. the number of sufferers IN Louisl
ana alone at sc, 500 persons. The calls
are increasing as the distress becomes
greater, from the exhaustion of the sup
plies in the hands of the people at the
time of the overflow"
Exclusive Cotton Planting.
Col. John Dent, of Floyd county
Ga. a cotton planter of large experience
| :, T,oxver GeorOia in ante belIll172 time