The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-05-15
NUMBER 80.
THE FLOODS.
Continued Distress in Arkansas and BE-
IOTv-BIOre Relief Needed.


destitution is greatest, and where the
following extracts from letters will give
a good idea of the suffering and desti
tuition, and appeal to the philanthrOpiC
throughout the land:
A we'll know planter writing from
Bernard, Chicot county, Arkansas, says
! There are needed in this section rations
| for thousand persons, and forage fol
| their stock, whose lands are under wa
| ter. The destitution here viii be very
| great, nearl y every one IN the over
flowed district having lost their stock,
| and having nothing left to aid them In
| purchasing the necessary rations. These
/ parties all require help until they can
raise some corn. Help US all you can.
| Our people are truly suffering, and un-
| less we get aid to make at least some
corn, this portion of the country will
be abandoned by fully one-half of the
laborers.
A petition from $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 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 us have had to move out and herd
with others as best we can. Over all
the plantations the water stands from
3 to 5 feet. The levees are all broken,
the fences gone and our stock has been
greatly reduced from drowning aud
starvation. Our friends, the white peo-
pie, have done all they could and can
do no more now. We can see nothing
but starvation and death to many of us,
unless the good people will aid US and
that soon.
MIR. Dickinson, in forwarding the pc
titiOn, says It does not make the con-
dition as bad as it really is. Some of
these families are on my place, and l
have been feeding them for four months,
three of which they have been coOped
up in their houses on platforms three
feet above their floors. / cannot feed
them any longer, but hope something
will be done for these poor negroes.
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 from
where these letters are written, there 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 arises
from the scarcity of supplies and the
great amount of destitution nearer New
Orleans. The Memphis relief commit
tee are actively engaged in collecting
supplies to relieve the immediate wants
of these people. Further trouble is
apprehended from a rise in the st.
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
luOlCaB6 dNlultlOudl dlllCblV1 ny bASA-
ness. From the great mass of CORES
pondence the following is selected as
showing substantially the purport of
the whole:
MIR. 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, with
a population of 100 persons, from the
breaking of the Cuba levee. The levee
broke April 9Th, and the current of wa
ter was so strong that it washed away
everything except my dwelling house and
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
isfive feet deep, and hehasnOt one pound
of provisions on hand for himself and
fifteen freedmen, and no chance of get
ting any in the neighborhood.
Dr. r. G.. Burch, writing from Bosco-
bel plantation, Ouehita parish, says
there are 300 people within the limits OF
his practice many of whom are suffer-
ing from sickness, caused by exposure
on account of the overflow. He IS una
BILE 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 a few days since, has overhowed
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 off
| 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 So,
| and threatens several others. The
| Ievees 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 oi
| being able to make a crop. In the low
| er Arkansas river the water is off of all
I the plantations except Rawiins', and
/ the planters are at work.
The relief committee write to Gov
! Kellogg elm accordance with your re
! quest this morning, we submit the fol
| lowing information From the 23d oi
April to the 9Th of May, fifteen days
we shipped to the overfowed districts
/ S52. .4SS ratiOns of bread -stuffs and 3o5,,
| 4OI of meat, of which the government
supplied 162, ,133 of bread-stutts and
II8 S25 Of meat. The shipments mace
! in excess of receipts from the govern
ment proceed from private conIII11' lll-LII1'I
tions- We have been far IRON supply
inc the demands on us. we estiInase'
f-en, The best information we can gath
er fbe number OF sufferers IN Louisl'
ana alone at So, 500 persons. The calls
are increasing as the distress becomes