Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1874-04-16
Creyasses Above and Below New Orleans
Bonnet Carre, Bel Air and
Others.
A Sad Record OF Losses IrretrieTable
Men and Material for the Scene
OF Disaster.
The Excitement at PlaquemiHe-GeD.
Thompson COnfrOnts ShOtguns again
and Backs Ont.


From the New Orleans Pieayune.l
Yesterday morning the house Of John
! Dymond & Co. received q short message,
the purport OF which was that Bel Air
7 plantation was under water, and ten
/ thousand feet Of lumber were needed at
: Bel Air. OF late years Bel Air has been
brought up to be the finest sugar estate
] in Louisiana, having produced for the
last four or five years an average annual
/ crop Of nearly eight hundred hogsheads
/ of sugar and one thousand barrels
molssses. The dispatch did not state
the extent Of the break at that point,
( but the levee there, when once broken,
could be stopped only with great exer-
I tion and engineering skill.
If the break is considerable It cannot
/ be stopped, as the Bel Air ard Fairview
levees are very large and nearly on the
Z verge of deep water, with an inshOre
/ current, Should large erevasse occur
/ there, probably the parish Of Plaque
/ mines left bank, with fourteen of the
| finest sugar plantations in that State,
viii not send apOund of sugar to market
/ this year, while also the most fertile rice
/ sections of the State will be devastated.
From latest sdviees, the work on
BELIECHAssE CREvAssE
was progressing favorably. An the
piles that are driven, stand, and the i'm
mense force at work is steadily pushing
ahead in the work Of repair. The ere
vase
AT ST. ROsALIE
I plantation, thirty-three miles below the
Z city, was also, at latest accounts, under
| control, and is probably entirely stopped
ere this hour. Communication is so
much cut OFF on the left bank, that il is
next to impossible to learn whether the
breaks are widening or being closed.
The steamer Empire unfortunately was
detained to a late hour yesterday even
ing. We say unfortunately because
most Ofthe crevasse closing material was
ordered to be shipped on that boat, and
no one steamboat or tug could have got it
aboard in much less time. Thus there
was great delsy in getting the requisite
lumber, scantling, hay, etc, to the
points where they were ueeded. There
is great danger in delay where crevasses
are concerned. The steamer Hensley, at
latest accounts, was assisting in convey
ing materials from point to point, and
her crew were occupied at times in help
ing work st the breaks. Both of the-e
boats will be some time down the coast,
transferring materials such as lumber,
etc. On both sides OF the river several
hundred acres of rice have been lost
already, irretrievably unless the water
goes down in time to let the destroyed
fields be replanted.
FROM ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST.
The captain Of the steamer Josephine
reported yesterday evening that the
levee in front Of r. Cassagne's pianta-
ton, left bank forty-fve miles above
this point, gave way at one o'clock
Saturday morning. The break is now
twenty feet wide and running four feet
deep. Lumber and other material has
been obtained from the lsvee company
at Belle Pointe, and work promptly
began on the crevasse. There are hopes [
entertained that it will be closed.
BONNET CARRE.
The break at Bonnet Care is one
mile below that of 1871, aud at the same
point as that of 1859 Every exertion
which money and labor can command
is being made by the jackson railroad
company to close the crevasse, and it is
thought that success will crown their
efforts. Should such, unfortunately, be
not the case, arrangements have been
road without any interruption.
MoRGANzA.
Reports from MOrganza indicate that
the alarm current yesterday, touching
the condition of the levee there, was
premature, no present danger being ap-
pretended.
THE UPPER AND LOWER COAST.
From the New Orleans Times.l
Mir J. X. Mulkey, just returned per
steamboat John Kyle from business
tour through the upper country, has !
kindly furnished US with the following
statement concerning the condition of f.
affairs on the upper coast when the Kyle |
went down on Sunday. Mr.. Mulkey /
SAYS: "The river is slowly rising from I
Vicksburg down, according 70 the re- /
ports of the people, who are night and /
day keeping watch on the levees. We I
arrived at Baton Rouge last evening 1t /
half-past seven, and while there, at half ]
past eight, the alarm bells were rung,
great excitement and alarm,
some saying the levee had broken, and
Others yelling fire. The engines turned
out to hunt the fire, but by this tine the
waters were heard at Nc
Columns, tearing through a crevasse.
Great excitement prevailed up to our de-
parture, and though assistance went
rom the city, no hopes were entertained
Df saving the levee. We learned at Ba-
.on Rouge that over three hundred
well-aTmed, were guarding the
evee at Plaquemine, 10 prevent the
State authorities cutting it; and also
earned that the military would be called
IpOn to aid the State officers, and that
,OrtiOn Of the troops from Baton Rouge
we're expected to go to the scene of the
roubies. Lights were seen all along on
10Th sides last night At Woodstock
hey appeared to be bard at work on the
evee. At Donaldson, above Hampton |
,oint,
THE RUSHING OF WATERS
md lights diplsyed, led us on board to
,elieve the levee had given way. There I
; another crevasse at Bonnet Care, I
bout half mile below the one Of two
,ears ago. The whole country seems :
looded. The steamers b. L. Hodge and
farryowen were lying above the ere
vase, supposed to be taking on board
itock and people, as it would now be
Useless to attempt to stop the break.
AT thirty-siX mile point small cTevasse
was stopped by the people, but they had
herded their stock, and packed tneir
furniture, bedding, etc, and have it OF
the levee, apparently waiting transp0rta-
lion. At twenty-One mile point the
steamer st. John was Landed, with
United States cOlors flying. We sup
posed she was putting OF materials for
the levees; but little activity displayed
on board, which is in harmony with the
minds Of the people along the coast, that
is-depair seems to have seized upon
the majority of the people all along, and
they think it is useless TO contend f,lrth-
er with the great river. Many beauti-
ful places have scarcely three inches of
levee to protect them, and the gloomy
news of more water, another rise, etc,
Weakens their mind and nerve. /
noticed at many OF those same places the
cattle were allowed to Craze and stray
over the plantations, when in case of a
crevasse, they would certainly be lost.
The slightest wavelet Iushes over the
tons of the levee, and our steamer often
her wheels and flOated by weak
points to prevent the waves doing an
injury. Your correspondent was in
for n Ell by an old gentleman at Baton
Rouge, last night, that he expected the
entire country would be under water be-
fore forty-eight hours. At hennerville J