Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1874-05-16
NUMBER "a.
THE FLOODS.
Continued Distress in Arkansas and Ee-
low-More Relief Needed.

, received large number OF letters tH
applications for relief from the owe
flowed districts, particularly from IL
lower portion Of Arkansas, where tL
destitution is greatest, and where th
following extracts from letters will Civ
a good idea of the suffering and des
tuition, and appeal to the philanthropi
throughout the land
A well know planter writing frol
Bernard, Chicot county, Arkansas, says
There are needed in this section ration
for thousand persons, and forage 10
their stock, whose lands are under wa
ter. The destitution here will be yer
great, nearly every one in the over
flo ved district having lost their stock
and having nothing left to aid them il
purchasing the necessary rations Thes
parties all require help until they cal
raise some corn. Help us all you can
| Our people are truly suffering, and un
less we get aid TO make at least SOM
corn, this portion of the country vii
be abandoned by fully one e.half Of til,
laborers.
A petition from $50 colored laborerl
from Arkansas City and vicinity, is for
warded by J. W. Dickinson, which says
The undersigned, colored people 0
Arkansas City and neighboring planta
tions, would respectfully state that W,
are in a desperate condition, only a few
Of us having a few days rations, aud
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 fro e
to feet. The levees are all broken.
the fences gone and our stock has been
greatly reduced from drowning and
starvation. Oar friends, the white pee
pie, have done all they could aud can
do no more now. We can sse nothing
but starvation and death to many of us,
unless the good people will aid us and
that soon.
Mr.. Dickinson, in forwarding the pc
tition, says 1t does not make the con
dition as Lad 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
up 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 negroes.
They will suffer. Some Of them have
not enough left for their own families
long, and the others are living on HON
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 aris s
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
overAowed parishes, giving details Of
the condition of the inhabitants. Re-
cent letters from Catalonia, Caldwell,
Concordia, franklin, Ouchita and Ten
sas parishes, show no improvement, bnt
indicate additional ahliction by sick
ness. From the great mass of cores
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, with
a population of 100 persons, from the
breaking of the Caba leyee. The leyee
broke April Sth, 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 it tremble
like q 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
istive 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.
DIR. r. G. 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 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 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 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 63,
and threatens several others, The
levees at Helena and Friars 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 4 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 merning, we submit the fol-
lowing information From the 23d OF
April to the 9Th of May, fifteen days,
we shipped to the overflowed districts
$50, 4S8 rations of bread.stuffs and 353,
40l of meat, of which the government
supplied 169 1873 of bread-stuffs and