The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-05-21
THE FLOODS.
Continued Distress in Arkansas and BE-
Iovv-MOre Relief Needed.

destitutiOn is greatest, and where th
following extracts from letters will Civ
a good idea Of the suffering and desti
tuition, and appeal to the philanthropi
throughout the land
A well know planter writing fren
Bernard, Chieet county, Arkansas. SAYS
There are needed IN this section ration
for thousand persons, and forage fs
their stock. whose lands are under wa
ter. The destitution here viii be YER
great, nearly every one in the over
flowed district having lost their stock
and having nothing left to aid them il
purchasing the necessary rations. Thes,
parties all require help until they car
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-half of th'
laborsrs.
A petition from $50 colored laborer.
from Arkansas City ard vicinity, is for
warded by J. W. Dickinson, which says
1 The undersigned, colored people ol
Arkansas City and neighboring planta
tions, would respectfully state that We
are In a desperate condition, only few
of us having a few days Tations, 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 feet. The levees are all broken,
! the fences gone and our stock has been
! greatly reduced from drowning and
/ Il
! pie, have done all they could and can
| do no more now. We can see nothing
| but starvation and death to many of as,
unless the good people viii aid us and
that soon.
Mr.. 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 /
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 viii 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 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.
f ancis 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
indicate additional affection by sick
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 Cuba levee. The levee
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 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 hehasn not one pound
of provisions on hand for himself and
fifteen freedmen, and no chance of get
ting any In the neighborhood.
DIR. r. @. 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 a few days since, has overtiowed
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 So,
and threatens several others. The
lexees 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 a crop. In the low
er Arkansas river the water Is of OF All
the plantations except Rawhns, and
the planters are at work.
The relief committee write to Gov.
Kellogg: ssIn accordance with your re-
quest this morning, we submit the fol-
lowing information From the 23d of
April to the Sth of May, fifteen days,
we shipped to the overhowed districts
$50, 4SS rations of bread-stuffs and $685.
4OI of meat, of which the government
supplied I62, ,133 of bread-stuffs and
1IS' 'S25 of meat. The shipments made
in excess of receipts from the govern
ment proceed from private cOntribu-
tions. We have been far from supply
ing the demands on rs 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 bands of the people at the
time Of the overflow"
Exclusive Cotton Planting.