Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-07-29
Scenes and Incidents Of the Recent
French Floeds.


The Paris Journal ment;c13 an cxtraar
dinarv episode. At the extremity of liz
tie village was a small holding, occnpied
by a farmer. his wife and three children
The village generally had been warned IN
time of the inroad of the waters, and had
been able to save themselves, but the I'M.
happy farmer and his family were sur.
prised by the inundation. Awakened bv
the rush of the water they climbed, hall.
naked, to the roof of the stable. Here the
mother, shivering in the cold, attached
herself by rope to the chimney, while
she held convulsively an infant at the
breast. The father, with his two little
girls on his shoulders, held on to a proiec.
ton of the roof The unfortunate creatures
liyid with cold and fear, and not having
even the strength to cry out, felt the walls
giving way under them from the force Of
the food. and awaited death. At last two
heroic soldiers, mounting bank and car.
rying torches; approached the farm. Al
the very moment of their arrival all gave
way. and the walls, in falling in, formed
a Kind of pit, which enguifed the unfor
tunate beings-those who had been in
such peril and those who came to save
them.
The correspondent Of the Figaro relates
the following sad scenes: The rescue
of the inmates of the lunatic asylum at
Toulouse was peculiarly difficult and
horrible task. The lunatics did not under
stand the danger, and fought violently
with those who tried TO save them. One
old woman danced with joy; she was de-
lighted with the sight of the rising floods,
and shouted: Water, water! Thank
God. shall be able to take bathp On
the other hand, another lunatic, a middle.
aged man, ran about crying: don't
want any more water! / have had enough
bathingi Give me some fire! fire! firep
Many of the poor inmates were drowned,
owing to their resistance. At one
of the windows of the hospital man and
his wife were found clinging to the iron
bars. Some gallant fellows in punt,
among them M. De Belcastel, tried to
break in the outer door, but failed. They
then succeeded in wrenching out one Of
the bars of the window. and threw up
rope to the two prisoners. The waters
were now rising at rapid rate. In the
fright of the moment the man and woman
got out of the window without fastening
themselves with the rope, and the next
second they were caught by the food and
washed away The men in the punt sue
ceeded in saving the woman as she was
sinking, but the man was lost.
Zone of the waits was showman's van,
which was surprised by the Garonne at the
village fete and carried down TO Toulouse,
scarcely injured. The company inhabit-
ing it had not time to escape from their
itinerant dwelling An unfortunate watch
dog chained to the axle was battered al
most into a pulp. All the traps were
slowed away in baskets covered with tar
paulin, which served as beds to the
drowned players, and came out fresh and
gaudy in the midst of the wrecked objects
heaped about for transportation to the
Mayoralty. A little girl, supposed to have
been dancer, had not washed her face on
going to bed, and the vermiliOn was
bright as if baked in fast colors upon her
CHASTITY cheek. The female giant, with
pair of artificial legs, to which her feet
were strapped, was in her tinsel crown
and dress of crimson cotton velvet She
and her husband had probably sat up late
and were only thinking of divesting them.
selves of their finery when wave swept
over the plain, and in its recoil drew them
into the central current.
"At st. Gaudens Newfoundland dog
saved in succession twelve persons, dash
ing into the rushing torrent bravely, but
making the attempt the thirteenth time the
poor animal was drowned"
A letter to the Paris Journal says that at
St Jorry nothing remained but afew walls;
eighty people had persisted amongst the
ruins; all the population turned out TO
meet Marshal MacMahon some of the
women had on regimental trousers, and
some OF the men appeared In petticoats.
HAT l.,
ton had given itself up to despair. All,
yes! Every one is shouting and laughing,
and would even sing were they not re-
strained by respect for the authorities.
The arrival of the Marshal is for them
grand fete, and they hardly remember the
inundation. An old peasant said to me:
How unfortunate 1t is that we should
have forgotten to hang out our fagsr The
Marshal is quite at home in the midst Of
the peasants, and / saw the tears
stream down his cheeks as poor
woman related how she had lost
her mother and her child" AT Castelsar-
rim, which has suffered frightfully, :" the
Joy is greater even than that at st. Jor-
ry." An immense heap of masonry
represents 400 houses. This town was
caught while it slept The family OF
baker having no time TO escape, the
father got on the roof of the house, and
the wife, with twins at the breast, en-
barked in washingtub. The tub SOON
dashed against tree and was upset. The
woman, who had lashed her children
round her neck, chung to branch of the
the tree; she tried 10 get on it, but in vain,
and feeling the branch giving way, she
united the twins from around her neck
and, attaching them to the frail raft, made
a sign OF the cross, let go the branch and
went down. (The children were saved)
The scene was witnessed by a man in a
tree, who had managed to rescue the body
OF his intended wife from the food; he
held her in his arms all night, but in the
morning his limbs were benumbed and she
slipped from his grasp. AT 10 o'clock /
walked through the streets of Toulouse,
and, by my faith, the town is right gay
The desolation Of yesterday has passed
away and the people, whose faces were
several yards long yesterday, are going TO
dance at the balls this evening" All the
work of clearing away the ruins is left to
the soldiers, the people showing all the
resignation and fatalsm of Mohammed-
al