The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1882-03-15

C. Hofris, who was sent g Deshc
coun14 by order of Gov. Churchill q
aid 4 i1istributing Goyerpul1nt sup
pile - persons rendered destituts
by thS eriiow, returned yesterday.
In an H. erview with reporter be
said that along the river front ol
Desha county. 100 miles in length
the destituticn is beyond descrip.
ton. The water has reached an
unprecedented height. Scarcely a
farm house or residence On the bot
tom have escaped the inudation
The people have been compelled to
build false floors in their houses, OF
to SEEK safety on higher lands,
where, in rudely constructed camps
Of brush, boughs and cane, they sii
and wait for starvation aud death
1t is appalling, and, without govern
ment aid liberally and quickly be-
slowed, there is no telling where il
may end. Many persons have
been feeding on carcasses of drown
ed cattle. Personal investigation,
- we'll as the assurance of respecta.
bic gentlemen. convinced Mr.. Har-
MS that not fewer than 500 families
averaging six persons to efch. in
Desha county alone, are dependent
upon the charity of the Government.
He believed it no exaggeration to
place the gross number, old and
young, at $500. The indications
point to long continuation of the
overflow, the most sanguine hardly
daring to look for its subsistence be-
fore next May. ~
New ORLEANS, March "a dis
patch from Captain NJ. l.. Scoville,
of Shreveport, reports that the
weather at 8 a. m, was clear, but
that previous to that time rain had
fallen for forty hours and the river
was rising rapidly. e
A dispatch from Bayou Sara re-
ports that two bad breaks have oc-
Cured in the Point Coupee levee,
between Red Store and Red Church,
endangering a large district of valua-
bic sugar plantations.
New ORLEANS, March "a dis
patch from Alexandria, La, says
that the levee gave away there this
morning at 4 O'Clock. @
A Nashville special reports that
the Cumberland and its tributaries
are rising rapidly, indicating rep
etition of the January overflow.
The horses were removed from
the race course again to-day on ac-
count of the encroachment of the
water, and families in the lower
portion of the city are moving out
The Times Democrats Bayou Sara
special says: "The Point Coupee
levee, three miles above here, on
the west bank of the river, gave
way last night. This is a new
levee not vet finished. Yesterday
citizens cut the old levee in front Of
the new work for the purpose Of
letting the water against the new
levee. No danger was apprehend-
ed, but the cut became 200 feet
wide, and the water rushed with
such force against the new levee that
about fifty feet was swept away,
The break in the new levee to-day
was three hundred feet wide and
widening. 1t would be a waste ol
money to try and stop the crevasse.
This will flood a portion of the
False River country and will affect
the best lands of West Baton Rouge.
The cutting of the old levee was a
fatal mistake
CHICAGO, March "a special
dispatch from Little Rock, Ark,
says that Governor Churchill was
found this morning in his private
office examining letters which had
been received from sufferers by the
recent floods, and debating dispatch
es in response to kilograms for rimme-
diate aid. 4The extent of the disas-
ter can hardly be measured" he
said, in answer to an inquiry, ''and
/ feel greatly depressed over the
situation. | received this morning
a number of letters from prominent
men in the overhowed district in Ar
kansas, who draw a gloomy and
graphic picture ofthe death and su.-
fering around them. l am also in
receipt of numerous telegrams every
day appealing for aid. The situa-
ton is appalling. 1t will be many
weeks before the sufferers will be
able t. help themselves. and the
threatening aspect of the water indi-
Gates that the worst has not yet
come. 1t may be that the generous
people of the whole country will be
appealed to for aid No one without
experience of such disasters can
form any correct conception of the
present trouble
General d. McRae, Assistant Sec
retary ofState, said to-day that the
overflow has set Arkansas back ten
years. 1t would be impossible, he
thought, to raise crops on the over
flowed land this year other than
cotton, and that could not be done
unless the water subsidized shortly
and allowed the ground to dry out
somew at in time for spring plant
ing. General McRae also said that
the effect of the overflow would be
to drive hundreds of people from the
State; that colored people in the
overf1owed districts were already be-
ginning to migrate to Tennessee and
Missouri in large numbers, and that
others would follow whenever they
could get boat to take them away.
The city is thronged with refugees
from Desha and Chicot counties,
nearly all of whom have interesting
accounts to give in connection with
their pilgrimage. One of these,
named John McElyn, said II lived
near what is known as Cypress Bend,
in Desha county. l had a certain
cabin situated on an elevation which
has never been oyerfowed, and /
thought never would be. Some
days ago the Mississippi began to
rise and stopped my childrs n from
going to school, fearing they would
be drowned in the bayoas with
which that county abounds. ! had
several head Of cattle further down