Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-03-15

MEMPHIS, Tenn. March 8, 1882.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. March 9, 1882.
The sad stories that have been tele-
graphed in regard to the suffering Of
the people of the Mississippi Valley
by the present great overflow are but
faint attempts to picture the reality.
The pictures that were drawn should
now take a darker tinge. While fears
of starvation to hundreds was spoken
of as probable it now has become sad
reality. 1t is a matter of impossibility
to describe the suffering that exists in
manv localities. Without shelter, ex-
posed to the bleak winds that have
swept from the north for three days,
thousands within the inundated re-
gions have suffered as only the poor
can suffer who have no homes and no
food to eat Within sight of passing
steamers floating on the Mississippi
many hundreds of human beings can be
seen, some huddled on pieces of levees
that yet remain intact, unprotected
from rain and wind, with nothing but
the clothes they wore to cover them.
When tired nature succumbs they
sleep on the bare ground, that is damp
with the moisture of the waves that
the winds have caused at times to
overleap the mounds on which these
unhappy people have taken refuge af-
ter abandoning their cabins in the low
lands, where the waters had risen
sufficiently high to float them from
their foundations and make them
wrecks. Here and there can be seen
houses where the water has invaded
the ground floors, and families are
living in the upper stories. There
they cook and eat such provisions as
in their hasty fight were taken with
them. The general diet consists of
corn meal bread and parched corn, and
the shingles of the ruined dwellings
serve for frewood. But soon many
who have been living in this manner
will have no shelter, since they are
using their poofs for fuel Refugees
from below arrive on every steamer, and
they all tell the same sad story of suf-
fering and distress.
A correspondent this afternoon in
terviewed Commissioners Mangum, of
Arkansas; Hemingway, of Mississippi
and James, of Tennessee, who have
been charged with the distribution of
rations donated by the government
Mangum to date has distributed l00.-
600 ratiOns to the distressed and needy
of Arkansas. There are 1890 desti-
tute people in this State.
The provisions furnished will not
last longer that the l5th inst An
other instalment Of $4,000 rations for
Arkansas will arrive Sunday. The
distribution has been made with a
view of relieving only those who are
utterly destitute.
The rations were carried free of
charge by local packets from this city
and were consigned to responsible
persons at every available point In the
counties.
In Mississippi and Crittenden coun-
ties the rations were sent to the Sher-
iff, with instructions to appoint COM
mittee of three in each township to see
to proper distribution, Desha and
Chicot counties and the sunk lands of
the Upper ST. Francis River have suf-
fered most.
The destitute of Cross, Poincott and
Craighead counties are white people,
who reside in the sunk lands, and have
lost everything, even their mules and
horses.
This section of country extends from
Wiltsburg up to the Missouri State
line, and Is one of the most fertile re-
gions in the world The sufferers in
the counties of Arkansas are very
nearly all colored.