The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1882-03-24
THE RIVERS RAyAGES.
SAD SCENES FROM CAIRO TO MENfPHTs-PAN'
ORAMIC PICTURES FROM THE OVER
FLOWED REGION OF THE ILL-FATED
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.


MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
Following are some sketches of life and
death in the regions of the Mississippi river
! floods, taken from the special correspond
( ence of the New York Herald
widow lady, living with her three chill
/ dren on the Missouri shore above Donald
sons Point, was rescued by some men in a
( skiff after the water had risen two feet above
/ her cabin floor, and was taken to the Ken
! tucky side OF the river. She was i'll, an0 had
/ to be lifted from her bed into the boat, and
when the party reached Kentucky and she
was being lifted again she died. The chill
dren were cared for by some of the people
living above Hickman on the high ground.
Another woman, living in the same neigh
borhOOd, Mrs. Barton by name, became a
mother prematurely, owing to the excite
ment, after the house had been surrounded
by the water, In her condition it was not
possible to remove her, and not one of the
rescuing party that would gladly have taken
her away was willing to take the chance of
remaining with her over night TheyStayed
however, long enough to fasten her bed to
the roof of her cabin where it swung some
five feet above the floor and probably two
feet above the highest point reached by the
water. She lay alone through the night
and in the morning was lifted as tenderly as
could be into a sklff and taken to Hickman,
where two Gays later she died
In one case an old lady, Mrs. Cromwell,
living nearly opposite Hickman's, was found
alone in her house by party who were seek
ing for survivors. Her son had taken his
mare and colt into the house for safety, and
going out to look after other stock had been
unable to get back to the house. The horses
were in the parlOr and the old lady in the
second story She had to be ia ken out TIN o.
the roof, and the animals were also saved
Several persons were saved IN their night
clothes, being aroused from sleep by the sud
den rise of ten days ago, only in time to seek
the roofs of their houses
IOoRED TO A TREE.
Many stories of individual adventures are
told some amusing and some bordering on
the tragic. In one case, a skiff party were
directed to the house of a Jim Steinwell, who
lived about five miles below Hickman, on the
lO4lands near the river. Rowing thitheT
they found his frail cabin afioat and his wife
and two babies on the roof while he was on
a tree near by. He had fastened one end of
rope to his ridgepOle and swan with the
other end TO the tree to which he had moor
ed the house. AL four were brought off by
line, though the sturdy fellow could hardly
be dissuaded from trying to save his house.
IL was all ne had in the world, excepting his
family, for his mule and his pigs were
drowned and the provisions were gone.
1.-THE SAME Story
Landing after landing we made where the
same sights and same stories of disaster were
told, 1t gets SO common in little while
that she edge Of the horror seems to be taken
on by the mere repetition of the details
MY God do you realize" d" said one man
when said '.It is the same stOry'-"do you
realize what that story is ? Do YOU realize
that the people here on the river banks for
hundreds OF miles stood on the roofs of their
houses, where they had fed to save their
lives, and saw everything they had in the
world swept off to destruction by the cruel
waters? Their cattle were drowned, their
little stores of food were DESTROYED their
household goods were swept away, and thew
lived on these roofs for days or else on rafts.
Hundreds and hundreds Of them were hun
cry until somebody came along and rescued
them, and many and many a family, sir was
drowned. There is no doubt of it. Yes sir:
It IS the same old story, and an awful one it
His vehemence was not surprising, for he
mad lost large portion OF a comfortable for .
tune and had almost lost his life irving to
save his horses. He told me that he swan
seven horses over to a place where thew stood
only knee deep, and where they would have
Deen safe II they could have stood upright, 7
but they were so chilled by the long wettirg (
that five of them,lay down and were drowned .
in the shallow water.
NOT LAND ENOUGH FOR 4 GRAVE
Mr.. Alangum tells a story of a friend of his.
Mr.. Udet. who had an old colored servant,
to whom he was much attached. During the
first rush of the flood the old man was
drowned. Mr.. Udet, after attending to
more pressing matters, went back to try and
hsh out the old mans body. While he was
working at this a neighbor asked him what
he was doing. He said he wanted to bury
the body.
Where; bury it where ?'' asked the
neighbor
There was not a spot of drv land within I
fifteen miles, and he suspended his search
This singular trouble added no little incon-
Venience to grief in many instances One |
planter brought the body of his wife thirty /
miles to bury her, as he could not get access .
to his own burying plot on account Of the /
water.
DRowSED.
There has been a very considerable num-
Der Of deaths by drowning in the sunken dis /
trict. An old negro, his wife and six chill .
dren, the oldest twelve years, were fleeing .
from their wrecked home in Phillips COUNTY
in s31iff, when the fTail craft capsized and .
the entire family were drowned. Thirty or
forty deaths are reported IN the four cOun- .
ties, the most of the unfOrtunates being ne
groes and none of them being known bevond
their homes. It is possible, even probable. ]
That TINS number will be multiplied MANY
times by the sufferngs from starvation and /
improper food during the next two weeks
On Buffalo Island alone, which is a small /
island in the st. Francis lake, there is A non
ulatiOn Of one thousand people who are en-
tIrely cut of from communication They
have not been heard from since the floods
began, and the havoc that NAV have beep .
wrought there may prove one Of the worst
chapters of the whole awful story For
communities to be so rayaged bV floods
seems to argue a neglect of precaution on
their part; but it should be remembered .
that so tar as history goes there is no pracp-
dent for this flood, as it was never Thought
possible that the Mississippi would find an
outlet into the head waters of the St. Fran
els. That it has done so now is certain
though it is impossible under the present
condition of things to tell Just the course if
has followed.
COMPULSORY Observation-Disclosures Es-
CAPEs.
correspondent of the St Louis Globe
Democrat, writing from Columbus XIV [
says: "Stories Illustrating the height of wa
ter and danger of a week ago are told bv
these gentlemen. One is to the effect thar a
colored man and his child were in a boat
coming down the river, when the former
lost hlS footing and fell overheard. swim
mng, however, to a tree. The boat con-
tanning the child drifted down and lodged in
some diiftwood, the little one being rescued
after four days abstinence from food. An
Other gentleman told Of a man and his wife
on whom the water gained so rapidly that
they were compelled to take refuge on the
roof OF the house, being rescued by a man in
a ougout after day and half of isolation"
Another from Hickman, KY, SAYS "In
connection with the work of the relief com
mIttee several instances of miraculous es-
capes from death are reported Dr. Bynum
ana family of four r7TsOns were taken from
the room OF their dwelling, saving nothing
but their night clothes, in which they were
attlred. Mr.. William Alien and his family
sca1Oded themselves up day by dav as the
water rose, until finally ttey were rescued
from the roof of the house. Marcus Little
VINO lay III with pneumonia was raised M
on platform until finally he was lifted ont
through the roof.