Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-03-08
DEVASTATING WATERS.
Terrible Details of Ruin
Wrought by the Mississippi.

Terrible Details of Ruin
Wrought by the Mississippi.
MEMPHIS, Tenn, March 9, 1882
The nights of Monday and Tuesday,
February 27 and %, were two of the
most eventful in the history of the
Mississippi River. A little after mid
night of Monday high wind arose, ac-
companied with heavy rain, and as it
descended the last hope of keeping the
waters from the lowlands died away,
leaving the valley planters with moth
ing but destruction staring them in
the face. Between midnight and day
light of Monday morning, when the
wind was at its highest, the rain COM
ing down in torrents and the night as
black as Egypt, enough breaks occurred
in levees between Friar's Point, Miss,
and Arkansas City to flood the entire
county intervening. In an hour the
richest cotton lands in the world were
wavy seas, watery solitudes. At Car
sons Landing the earthwork gave way
in two places about half-past one o'clock
in the morning, and the food rushed in
through a gap seventy-fve yards wide.
Nobody was on watch; the men had
worked hard day and night until Mon
day evening, and then they threw
down their shovels and went to bed.
In many places the levee was low, and
levelled up with loose earth, and not
strong enough to withstand much pres
sure. 1t was in two such places that
it gave way first, and the DAM
age could have been repaired by
prompt and energetic action. But
nothing was done until too late. A
large business is done at this point,
the annual shipments of cotton reach
ing up in the neighborhood of 10000
bales.
THE RIvERTON DISASTER.
Tuesday night was one of the deep
est anxiety to the people of Riverton,
which is small place below Terrene,
on the Mississippi side. About ten
O'Clock on Monday night the earthwork
began slouching off directly in front of
the town, and another place few hun
dred yards further down looked dan
gerous. Here, as everywhere else, the
people were worn out, and the levee
hands gave up entirely. No effort was
made to streng ngthen either of the weak
places, and at five O'Clock in the morn
ing portion of a levee, 100 yards long,
was swept away and the flood poured
in upon the sleeping town. The roar
of the rushing waters woke the inhabit-
ants of the town, which is situated di-
rectly behind the levee, and they had
to flee for their lives. A brick chimney,
which stood in the centre of the cata-
ract, was whirled round and round
bodily, like spinning top, and then
went down. A cabin close by was
lifted up entire and set on end. For
tunately it was unoccupied. The peo-
pie had no time to dress, but, running
from their houses, climbed trees or got
astride of floating logs, where they re-
mained until relief came. One old ne
gro woman, named Agnes Collins,
lost, purse, containing $3.50 in mon
ey, and sitting down on her bed griev-
ed over it, while the water rushed in
and Aoated her about the room from
place to place until relief came.
DROWNED IN THE FLOOD.
A negro named "JIm" Kemp put
his family on board a float, which
broke into halves, and two of his chill
dren were drowned The landing keep
er, Ben Haines, got into a skiff and
recklessly approached too near the
break. The current carried skiff and
all under His body could not be re-
covered AS there were only two
skias in the place the outlook was a
bad one The people had no way of
getting out of their houses, many of
which were foated from their blocks
and overturned 1t was attempted to
stretch rope from the main part Of
the town to patch of high levee, so
that the people could reach place of
safety by that means, but the attempt
was unsuccessful The men did all
they could with the two skiffs to trans
port the people from the tree tops,
roofs of houses and other places of
refuge to the levee
PICTURE OF DESTRUCTION.
The live stock is all drowned, and
there are no provisions for the people
to subsist on. The break occurred
about one hundred yards above Dun
cans. A message has been sent to
Terrene for the steamer Plow Boy to
take the women and children to Men,
phls. They are suffering greatly, hav-
ing lost every thing they possessed
except the clothes on their backs. 1t
is impossible to describe the fearful
havoc and destruction the waters have
wrought. Besides the break at River
ton there are two more-one at
Wright's one mile below, and another
at Judge Miller's place, two miles be-
low Riverton. Mules, horses, cows.
goats and houses pass by continually.
Add to these the falling and crashing
timber, and you then have the faintest
idea of the condition of things. In
Duncan's there must be no less than
twenty-five women aud children, and
good many more are huddled together
on the levee. 1t is pitiful to see them
half naked, frozen and hungry. Every
house at Riverton, except Duncan's
and Frank and Rening's has either
foated off or is so damaged by the
washing away of blocks as to be un-
fit for habitation when the waters de-
cline.
RUINoUs TO THE PLANTERS
Perhaps the most serious breaks, as
regards the planting interest, occurred
at Bolivar, Miss. One crevasse above
Old Bolivar is 200 yards wide, and an
other below is about fifty feet wide.
The water rushing over the largest
break looked like a colossal mill dam
and roared like thunder Here once