The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1882-03-23
The Raging Waters,

from Little Rock Ark, as follows: Your cor
re-l ondent has just returned from tour IL
Desha, Chicot and Ashley counties, which em-
brace n large portion of the ovelfowed districts.
The stories of dea h, siffering and destruction
ofstock aud pr, perty have not been overdi avn,
but on the other hand, the mirror has not been
held up to nature as the facts warrant. Every
where Is desulation; everywhere ID snfierlhS'
Opposite Arkansas City tue Allssissi pi river Is
fully eighty miles widc and the banks are but
frai barriers against the encroaching current.
Houses have been swept away, many lives lost,
hundreds of head of cattle drowned, planta-
tions almost destroyed, and many planters beg
gar, Il.
There are not less than twenty plantations in
the lAconia Circle utterly ruineu lhe section
named is noted for its groat fertility 10000
bales ot cotton being annually raised upon it.
Tho whole tract IL completely submerged, and
hundreds of tenants are loft without shelter OF
food.
In Chicot county tho loss of property and life
is Ns groat as o slwhcre. Some fifteen persons
have boen drowned. There is not planter Iii
the county who is not sufferer to greater or
less extent
In Ashley county the situation is gloomy,
many of the largest planners having been finsn-
cially ruined. More than 1000 people are on
the verge of starvation in this county.
Tho Heidtd correspondent had an interview
with Monroe Brown, a gentleman who had
leased large tract or land in Cypress Bend,
Desha county, and who was living with his
family in the bottoms when the Mississippi
began to rise. Said he: I'VE were overhowod
almost in twinkling. The water poured into
the house at every available space 1t hap
pened had mule hitched at the front gate,
and catching up my wife, who had three
months -old baby in her arms, l carried her
out, wadug into water up to my knees, and
got on the mule, l knew there was ridge
some two miles east, and thought if [ could
only get to it we would be safe until picked up
by steamer. My wife was almost scared to
death, but she's a plucky little woman, and 80
she didn't say anything until we got into deep
water that carried the mule off his feet and
forced it to swim. Then sho began screaming,
and when tho animal saw the corpse of a negro
floating on the water and began whirling round
and round she tainted dead away and lay like
lead in my arms. About that time l began to
think we should all perish, for in the excite
ment OF the moment l had lost the course on
which had started, and as far as 1 conid sec
there was nothing but wide expanse of water
"A solid sheet of surging, tOam-crested waves
l seemed to be afOat IN the center of a sea,
| with my wife unconscious in my arms and the
| infant slumberiug serenely on her breast. Our
| combined weight taxed the strength of the
faithful mulo to the utmost, and just when it
seemed on the point of sinking with exhaustion
| and began to contemplate the possibility of q
! watery grave, heard voices, and looking over
my shoulder saw three colored men on a raft.
l called to them and they came to my relief,
| and thus snatched us all from the very jaws OF
terrible death. My mule foated down th1
| current and was drowned l wouldn't repeat
that experience for all the wealth OF the
world"
Colonel G. W. Sappington, prominent and
| wealthy planter, had likewise trying ordeal
| in removing his family to place of -aiety, and
narrowly escaped destruction. Colonel Sap
! pirgton said the scene once seen was never to
! be forgotten. The fleeing people, the waters
sweeping everything before item, the roar OF
the rising waves-all formed a picture as
strange and weird as it was real and terrible
Many persons took refuge in trees until the
boats picked them up, many were taken from
the roofs of floating dwellings, while particl, s
of houses drifting with the current markell the
ruin of once happy homes.
Lieutenant s. q. Yolder, of tho Ninctocnll
United States infantry, who was detailed py the
war department to investigate the condition o
affairs i'll this State, was interviewed. lie said
he had been all through Southern Arkansas
aud found that the reports of suffering were
not eX" ggerated in the least. cit was, sale
he, "too appalling to be exaggeratt d. The
Mississippi river is higher than it has ever
| before been known. At PAGES along the rail.
way in De.ha county where the water was neycl
! known to reach in the past a strong current il
| sweeping. Three-fourths of Chicot aud Desha
counties are inundated, and al least 4,0DL
people in either county are in a state of desti
tuition. Thus far the rations have not beer
properly issued. No one seems to be re
sponsible."
A dispatch from New Orleans says Abov,
Vicksburg the low country from the Mississippi
to the Yazoo river has been covered by lht
floods The people. with such stock and prop
erty as they could save, are fockipg to Nicks
burg in the steamers. Red river and is che
tributary, the Ouachita, are almost everywher
over their banks, covering many plantations
Along all the streams and bavous that emp
into ReI river there is the same ate of af
fairs, and some hundred thousand co.Ore,
people who have lost their all must live o.
IatiOns.
In Richland Parish the cattle and hogs ar
reported to be dying in large numbers The,
are unable to get anything 10 eat. an they di
from starvation and from tue effects of bites b
the guat1. Fires are built to run the gnat
away. In thcir efforts to get in the smoke tn
cattle in few minutes iramp!e the fire. out.
Memphis dispat h says: he flood ha
broken nearly all the railroad connections wit
Menu his. Passengers on boats give untavol
able accounts of tn" river. a gentleman VIII
made the trip from New Ol,a ans SAYS that o
Tnrrene the river is 100 miles wide. Ful.
fifty p neg,oes have lost their live
give five mules for a skiif. Back {
River on there is a single acre of unioode
land literally covered with Enakes. One o!
colored man is the sole human inhObital
thereof In many places starving cat lie tlgl
like cannil ais and are feeding on each othe
A negro living near Island No. 9S killel
deer that had swan three miles, and took
: to his cabin where h stock was. A sevcl
fight ensued between the negro and his catt
for the possession Of the deer, he having final
TO throw them parts of the animal TO ket
them quiet. People all along the banks of Il
ri er have cut away heir floors from the sid
of their houses, so that the floors will float {
op OF the water. AS yet no estimate Of Il
loss can be made.
General Beckwith, of the commissary d
partment has received the following from Ca
tain j. 5. Loud, at Memphis: " found Pemi
cot county, No, in a distressing condiuo
being almost entirely submerged, and abol
1900 people entirely destitute. The suppl
; sent to Gavoso are being carefully distribute
More should be sent there. The people W
be in just as bad a condition when the wat
goes down. The government TO prevent sta
walton, should care for them at least until Nj
l, About fifty people are destitute at Hath
way, Tenu., $50 at Tiptonville, 200 at Hale
Point, Tenn, $50 at bayfield, Point and s.
in the vicinity of Osceola, Ark, are destiru
y and badly in want"
d A Fervent and LacOnic Prayer.
During the session of 1858. when tI