Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-02-15
WIDE WASTE OF WATERS.
DEATH AND RUIN IN THE OHIO
VALLEY

WAFER iallng, Win light rain prevailing,
which caused apprehensiOns of more dis
asters. The situation is alarming. and
business is almost wholly suspended.
Many merchants lose goods and manufac-
turers lose heavily in damage to Omachinerv
and stock aside from the loss of time.
More than thousand business firms and
manufactures are thus prostrated, yet
business men are not disheartened nor
selfish, and for two days poured in their
contributions for the relief of the suffering
poor. Thirty to forty thousand workmen
are out of employment. Both houses of
the Legislature passed a bill authorizing
relief loan of 100000.
CINCINNATI, Feb. 14.-Additional gloom
was cast over the people this morning by
the river rising under the influence of a
steady, hard rain, after it had fallen to
sIXty-four feet ten and three-fourth inches.
The rain advanced from the west. thus
checking the rivers fall, and extended as
tar as Pittsburg. Unless it stOps
speedily there is no hone of
the rivers receding at present.
Grave fears are entertained that the great
height reached yesterday will be sur
passed. The rain seriously embarrasses
the work of the Relief Committee, but
food. Soup houses will be opened to-day
IN various parts of the city to feed
those who are able to get to them.
Bishop Elder has ordered all the Cath
lie Churches to be kept open to
accommodate the homeless, and sent a
circular to the churches to-day asking for
contributions to be sent to the Chamber of
Commerce and City Council Relief Com
mlttee. The Sinking Fund Trustees will
advance money on the bonds yesterday
authorized by the Legislature, so that re-
lief will be prompt. Many cases
of extreme destitutiOn are reported
by the relief boats, in some cases
the frantic cries of starving children
for food are heartrending. The bakeries
not inundated are worked to their fullest
capacity to keep up the supply of bread.
There have been some fears of meat
famine, on account of the difficulty in
receiving live stock, but several thousand
rescued distillery fed cattle can be uti-
lZed in case of necessity.
The river had reached height of sixty
five feet at half-past , O'Clock to-day and
is still rising. The rain, however, is less
heavy.
Reports from points both up and down
the river indicate that the river continues
to fall ~ Portsmouth and MaysYille,
slowly at the latter place. The first au-
thentic report concerning the loss of life
at the Cincinnati Southern Railroad
depot yesterday was made to-day to the
police at Oliver street station
by Herman Wilsberg, a boy living
at No. IL Whitestack street. He saws
that he and his brother Joseph and thir-
teen other boys were on the platform
when the water broke through Mclean
avenue, and that the entire party were
thrown into the water; that he swan
to Guest street and escaped, and went
home; that his brother and all the other
boys were drowned. He does not know
the names of the other bows. No other
reports of the missing boys have been
made to the police.
The river at 8 o'clock tonight was
siXty-siX feet and three-quarters of an
inch above low water mark and rising
slowly. The day has been the gloomiest
in the history of the city. Business was
wholly neglected on Change, all atten-
JiOn being given to saving property
and affOrdIng relief. While the un-
expected rise of nearly foot
to-day has made very great change appa-
rently in the situation, there is such an
uncertainty about the future that all
above and below. The weather is warm,
almost sultry. The effect of this uncertain
ty is to cause another lifting to higher
levels of vast quantities of goods hitherto
supposed to be above the reach of the
water. This is done at immense labor
and under the most trying circumstances.
The water now stands in the cutters on
the south side of Pearl street
and in Walnut. The Little Miami
longer able to cross Newport bridge.
The Louisville and Nashville train
receive passengers on the trestle at the
Cincinnati end of the bridge. They reach
it by boats. The Cincinnati, Hamilton and
Dayton road, which has been the only
outlet for trains north and east, tonight
went under the flood to such an extent
that no trains could pass. This leaves
the city practically cut off from
east and west by rail COM
munication, except that the Bee Line
Railroad still runs trains, leaving from
the stock yard station. This outlet is also
accessible by the Cincinnati, Washington
and Baltimore trains, and they may
enter and depart in that way.
The difficulty on the Cincinnati, Hamilton
and Dayton Railway is not fully under
stood, though the water on the track in
the city limits is sufficient to account for
its stOppage. Three hundred passengers
are waiting at WintOn Place for trans
pOrtatiOn by omnibus into the city. The
Cincinnati Southern Railway sent
out trains tonight, and received
one, but the water has so permeated Nc
Lean avenue that wagons sank to the
hubs while removing express and bag
gage, and lively fears are entertained that
the whole street will sink under the trains.
No effort will be made tomorrow to
ran on this road into the city. There is
no point this side of the bridge where pas
SengerS can be taken on the cars. 1t can
not yet be told what arrangements will be
made for forwarding mails, or even
what will be done about running trains.
But single road is now able to reach its
depot, that is the Cincinnati Northern
Narrow Gauge, which comes into the
city over a hilltop. and has a depot ten
squares from the river. Not a steamer is
running. There is no place to land.
LOUISVILLE, Feb. 1.-THE relief
steamer yesterday, in passing through the
submerged district of the city, found
man clinging to a tree. When he was
approached he urged the rescuers to go at
once to a house which he pointed out, say
ing that a woman with three children were
in it. Before the relief boat reached it the
house turned over and was carried away
in the rush of waters. The man clinging
to the tree was rescued. and declared that
woman and several children were in
the house when it turned over, He did
not know their names. On ''The Point
at ShippingsPOrt and Portland l. 600 houses
are under water, the majority of them
owned by poor people. The authorities
have taken steps to provide food and shell
ter. The Board of Trade is raising funds
and individuals are subscribing literally.
Entertainments for the benefit of the suf-
ferers will be held.
The Ohio river has reached a height of
forty-one feet six inches above the falls,
and is still rising one inch an hour. There
are reports from upper points of rain and
the continued rise of the Ohio and its
tributaries, which create intense excite
ment. Business is practically at a stand
still, and no boats arrive or depart. Trains
on the railroads are irregular, and many
have stopped entirely. Men who have
followed the river for many years
predict that if the river does
not soon reeede, the water will
cut across the east end and surround
the CITY. The widest estimates of DAM
age to property continue to be made, but
nobody knows what estimate should be
made. Nothing further is known regard
ing the loss of life by the cutoff disaster,
owing to the impossibility of entering the
houses save by means of divers. With
the people on the street the floods is the
only subject of discussion. 1t is gener-
ally agreed that the loss of life is not eX-
traOrdinarily large.
MADISON. IND, Feb. 1.-THE river is
rising one and a half inches per hour.
Milton, KY, opposite Madison, is COM
pletely submerged, not house being eX-
empt from overflow. Large cables are
being used to anchor the build
ond floors of many dwellings.
Fulton. an eastern suburb of this city,
has been abandoned, and all of the front
and the extreme western section of the