Milford chronicle., 1883-02-23
THE RUSHING WATERS.
incidents of the Terrible Flood in the Ohio
River.

Railroad Depot was made to the police
at the Oliver street station by Herm9n
/ Hilsberg, boy. lie says that he and
his brother Joseph, and thirteen 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 Gest
street, escaped and went home, and that
his brother and all the other boys were
drowned. He does not know the names
of the other boys. No other reports OF
missing boys have been made to the po-
lice
The loss by the flood at New Albany,
Indiana, is not less than $3.50, 600. No
lives have been lost. The farmers along
the Ohio River suffer greatly, many losing
their ent re crops. Six hundred families
are houseless anG many are destitute. All
the manufactures are stopped.
There are nearly 10000 workmen in
Cincinnati. Covington and Newport out
Of employment. All the factories in the
city have shut down, in order to avoid
the danger of a water famine along with
the flood. The loss to property in the
same district from the direct effect Of the
floods will be enormous, to say nothing
Of the loss of time and the effects of the
suspension Of business. Nobody knows
what the aggregate will be, but nobody
puts it at less than S5,OOO,OOO or
s6, 100000
On Wednesday night 1,500 people
who had been washed out of their homes
in Cincinnati by the flood, slept in
churches and school houses. Fifteen
hundred more were taken care of in pri-
vate families.
A dispatch from Cincinnati says: The
patience of the water-imprisoned people
is as admirable as it is touching. A sort
of grim resolution and cheerful pluck are
prevalent everywhere. Nearly all the
faces that look down from the windows
on the people navigating the streets be
low wear smiles, while compliments and
Jokes are exchanged across the streets
between neighbors. For miles, where
ever the flood has inundated tenanted
houses, the streets are full Of boats.
There are fully forty miles Of inhabited
streets which can only be traversed by
szifs. Most of these boats are plying
the waters on business, carrying food
and fuel, and sometimes clothlng-often
conveying the doctor. These boats
never stop day or night. AT night they
carry lanterns through streets lighted
with lanterns swung high on house
fronts. The scene would be as beautiful as
it is grand were it not inseparably associ-
ated with suffering, loss and destitution.
In one house in Louisville poor lady
was siek-too sick to be moved. She
had several children. The lower part Of
the house was flooded, but she believed
herself safe on the second story. When
the storm came she was terror-stncken.
The waves beat against the frame tene-
ment. She told one of the children to
look out of the window. Said the child:
"The floor is wet: somebody has poured
a heap of water on it. " The child waded
to the window. Ihump, thump, came
the waves. The dwelling rocked, the
poor woman prayed, while all outside
was the raging river. just then the
food gates Of Heaven seemed suddenly
closed and the wind ceased. This was
at about four o'clock in the morning. The
house, though rudely shaken, stood firm
and the poor woman and children were
saved.
A woman was found in Louisiana who
had been drowned. In her arms was the
corpse Of her infant child. 1t was grasped
SO tightly that it was with difficulty re-
moved. A little romance was developed
in Cincinnati amid all this want and
suffering. About two weeks ago Ben
Krapperer was married. When the water
came over the "fill Ben was absent
,,.,.l-;r~. % Az, ,,;1I He v-ofrror wife
was rescued by the iremen and furnished
quarters at the school building. 1t was
thought that the husband had been
drowned and the wife was in sore dis
tress. Ben made his appearance at the
schoolhouse. 1t was the first time that
he had seen his bride of only a few
weeks since their home was swept away
by the floods. Each had thought the
other LOST. Mr.. Stoll did not know their
relation and was at first inclined to kick
the husband out Of the building, but
when they told their story he Withdrew.
All along the Ohio shore, in Pendle
ton, are great houses, and the water IS
up to their very caves, while barges Of
coal and RATS Of timber face inland from
them. In ordinary stages of water,
these buildings stand high on the bank,
hundreds of feet from the shore, and
completely out of view to any observer
standing on the deck of a steamer in the
river. For a stretch of four miles down
the Ohio River, from Crawiish Creek to
the water works, this scene is repeated.
A few steamers at the docks are snugged
in as closely as possible to the Ohio
shore, and half way between the water
works and Sportsman's Hall little stern
wheel steamer now steams up against
the current, now floats down with it, like
q tireless sentinel on his beat.
Great difficulty has been experienced
IN saving furniture. A method Of saw
ing personal property in Dayton is to
,ut holes through the upper hoor with
an ak, break through the plastering be-
low and draw the piano up to the ceiling
with ropes let down through theseh holes.
Many instruments in that village have
been saved by suspending them above
-h7 water in this way.
Shippingport has been abandoned en-
Iirely TO the destructive waters. Occa-
5ionaly some house pops up from It's
foundation and is carried away. Last
night some half dozen houses were seen 4
born upon the current past Portland.
Thursday morning three men passed
down the river upon the roof Of a shed,
and when near the Eighteenth street
bridge, across the canal, their cries at
tracted the attention of young man
named Robert Birch, who rescued them
by means Of skiff. Their names were
not learned.
In one Of the bonded warehouses IN
Reororass Creel, . 600 barrels of whisky