Huntsville gazette., 1883-03-03
RUSHING WATERS.

Shawneetown, ILL.,, Surrounded by Rushing
Waters-The River six to Forty Miles
Wide. and Five Feet Higher Than Ever
Known-One Hundred and Forty Houses
Wrecked and Carried Away on the Tor
rent. -EFEF
tr EVANSVILLE, IND, February Is.
The condition of the people at shawnee.
town, Ill, is woiul in the extreme, the situa-
tion being greatly aggravated by the fact that
they are isolated from the balance of the
world, and their distress has not heretofore
been known to the public. No railroad no
telegraph line reaches the town, the only
means of ingress or egress being an occa-
sonal steamboat down and up the Ohio, and
almost the entire population are prisoners in
the upper stories of the houses, the river
there being six miles wide and the streets
having an average water depth of fifteen feet.
The actual condition is well set forth in the
following dispatch, which was to-day for
warded to Chicago
AN URGENT APPEAL.
SHAwNEETowN. I'LL, VIA EVANSVILLE, Feb
ruarv 2i.-To Marshall Field & Co.. Chicago:
Our people are overwhelmed with the most
appalling misfortune ever visited upon any
locality. The Ohio River here is five feet
higher than ever known and still rising. Our
wealth has gone down with the angry waves.
ing. We must have help. The river Is from
five to thirty five miles wide, and carrying
utter destruction before it. The loss in this
immediate vicinity will reach $3.50 600 at least.
We appeal to The charitable for assistance in
this time of need. We have been under water
for nearly three weeks, and it will take four
weeks for it to subside.
SWOFFORD BROS,
ALLEN & HARRINGTON,
NJ. NJ. Pool,
THos S. RIpGEwAY,
j. w. MILLSPAUGH, Mayor.
The situation at Shawneetown is by no
means exaggerated in the above dispatch.
The inhabitants have thus far sustained them
selves by what they had on hand when the
detuEe came, but this has been exhausted,
and scores of families are
GOING HUNGRY
from day to day. One hundred and forty
houses have been wrecked or tioated off, and
only thirty of the residences are now tenable
even in their upper stories. People, white
and black, are indiscriminately huddled in
the third stories of the Court house, POOLS
pork-house, the Catholic Convent. the public
school house, Wiseharts warehouse and
numerous other buildings that have high
floors. high wind has been blowing all
day, and there is great fear that some of the
structures. many of which are weak, may give
way and fearful catastrophe occur.
DpCiOIS DlHChciS anu ais, tilc lCtNuuE PhS
sicians, report that there has been serious
increase in the death rate, the undertaken
being called on to furnish about
THREE COFFINS A DAY
for the town and vicinity The water is six
feet deep on the levees and fourteen feet on
the lower portion of Main and Church streets,
the principal business thoroughfares, but at
the upper end of the town, where many
houses anu UrIi' nSie,'~~ir - \ r Ii
vile & Nashville Railroad deDots are situated,
it is twenty five feet deep. Up to six clock
this morning the river was still slowly rising
at the rate of two inches q day. a daily in
crease which has been regul arly maintained
for the past week. While the river is falling
above, ut Evansville, aud below at Cairo, it Il
vet on the rise at Shawneetown, a circum-
stance which is due to the mighty volume
which pours in just above from the Wabash,
ana the fact that at Caseyville, Just below, it
is only half mile from bank to bank, where
immense limestone cliffs loom mp on both
sides OF the river and form a sort OF narrow
funnel for the ocean of water to rush through
The river from Evansville to Shawneetown
has an average width of five or more miles.
For init en- miles, be4inn ng. at the point
called Bald Peak, on the Indiana shore, TO
II 1undPond Hill, on the Illinois side, there is
a width of ten miles, and opposite Union
town, Ky. near the confluence OF the ONO
and Wabash there is an inland Lake
FORTY MILES WIDE.
North Of Shawneetown land can be reached
within two miles, but to the west and north
west there is an unbroken sheet OF water for
nearly twenty miles Two thirds OF Gallatn
County, in which the town 10 situated, IS un-
der water. Thus it will be seen that Shaw
nee.own is surroundedby a moving sea which
can not be emptied into the Mississippi Tor
weeks to come, and that a month will proba-
bly, eiapse before even her streets are again
visible. s--e :. !.
Mayor Millspaugh and Mr.. NJ. M. Pool,
lead ng banker, said to-day that shawnee
town would be lucky if her streets were clear
of water in five We ks. There is not dollar
in the Town Treasury. Ex-State Treasurer
Ridgcwav of the first National Bank here,
ha thus far assumed all bills for groceries and
food furnished to the poor The committee
now en- route to Springfield viii ask the leg
stature to appropriate Sl00O one fourth, OF
which viii go to buy food and clothing Tor the
needy and the o. her three -fourtbs to rebnld
and heighten the levees that formerly sur
rounded tine town. Some aid, However, II. al
ready on its way to the suffering inhabitants
The Steamboat sabel left here this evening
having on board four carloads OF provisions
donated bv the indianapolis Board OF Trade.
Mr. George T. Branham, of that city, has
gone down in charge of thee aud he SAID
that indianapolis had plenty m ore TO send.
Big River at Cairo.