Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-03-16

town, Tn.--Isavnges of the Floods Between
Those Two observation-disclosures OF Desola-
tion and Destruction.
Especial to Chicago Tribune.1
EVANSVILLE, In L, March 1.
| Your correspondent arrived in Evansville
yesterday morning. and embarked on the
steamboat Queen City at noon for the stricken
| village of Shawneetown, which is some
I! seventy miles below here on the Ohio River.
| The river at Evansville had not risen high
enough to damage any property. though the
| back.water In the sewers had flooded q num-
| Der of Easements. The water has fallen some
seven or eight feet since the extreme high
| water mark was reached and now everything
| Is high and dry here, much to the satisfac ton
of the citizens. The Queen City had run less
than a mile down the river when the pano-
rama of Oscillation and waste began To unfold
| itself on either side of the river. No one who
| is unacquainted with these overfows can be-
| gin To realize what the water has done in the
way of causing damage to property and suffer
| ing among the people. The sight as seen from
the boat for a distance of seventy miles was
| awful mt times neither bank being In sight,
| and only the tree-tops and housetops being
Wis BILE above the surface Of the water. The
| weather was beautiful, and the br ght sun
| appeared to be hooking at the ruin 1t gazed
upon.
| The pilot of tie Queen City said he had trav-
eled on tho river for twenty years, and had
never witnessed such a sight before, and
other ola river men aboard echoed the state
ment.
| few miles below Evansville several houses
and barns were discovered floating down
stream with the current,
All along the river on either side corn-crbs
full to the top with corn could be seen half
under water, although built on stills to pro-
| tect them from the usual expected over
| flows; but this present one was much too high
| for them.
Several times the pilot was obliged to slow
down and take his bearings. even In the bright
light OF day, as he feared to run into hidden
house, bank, or ciump OF trees. Indiana on
| the right and Kentucky on the left could
| scarcely be distinguished at times, and il
looked as though the boat was running upon an
open sea- This statement might appear in
credible, but 1t is true, nevertheless. Occa
| sionally high and hilly bank would be en-
| countered, upon which tue householders were
safe from the flood; but the banks were gen
| orally low bottom Ian is What hills were to
| he seeh were usually on the Kentucky shore.
| AT one point on the indiana shore the boat
passed withia fifty feet of a house half under
water, surrounded by a watery waste.
Twelve miles below Evansville, Henderson,
| KY, one of the weathiest tobacco-shipping
| ports in the State, was passed. 1t is situated
on high plateau, and has not been molested
by the food. The Indiana bank opposite is all
| under water.
The p lot said he had passed New Albany,
lnd., and the destruction there had be IN very
| large. The water there had rect ded and the
citizens were trying to wash their houses with
hose but the water had frozen as il fell, and
everything was coated with ice. The railroad
track was in frightful condition, being torn
up and wrenchcd out of shape by the action of
the waves. There was great deal OF suffer
| ing, too, he said at Lawrenceburg, KY, which
he had just passed Not expecting such a
| serious flood, the citizens had neg ected to re-
move their household goods to places OF safe
~, ana there WAS not cook-stove I'm the town
ABOVE water. They had received -four and
provisions from Cincinnati, but could not cook
them.
Occasionally on the river the tops of fences
could De seen peepng out of the water, but
the water had carried away nearly every
fence. One fine looking farmhouse, out.
buildings, windmill and corn-cribs were seen,
but the water had driven every one away. and
they were utter deserted. In some places
helds of corn could just be distinguished by
waving tops above the water. In some of the
deserted houses the doors had been broken
open and the windows forced In by the swells
from passing steamers and the high winds
that have prevailed rec ntly, and the water
could be seen surg ng about in the halls and
| parlors.
For the distance of half milo ON the Tn
diana shore nothing could be seen but a scare
| crow planted evidently in a field of corn II,
arms Mapped fiercely on the breeze. as IL de-
Tying the elements. Once in aw lille men could
be seen pulling about the deserted houses in
skifs, probably looking after property they
| had been obi ged to abandon in fleeing from
| the flood. Then again houses CO lid be seen
| up-ended by the water, and everything in them
| rendered worthless and inaccessible DC.
casionally submerged churches and school
houses could be seen along the rivcr front
with doors broken open and windows battered
In that had evidently been tho oertor of the
little village that had been washel away.
Right near one of these was the top OF
dilapidated building bearing the sign ssDry
| Goods and Groceries"
AT one place number Of men were engaged
! in saving the dry corn by loading Il on Hat
boat Near by was a house that evidently had
not been deserted, as from ono Of the uppeS
windows woman waved her handkerchief nj
the boat, and dog on the upper piazza barked
| furi ously in answer to the boat 8 whistle. The
first floor of the house half under water
ana the water-mark showed a fall of four feet
| occasionally the pilot took It into his head to
make snort cut TO save time, and he would
run across places under which was what would
be high and dry land in low water.
| Inc Ittie village or west fran Kiln, Ind. was
nearly all under water, about fifty of the sixty
houses being submerged. But it IA 8 tuated
right at the bottom Of line of hills, and the
inhab tants escaped in safety, taking a good
deal of property with them.
Diamond Island said to be the largest island
on the Ohio River, wa all under water. 1t is
one OF the richest pieces OF land in this part of
the country and is owned by one man, who
cutivates 20 acres. His losses will be enor
nous.
Mount Vernon, Ind, forty miles below
Evansville, is another billy town that escaped
the ravagcs of the food, though Some houses
on the flats b low suffered. Just bel wv there
four little cottages were seen lodged i'm the
branches of trees, having been carried away
from their foundations.
Soon after the stricken Shawneefown WINS
siehted. AS the boat drew nearer the inn
pre- ssiOn that the disaster there had been ex-
aggerated to the outside world was ds-
PEELED. What was once popuous little
town of 1000 Inhabitants. AMI the communi-
ty the richest in propOrt on TO Its size in ILL
nois was wrecked AMI scattered, The wharf.
boat, The hotel and the courthouse were the
only buildings that were high above the WA
State board of Charities OF illinois who was
sent TO Shawneetown by Governor Hamilton
TO look over the ground, returned to Evars.
vile In S aftern on the II. It. Dexter, and
sent the following dispatch TO Spring1e.d:
"EvANsvIbLE, Ind, March
Governor John NJ. Hamilton, Springfield, ILL.,:
II have arrived from Shawneetown. I met
the Legislative Committee going down. Re
ports are not exaggerated. The Ind Annapolis
Relief Committee now here, say that Shaw
There are five hundred or six hundred ho,rses
In the town every one Of which is under the