The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1884-02-14
AND THE FLOODS CAME.

pittsburgh, Pa submerged and Ihou-
sands of People Home1sss-Cineinnati,
Wheeling, Louisville and other Points
Similarly Visited-AIIlIions of Dollars
Damage, Many Lives Lost, and Traftic
Very Largely Suspended.
PIrTsBuRGH, PA, Feb. 8.
This has been a day of terror to the Tesi-,4
idents of this city, Allegheny and sur
rounding towns. What the night win bring /.
| forth no one can say. The streets and "a +
| majority of the houses in both cities in
| complete darkness, the gas-worlzs having
been submerged early in the day. Com
/ munication between the cities is difficult
| and dangerous, and thousands of families t
| are homeless, while other thousands are inn
| prisoned on the second and third floors of I
| their homes without food or fire. The flood I
| is the greatest in the history of the city I
with the exception of that in the spring of
1882 when the. rivers reached thirty-fiye /
| feet from its headwaters to the point. The |
| Monongahela River has overflowed its |
banks. Manufacturers of every descrip- /
tion were compelled to suspend operations
early in the day, and their machinery is
now covered from six to eight feet.
In this city everything within quarter
| of a mile of the yilarvess has been flooded. /
This morning the scene in all that portion
4 of the city known the Point District
were of the most distressing character.
The water had driven all the occupants of
dwellings to the upper floors, and the only
| communication between the houses andthe
dry land was by means of skiffs or rudely
| constructed RATS, upon which men, women
and children, with curious aggregation
of food, fuel and household gools, hoated
| about seemingly without intent or purpose.
| At the Duquesne Depot hundreds OF teams
were engaged in removing goods which had
been stored there, while men on floats re-
covered valuable property from train or
? | freight cars which had been left ON a siding
. | on Water street. The water at the fOo5 of
Penn street early in the day reached such
| AaV0fh fna4 x4rqC m
End and Union Line cars TO reach the
bridges, and at noon they were compelled
! to suspend operations. In many places
the water for squares is six and eight feet
: deep. All the lumber-Yards and saw-mills
along the river banks have been swept
, away. In the center OF the city no lnc0n-
T. venience was experienced until late this
afternoon. Then the water commenced to
, enter cellars, and the majority were food
: ed. The morning newspapers are great
, In Alleghahy the scene beggars descrip-
ion. The Exposition grounds are the DOT
= tom of river, and South avenue IS swift
Il running stream of water that can not be
G | distinguished from the river itself, and
barges, RATS and boats are moored to the
second-story windows otthe Duhqlngs @ Ina0
: line It's west side. The water made It's way
i through Isabella, Robinson and Laycock
streets, and was only stopped by the en-
bankrnent of the West Pennsylvania Road,
S where it rose to height of fully six feet.
Federal street, being higher than the others,
n | kept the flood back to the alley between
. Robinson and Laycock, but on Morganla and
. all adjoining thOrOughfares 1t ruSned Clear
IS up to the track, burying fullE one-half the
Y city beneath it. The southern section of
town suffers the most, so far as.extenI OF
ground covered goes, but the whole first
= plateau of the city is under water. - Ihe
t, wards that are the most drowned out are
the First, Fourth, Sixth, Fifth and Eighth.
Many families on River avenue and adjoin-
IS ing thoroughfares moved out last night,
= and this morning those VINO had no place to
. go took refuge in the second stories. The
's lower floors are in nearly every instance
left just as when inhabited, and carpets,
g furniture and household goods are float
ing around. 1t is safe to estimate l,0OO
bouses in this condition. Many OF the peo-
Is pie in the flooded districts have no place to
4, go, and in many houses there are no fires
IA | or cooking convenienCes on the second
floors and no fuel to cook with If there was.
Boats manned by policemen and volunteers
d are removing the imprisoned famlles as
"a fast as possible, but on account of the'dark
= ness many viii have to remain until morn
IS ing,
y Early this morning the Sixteenth street
u bridge was declared unsafe, and none ven
le tured upon it. At dark the water was rush
ing over its floor timbers, and its gong
down is mere question of time. The cen,
III ter span of the Ewald street bridge IS sald
a to be badly bulged and liable TO go at any
moment The Tenth street railroad bridge
l. shakes and trembles with every gorge that
y surges against its stone piers. The railway
50 company has kept it loaded with heavy en-
gines and trains all day, and hope IN TINS
,s manner to weight it down and save lU and
- the lower bridges ii the Sixteenth sUreeG OF
"a | Forthwith street structures come GOWN up
on it. All the railroads, even the PennSyI
NJ | vania, are under water, and some have SUI
wv fered severely from land slides.
We The Mayors of both cities have IssueC
80 proclamations calling for relief for the 5,0O'
families whose houses are flooded. Seyera
or | large halls have been thrown openIor theh
u accommodation.
re West Newton is almost completely sub
)e- merged and as the country thereabout il
sparsely settled, those who have been dl,lR
tn en- from home are suffering greatly. On'
ward of McKeespOrt and sections OF tw'
'P1 others are deserted, and from Braddocks
ed Homestead, Sharpsburg, Etna, Hens Is
land GIenwoOd, HaZelwOOd and Othe
o small towns come tales of distress.
S'7 The marks at eleven o'clock p m, show
&C stage of thirty-four feet three inches. u b
Irs bridge across the Allegheny River at Kit
tanning has been swept away: 1t was
a fine structure, and cost Sl50,000. A sectlol
Gu of the bFidge at Freeport has also been car
as, ried away and the bridge damaged $4,000
us This evening John G. Weyman, of the frn
+o of Weyman Bros, tobacco manutactuFeFs
~ was sucked into a sewer and drowned.
- A careful estimate of the loss in this cit
I based on figures furnished by losers, is a
ne follows: Manufacturers, S229,001; WorE
le- mems wages lost, $3.50, 900; families who's
ON homes are flooded, S125,O00; owners
ev ho 1ded property, $3.50, 600; goods damage
- in cellars and business houses, $3.50 090
oe lumber dealers, 100000; railroads, 500
the coo; surrounding towns, 100000. Tota
Two more lives are reported to have bee
e lost in the lower part of Allegheny sine
Oi midnight The names can not be aseei
nix, tanned. Twenty houses have -falleu dow
J. and many others are expected to disappea
i before morning. The river is still risin
lu' slowly.
nd CINCINNATI, Feb. g.
vas There is a tradition of a flood in the IOhi
*, in 1898, when Cincinnati was but 1Ve yeai
of old, that was greater than that of last ~ el
ruary. There are no records of 1t, but IL
- believed to have been trife above sevenI
az feet. The first inhabitants heard from Gn
ays Indians a story of a still higher food. IN
ert was when the whole valley was eoyere
rev with dense, lofty forests. No man no
a. doubts that the present flood VII! De u u
vas night, with the rain still falling, the mo-
hopeful look for not less than seventy Ie'
should the rain stop tonight. But the clt
is gloomy with gray fog, and the cloue
ur- are black with threats of prolonged storm
- No wonder then that the timid and appr
- hensive fear seventy feet OF water oS1 oS1ol
ken the worst is over. Competent judges 100
ked ing the situation calmly in the face fear q
ard | rise will exceed seventy-five feet FreP
| rations for the worst is the solitary occ
patton of the people in Cincinnati to-nlgn
mel as it has been all afternoon, and VIII oe heI
ton after till the worst is over. Nc one hurIie
- | Haste is visible eyerywhere, but Wltho
"6 excitement The universal cheerIuIhe
nB which prevails is an astonishing eVlden
A of the universal prevalence OF pluck. II
ger, cheeTfulness almost amounts TO 1oAlby.
Sc On the suspension bridge thousands
people stand gazing up and down the rive
1as looking at Covington and the hills oaek
49, it. The city is apparently sunken SIX
feet and the high hills back Of it dwarfs
he by the towering height OF the rolling delui
cir- in the rivers channel. All signs OF MS