The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1884-02-13

} HANf ANfOO0 Va W liOAli alH ltOb tDlC w
occupy their houses. Fifteen thou
sand men are temporarily thrown
out Of employment by the stoppage
OF the mills and factories.
The public halls of both cities are
filled with women and children who
have been rendered homeless. and
everything possible is being done in
the way of furnishing them with
food and raiment to alleviate their
sutterings.
A Beaver, Pa, dispatch says that
the worst disaster there has been
the total destruction of two bridges
and the serious damage Of another.
Last night the pressure Of the water
on the Fallston bridge caused it to
give way, and the superstructure,
carried by the strong current against
the Cleveland and Pittsburg bridge,
carried it away bodily, together with
nearly 400 feet of the approaches.
The two bridges swept down the
Ohio until they came in contact
with the Pittsbure and Lake Erie
roads iron bridge. Just below Beaver
The approaches at both ends were
torn away and the bridge is in great
danger of going down.
The rivers at midnight were still
receding.
CINCINNATI, February THE
weather is becoming cooler, but no
decided change has yet taken place.
The river continues to rise slowly,
standing at 81 feet 10 inches at 10
O'Clock, a rise of half an inch in an
hour.
The price OF coal has been advanc
ed four cents per bushe(, on account
of the increased expense of getting
it from the barges. 1t has TO be
!ioated in SEQ Ss to the waters edge,
and then loaded by hand. The wa
ter supply is not yet in danger. The
only restriction has been upon its
use in hydraulic elevators.
The relief work keeps well up with
the necessities of the suffering. Food
has been promptly furnished to-day,
and boats patrol the flooded districts
to see that no cases of necessity are
neglected. Two fire engines, floating
on scows, are kept ready to be drawn
to any place where fire may break
out in the flooded district.
Telegrams have been sent to San
dusky, Toledo and Cleveland asking
for boats to be used for the relief of
families in the submerged districts.
Ten schoolhouses have been clos
ed in the submerged parts of the
city and placed at the disposal of
the relief committee for the accom-
mediation of the people driven from
their houses.
In Covington, Kentucky, relief
committee was organized to-day, and
the Legislature will be asked not to
collect this years taxes in the flood
ed districts.
The levee on the Miami River at
Lawrenceburg, Indiana. broke at 2
o'clock this morning, but as the
town was already submerged with
water from the Ohio not much more
damage could be done.
WHEELING, February THE riv-
er at p. H., was sixty-one feet and
SIX inches, and rising slowly. The
steamers Belle Prince and Princess
have been busily engaged all day in
bringing people from the Island.
More damage to property than was
ever experienced here before has
been done The fair ground is to-
tai wreck, and three houses came
down to-day from above. The wealth
er is cloudy and cool.
Vastly larger areas are submerged
than in 1882, and houses, barn and
bridges and straw and hay stacks
have been floating past here all day.
! The Wheeling Cheese Company los
es about $4,000 by water in the
cellars of its storage houses. The
merchants on Main, Water and
Market streets also lose heavily in
perishable goods now under water.
Several houses foated off on the
island and the South side to-day.
The losses will aggregate over a mil
lion dollars.
The water and gas works gave out
to-day, and tonight the city is in
darkness and at the mercy of fire il
one should start. The streets OF
half OF the city are nayigable only
in boats, and all sorts of improvised
crafts are plying as ferries. Many
people are still exposed on the
island. not a spot of which remains
above water. The work of removing
them goes bravely OH by skitis and
steamboats,.
A relief meeting was held this af-
T ternoon and $500 raised in half an
hour, and committees appointed to
look after the destitute.