Morning journal and courier., 1884-02-14
News by Telegraph FROM ALL QUARTERS. THR LIGHT OF DAWN. A GliAmer of Hope for the
 Sufferers THE WATERS AT THEIR HIGHEST With Indications of An
 Early Fall.
GORDON PUSHING THE WORK
By the Removal of Esyp.
 tfan Officials.
THE WESTERN FLOODS.

Nearing The ClImax-The River at Near
 ly It's Greatest Height at CincinnatI-
 Signs of The End 'ApprOaching-A Ter
 rtble Picture of Misery and Wretched-
 ness.
 CINCINNATI, Feb. 13-It cannot be long now before the angry waters cease their hitherto irresistible progress and begin to fall back from the unnumbered miles of in vaded territory into their proper channels, yet in spite of this fact there is nothing hope full about the situation. In Cincinnati, Gov ington, Newport and the ten or dozen im- portant suburbs that are locked in the inun- dated district there are more than fifteen thousand houses wholly or partly under water. Many of these have sheds and outbuildings, one-third of which have been overturned, while not few have f1oated off bodily and fences have suffered terribly When the W aters go down, the owners of these houses will find them sadly dilapid ated and it will be at least month before things will regain their normal condition. Matters will not be so bad in the bottoms but along the river front the loss will be very heavy. Many foundations have been weakened and falling buildings and crumbling walls are becoming sIarmingly frequent In re- gard to the loss littleIcan as yet be estimated, but it was far greater than last year. Great, however, as will be the direct loss, the indi- rect loss will be far more. Business has been suspended almost entirely for 8 week, and when it will recover from the interruption is 8 matter of conjecture. The railroads have been stopped. No freight has been sent out or received and in addition the good name of tho city has suffered greatly. There is no disguising the fact that strangers look at the flood in very different light from Cincinnati ans and not knowing all the circumstances they are apt to draw unfavorable conclusions. It is simply repetition to say that the suffer ing among the homeless is steadily increasing. Those that had little now find their stock ex- hausted, and they must starVe or apply to the relief committee. From the upper Ohio comes the cry of the distressed and it is re- ported that thousands are without the bare necessities of life. Communication with these people is almost impossible, and this adds to the horrors of the situation.
 At five o'clock this evening the climax of the Ohio flood registered at the highest point at MaysvilIe, sixty miles up the Ohio from Cincinnati, and passed on down the river. If it shall not rain tonight it ought to reach the mouth of the Little Miami, seven miles up the river soon after daylight tomorrow. A sharp freeze would hasten it. The Little Miami is rising with recent rains at head waters and it may delay the climax all to- morrow forenoon somewhere between the mouth of the Little Miami river and Cincin- nati. The historic figure of the flood of 1884 will probably not exceed 70 feet and -i~ So ok fI,an oe less than half an inch an hour and at s o'clock D. m, stood seventy feet one and threeouarters inches. There is no present denoer that after it shall begin to fall the subsistence will be interrupted by another rise- Above Portsmouth the flood has done it's worst, though terrible scenes ot suffering must vet be passed through before the waters will be again in their banks and the neonie settled in their homes. As to the rate st which the waters will go down after reach ing their climax here some comforting assur
 ances may be drawn from the news that at Pomeroy it fell three feet in twen- ty-four hours after the highest point had been reached. Cold weather is promised for tonight. This will add to the suffering of the people camped on the hills and those who are living in the second story of their houses without fire but it will hasten the climax at CiDcin- natl and probably increase the rate of sub
 sidence after the river begins to fall No longer can words picture the terrible work of ruin and disaster spread in every direc ton by the increasing, ever swelling, relent- less sweep of the Ohio in it's mad rush. Ruin is seen on every hand, structures torn from their foundations and swept away in the current to leave thou sands of Gods poor homeless and in despair No pen can measure the bitter anguish, nor words the mental agony and physical suffer- ing of the unfortunate victims. The work of relief within our city goes grandly on, the expenditure of money and labor being freely made to prevent even the least worthy from suffering, while our neighboring cities of Newport and Covington and the villages bor- dering are exerting every means to alleviate the distress and want.