The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1888-07-19
TURBULENT WATERS.
Low Lands Along the Monographs a
Sea Of Floating Debris.
Docks. Barges and Boats Sent AdrIft
by the Angry Flood.
Mrs Norton Will Not Go Back to- Her
Home for Fear Of Her Life.
Bald KuObbsrs Turning their Atten.
tion to Stealing Cattle.

PTTTsBURG, July 1.-THE freShet In
the Monongahela river is almost UMPIRE
cedented and great damage has beer
done to the river craft and property al
along the river to the head waters. The
suddenness of the rise took the river
men entirely unawares and they were
not prepared when the great volume OF
water burst upon them. Millions OF
feet of lumber, scores of coal craft
fences, out houses and coal tipples
have been floating down the swift cur
rent for the past eighteen hours.
The river at this point is still
Using with twenty-One feet nine
inches on the marks at 8 O'Clock. 1t
8 reported as stationary with twenty
five feet at Greensboro hundred
Tmiles above this city. At every point
between Greensboro and Pittsburg the
lowlands are under water and the resi-
dents have been compelled to live in
the upper stories of their houses and in
some cases to seek the hills for safety.
Many had not time TO remove their
goods as the water rose at the rate of
q foot an hour, and as the amount of
the rise was recorded in less than
twenty-fOur hours the damage of
property cannot be estimated at
to the thousands. A solitary barge
which broke away yesterday caused
over 5000 damage and this is but one
little item. So far but one life is re-
ported lost, that OF man named
George Getter, who was struck by a
parted cable and instantly killed.
The greatest damage to river craft
occurred between l 80 o o'clock this morn
ing and daylight. Shortly before 2
snlr 10 hn Of har 1,<a-
longing to jenkins Il Co. came down
the RIVER from the second pool and
struck the Smithfleld street bridge, the
huge barges turning end over end,
breasting the tow-bOat Barnard in
against the steamer Jacobs. Every whis-
tie on the river sounded the alarm and
rs the livid rays of the electric light
swept from side to side across the tur-
bulent flood, 1t presented wild sight.
Logs, barges and fuel boats were dashed
against the piers of the bridge and
snapped like twigs by the overWhelm-
ing force of the current. Half OF one
Jenkins boats lodged against the bot
tom. just below the Smithfield street
bridge and the water dashed over it,
throwing spray high into the air,
while the driftwood crushed and
cracked over the wreck with the grind
ing noise which adds to the horror of a
flood. Later the steamer Geo. Wood
broke her mooriDgs above the Fiji
teenth street bridge and came drifting
down the river, but was finally caught
and lowed to a safe harbor. The
ropes that held the half-sunken Gin
cinnati wharfboat, which the owners
had been struggling for twelve hours
to save, parted about this time and the
cumbersome craft was quickly swept
away. A few minutes later lot of
O'Neil's barges and twenty-six pieces
belonging to Joseph Walton & Co..
were cut from their moorings and car
ried down stream.
"Polish Town" located along the
bank of the Monongahela river be-
tweenthe foot of South and Twenty
second and South Twenty-fourth
street is in a sorry plight to-day.
There are nearly seventy-dve shanty
boats in that point occupied by over
$50 families aggregating population
of more than 500 people. All of these
with the exception of about a dozen
families camped out last night.
Early yesterday morning the trouble
began, and all day men, women and
children We're busy pumping water
out of the boats and removing their
goods to places of safety. BY night
ten boat houses had been sunk or cap
sized. The families who moved out
piled their goods along the Lake Erie
railroad and then the men did the
best they could to secure their shanties
while the women watched their pos
sessions by the light of wood fires.
At Williamsburg, Beckrun, portions
of McKeesport, California, MOnonga-
hela City, Bellevernon, Brownsville,
Fayette City and other towns along the
river are reported partly submerged
this morning. The water in some
places is above the first floor of the
houses, while piles of lumber, timbers
and drifts, in many cases, are jammed
against the doors and windows at va
Tious points. Along the lines of the
Pittsburg, Virginia & Charleston and
the Baltimore Il Ohio railroads the
tracks are under water and great diff
Guilty is experienced in running trains.
At 1920 o'clock this morning word
was received that lock No. 40. located
short distance above Monongahela
City, had been carried away by the
strong current. The loss from this
will be very heavy. 1t is impossible to
hear from many points up the river, as
the telegraph and telephone wires are
down and there is a complete cessation
of communication by telegraph or mail.
The sudden rise is believed to have
been caused by cloud-burst which
covered large section of southern
Pennsylvania and Western Virginia.
OucIO was uO IIcC III OLAc
Allegheny river. If the high water
had come from the north also, the flood
would have reached a greater height
than the great freshet of 1884. AS ii
is, none but the low lands will suffer
in this vicinity.
About 10 O'Clock saw mill. includ.
ing all the machinery, passed down the
river. 1t was swept from Bellevernon
Pennsylvania, sixty miles south of this
city, and was owned by Captain Cox
who valued it at 81 900. Early this
morning man with a wagon and team
of horses attempted to cross the Ohio
river below Sawmin run in fiat boat
When in the middle of the river he lost
control of the boat and was carried
down the stream. 1t is not known
whether the man was rescued or not
The telegraph companies report com
municatioD entirely cut off with Mouon
gahela and Grafton, West Virginia
Traffic on the main stem of the Balti
more s. Ohio road is suspended. TIVE
tunnels are filed to the top with debris