The morning call., 1890-04-02
GREAT DISTRESS.
Mississippi Floods Increasing
in Extent.
Negroes Encamped on the LeVees With
g out Any Shelter From the Rain.
Urgent Need OF Rsllsi-BOats to Aid in Res
euing Life and PrOperty-The
Situation at New Orleans.
Special by the california Associated Press.

MEMPHIS, April 1.-Information from
down the river this morning is of the most
distressing character The crevasses are
constantly widening, and thousands of
acres, heretofore untouched, are being sub
merged. Reports of loss of ife are coming
in, as well as of various casualties.
At Greenville below here there is great
destitution, as well rs at Laconia Circle,
some distance this side. For several days
the negroes who live in the bend between
Pleasants and Mounds Landing have been
camping on the levee with what little stock
and supplies they saved from the water.
All of last night beating rain came down
upon chem, and as they are in many in
stances even without tents to protect them.
they mnst have suffered greatly. They are
appealing to every passenger-boat for help.
The Government boats are rendering all
the assistance possible, but there are only
two of them there, and they cannot relieve
all the distress that existSa What is needed
is relief boat to take the people and what
little they have succeeded in saving to
| place of safety The loss sustained by the
people in Mississippi cannot be easily esti-
mated. Steamboat men say it Will be fully
a week before the crevasSe, f0rty-five miles
below Memphis, can affect the Tallahatchee
or YazoO rivers, and that planters will be
sable TO save their stock with little trouble
or expense, having had timely warning.
Xicksburg and vicinity is full of stock from
the oytrti9wed regions.
The Government steamer Titan, Cap
taia Smith S. Leach in command, is
at work in the relief of the devas-
tated districts down the Mississippi
The actual suffering, want and distress
oh, f.,v
natives is appalling. The havoc of the furi-
Gus waters is almost complete. Devastation,
annihilation and starvation expresses the
situation. The demand for assistance and
succOr is imperative, and every hour it is
withheld adds intensity to the horrors
which the brave people have to face aud are
heroically battling against.
The whole country is covered with water
from eight TO twenty feet deep, rushing
relentleSsly on to the sea, carrying life and
property whirling and crashing through
the mad torrent.
The boat carries four barges capable of
holding 100 head of stock and any amount
of storage each, two flats for ferrying pur-
poses and five substantial skiffs on which
to send out into the country relief stores.
The boat also carries fair supply of pro-
Wis ions consisting of crackers, biscuit and
corned beef.
All along down on the Mississippi side
where the leyee could be seen by the aid of
glasses 1t was discernible that it was hold
ing its own against the heavy pressure,
with from foot to two feet of G ood broad
sodded crown to spare. Here and there
could be seen where the costly barriers had
been sloughed off,
At Anderson's Landing the levee is
strong and can apparently withstand two
feet more of water.
At Mattapan the !evee still holds
of the levee are submerged and deserted.
Across from MdttaPan. below Ludlow,
Ark, everything is overflowed. People
are up In the second stories of their houses,
and horses, mules and COWS are on lily con-
strueted stomps," over which the water is
running foot or more deep.
| AT Australia all the town lying between
the river and levee is under water, and
many Of the houses are deserted.
AT st. Louis and below divers Point on
| the Arkansas side at the head of Island
| SiXty-siX, little was to be seen except the
roofs Of the houses.
Malopes is almost washed away; so is
| Wildwood, and Robertsyille is Just above
water. This place is a large one, and the
| destruction seems to be about complete.
| The people, or those who remain, have been
| forced almost to the roofs of their houses
and the stock, Of which there is large
number, are on "Stomps" that are well under
water The "stomps," wherever they are to
be seen, though filed with stock, seem to
| be poorly mprovised; they have slender
| foundations, being stllted up oil any kind
| of posts that were convenient to be had in
| moment of danger.
AT tLaconia Circle desOlatiOn and anni-
! hilation may we'll be added to the picture.
! Ihe houses are all submerged, and
! many of them gone Near the
main business, house stands an i'm
rraT. u
! stout posts, and the water nearly reaches
| to the floor. This big house is filled with
| eOl0red people, $50 or more, all crowded
and huddled together A broad scat
! iold work is constructed in front of
! it, and on this scafOld, when
| the Titan came up these darkies, all looking
| smiling enough, we're out summing. In front
! Of The stores, on similarly constructed high
/ scaifolds, were numbers of other people,
| whites and blacks mingled together, there
were cows, big and little, mules and horses,
most Of them knee-deep in water and i'm
| patient to get away, but instinct told them
! that they could not swim the sea, and they
| stamped about and dared not venture be-
| yohd the little land they temporarily held.
! stretching far down over the Watery waste
was a settlement resembling a small viii
| lage, and in the center of which stood
| Zlon's Chapel, the colored Baptist
| Church, large and spacious. where $50
| people had been driven by the flood and
ten to twenty feet deep. These people,
too, were in sore need of food and anxious
! to get away from the church.
AT NEW ORLEANS.
NEW ORLEANS, April 1.-The situation
| to-day along the front OF the Yazoo district
| is desperate. 1t looks as if the greater part
| of the YazOo Delta will be flooded. The
| water from tile breaks up the river is NOV
| ing southwark rapidly, and the country for
many miles inland is submerged. The
IL h. h.Iu
| ern Railroad has been stopped by the over
| flow from the Pecan Grove crevasse. The
| Vcksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railroad
| is also in danger from this break. 1t has
! been found utterly impossible to close the
| cTeYasses except below this city, Those
above continue to grow larger The losses
| as yet are not very large except to stock.
| Many refugees nave come here from the
flooded districts. The river is falling here
aud is now fourteen inches below the high
est mark. 1t is believed the Louisiana
levees below Red River will h6 30
SURROUNDED BY WATER.
| ST. LOUIS, April Terrible suffering is
| reported among the people at Laconia Cir
| Gle. The tract Of country between Helena
and Arkansas City is practically sur
| rounded by the Mississippi and White
| rivers. The waters have poured over the
| levees and Hooded the entire peninsula to
| depth OF eight feet. Houses have been
| swept away and live stock dro wned. No
| loss OF life is yet reported.
DUNN NOT ALARMED.
NEW YORK, April When told that the
| New Orleans Board of Trade intended to
ask for his resignation for prophesying the
| present flood there, Sergeant Dunn Of the
| Weather Bureau said:
think the New Orleans people are act
| ing foolishly in the face of the present
danger. No matter what they say, they
| will have their hands full looking after their
| city. They may have my head if they want
it, but think they had better protect their
people The only portion of the report
/ that has been mlSrenresantad Is that " illch