The Dickinson press., 1891-09-19
The Floods i'm Spain,


MADRID, Sept. To- Tie OVERLOOKING
of the ConsueRla threatens to cause
further damage. Two thirds of the
houses practically destroyed are still
standing. hut their foundations are
shaly and they tbre atep to fall at any
moment. The families saved from
drowning are camped near the dwell
ings formerly occupied by them, and
are in the greatest distress from want of
food. An estimate lasscd as a moderate
one, and which is within rather than
owe r the actual number. places the total
of the death list at 1000. A large mum.
Der of corpses still rest where they were
found, and unless they are soon inferred
an epidemic of fever is feared. The
municipal and government authorities
are exerting themselves to the utmost
in order to relieve the extreme distress
existing. So far as possible the bodies
OF the drowned are being gathered from
the streams, mud banks and ruins and
ore being buried in trenches dug for
their recepti n. Many of the bodies
found are entirely nude. showing that
they must have been washed
from their beds, or else in the
hurry to escape were drowned.
the people must have jumped in night
drt SIS from II windows Of the houses
only to meet death in the swollen waters
surging around them. Sorrow and
privation, mourning and DISSOLUTION are
to be met with everywhere through the
inundated provinces and from one end
of Spain to the other prayers are ut
tered for the dead and collections are
being taken up for the living. Already
the river banks near the scene of the
most sever ly visited districts heart.
repding occurrences are witnessed
hourly as survivors OF the almost exter-
minat,d families recognize their dead
and try to save tn, m from consignment
to the conn on death trench. The ut
most praise is due TO troops, physicians
and clt rs Y. and to the Sisters of Charity
who, in this emergency have shown
themselves TO be ain. ost superhuman.
CROPS ARE GONE,
cattle swept away. hor ses and house,
hold furniture burned, and all that
would enable TIE m to earn their bre ad
has vanished Extr. me distress and
positively ,avenous feeling OF starvation
prevailing in many sections of the food
devastated country has another and if
possible a blocker side. The gripings
Of hunger, the wailing of starving
women and children have, in several
instances, driven men to desperation
and they have been goaded to pillage
their luckier or more wealthy com.
panions. Bands of desperate men de.
termined to obtain bread at any cost for
their destitute, hungry frmilies have
been driven to make raids upon and
pillage buildings where they expected
to find food. In some cases the rioters
were succt ssful in obtaining o limited
supply of -four, wheat and corn. In
most cases they found that they had had
their troubles for nothing and that all
the food had long ago been removed to
q place of safety or else distributed or
sold to the starving peasani1y of the
neighborhood. The troops have been
instructed to take the most severe mea
ures to protect property. Two thousand
boxes Of army bread have already ar
rived in the flooded district and the
commisarat corps If all the military
divisions are working might aud day tc
supply provisions to the starving people.
When the government delegate in
charge of the first consignment Of bread
from the army bakers arrived in the
flooded country he witnessed a seen.
which would have impaired to o heart Of
stole a feeling Of sympathy: On all
sides he wa beset ly furnishing in.
habitants. young and old. male and
fen ale, a mSjo,ity half naked or clad in
rags, ard most # them on their knees
with hands uplifted. praying
of thts SO poor People made the work
of distribute SLOW aud painful. and
whtn all the bread was gone there still
remained many mouths untitled. Many
sufferers Lad lot lten able to obtain
even the smallest porti n of this limited
relief. AT A.meria the capital of the
province OF that name, the number OF
dead, as in many other places. is still
unknown, hut it is admitted 500 houses
have leen destroy ed and that a large
number Of p,ople have pelished. Oi
course, it ia in possible at present to gel
the full! details of the flood disaster, but
in addition otLe placrs all eady referred
to at Andraise. the stream has over
flowed and is running the grape crop
The villages of PuIo. Lapishe and Wills
France, in the province of Cindad Reat
have been severely ravag. d by the food.
Accounts from Consuegra are appall-
ing in the extreme. The town is a hear
of ruins, surrounded by q vast expanse
of water, leaving here and there tree
tops, chimneys, and floating wreckage
of all kinds. The police have suppressed
the pi)lapinp Food is arriving for the