Morning journal and courier., 1891-09-16
NEWS BY TELEGRAPH.
 From All Quarters. THE FLOODS IN SPAIN. Hundreds Drowned in Their Beds at Toledo. 4 BANK CASHIERS ENORMOUS THEFT The New York and MasSa-
 Chusetts Conventions. BALMACEDA'S ESCAPE FROM CHILL. Connecticut Soldiers at
 Gettysburg.
THOUSANDS DROWNED.

Terrible Results of the Floods iI. Spain-Whole Towns and Villages DestroYed-Railroad dTrainsThrown From the Tracks-Nude COrpses Strewn About in Many Places- Crops and Cattle Swept Away-An Epidemic Feared-The Relief Meas. ures.
 MADRID, Sept. 15.-The floods which have caused so much damage and which are already known to have resulted in the loss of thousands of lives have been gene ral in the south of Spain. Several railroad trains have been thrown from the rails, ,and railroad tracks and roads are everywhere washed away.
 In the province of Toledo the rush of water from the Consuegra river was so sudden and unexpected that hundreds of people were drowned in their beds. The aspect of the town is frightful. Four hun dred bodies have already been recovered and at least g hundred corpses can be seen floating in the swollen rivers. A national relief fund has been opened and all the newspapers announce that they are ready to receive donations.
 The wine and grain crops have been de- stroyed throughout the flooded sections of the country. The towns of Urda, twelve miles from Toledo; Villafranca, twenty miles from St. Sebastian; Camunas, Yebe- nes, twenty-one miles from Toledo; and Vera, have suffered heavily. Troops and corps of citizens are doing their utmost to succor the sufferers. Thousands of fami- lies are homeless and starving. Relief trains are being despatched to the scenes of the disasters
 The overfowing of the Consuegra threat ems to cause further damage. An estimate places the total of the death list at 2,000. Large numbers of corpses still rest where they were found. Unless they are soon inferred an epidemic of fever is feared. Many of the bodies found are entirely nude, showing that they must have been washed from their beds, or less, in the hurry to escape, must have jumped in night dress from the windows of their houses only to meet death in the swollen waters surging around them.
 Unhappily the worst is not yet known, 1Ao AO1tli5 ol tSIIlDlo pIlFdGlo1S oA- treme suffering are before the utterly inn poverished survivors. The crops are gone, the cattle swept away, houses and household furniture ruined, and all that will enable them to earn bread has van ished beneath the torrents of water which have rolled over town, village, field and farm.
 Two thousand kilos of army bread have already arrived in the flooded districts and the commissary corps of all the military divisions are working night and day to supply provisions to the starving people. At Almera, capital of the province of that name, the number of dead, as in many other places, is still unknown, but it is ad- mitted that over 800 houses have been de- stroyed and that a large number of people have perished.
 The queen has subscribed $20, ,000 more to start national relief fund. The Bank of Spain has subscribed $6,000, and other contributions are coming from all quar- ters. The members of the editorial staffs of all the newspapers will, on Thursday and Friday, make personal collections in the streets of money, clothing and food.
 Many gloomy scenes are witnessed at Consuegra. Carts are kept going from house to house collecting the dead. The bodies are laid in the carts reverently, but rapidly, the carters being compelled to be calious to the wailing of the relatives. Survivors give narrowing accounts of the floods onset. Many mothers were seen struggling in the water to hold up children and finally succumbing to the rush of the torrent. Others were confined in the rooms with no hope of escape until the collapse of the walls opened refuge. One man who was caught on wooden bridge saw hundreds of persons float past crying pite- ously for help which he was unable to give. The bodies of sixty persons were found in 8 public hall where they had been overtaken by the flood in the midst of a wedding feast.