Asheville daily citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1890-1900, 1891-09-18
GREAT FLOODS IN SPAIN,
THOUSANDS OF PERSONS ARE
DROWNED.
Great Distress For want OfFoOd-
Months of Terrible PrivatiOn
Before the I-iYing-Desperate
Men Resort to OFiliaxe-Five Hum
dred Homes destroyed In one
Place.


Place.
MADR,p. Sept. 15.--The floods, which
are already known to have resulted III
he loss of thousands of lives, have been
general in he soutb of Spain. Several
railroad trains have been thrown from
the rails, and the ralroad tracks and
roads are everywhere washed away.
In the province of Toledo the rush of
water from the ConSucgra river WAS SO
sudden and unexpccted that hundreds OF
people were drowned in their beds The
aspect of the town is t'ighttul Four
hundred bodies have already been re-
covered, and at least a hundred corpses
can be s en- floating in the swollen rivers
national belief fund has been opened
and all the newspapers announce that
they are ready to receive donations.
The wine and grain crops have been de-
stroved throughout the flooded sections
Of the country. Troops and corps of
citizens are doing their utmost to succor
he sufferers Thousands oi families are
homeless and starving. Relief trains are
being despatched to the scenes OF the dis
aSterS.
The Overlooking of the Consuegra
threatens to cause further damage, Two
thirds OF the houses practically destroyed
are still standing, but their foundations
are sappcd, and they threaten to fall at
any moment fhe families saved from
drowning are camped near the dwellings
formerly occupied by them, and are i'll
| the greatest distress from want OF food
An estimate which is within ra her than
over the actual number places the total
deaths at 1000. Large numbers OF
corpses still rest where they were found.
Unless they are soon buried an epidemic
is feared.
Some of the bodies found are entirely
nude, showing that they must have been
washed from their beds or else in the
hurry to escape the drowned people must
have jumped in night dresses from the
windows OF their habitatiuns only to
meet death in the swollen waters.
Unhappily, the worst is not yet known,
and months of terrible privations and
extreme suffering are before the utterly
impoverished survivors. The crops are
gone, the cattle swept away, houses and
household fur rnlture ruined, and all that
would enable them to earn bread has
vanished beneath the torrents OF water
which lave rolled over town and village
field and tarm,
The griplngs of hunger and the walline
of starving women and children have II
several instances, driven the men to dcS
peration, and they have been goadcd tt
pillage their uckier or more wealthy
compatriots. Bands of desperate men
determined to obtain bread at any coS
for their destitute, have made raids upol
buildings where they expected to hnt
food In some cases the rioters were sue
cessful in obtaining a limited supply o
flour, meat and corn; III most eases they
found that they had had all their trouble
for nothing, and that long ago all to"'
had long ago been removed to a place q
safety, or else distributed or sold to tn
starving peasantry OF the neiGhborhood
, The troops have been instructed to tax
the most severe measures to proler
! property.
, Two thousand kilo. of army breat
. have already arrived in the flooded dis
tricts, and the cummissariat corps OF al
the military divisions arr working nigh
and day to supply provisions to tn
starving people.
= At Almcria, capital of the province G
n that name, the number of dead, as i
many other places, is still unknown, bu
e it is admitted that over 500 houses hav
: been destroyed and that large numbe
: OF people have persisted.