Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1892-05-28
DESOLATlON

of Illinois generally to contribute to
the relief of sufferers by flood in
that state. Thousands of such
sufferers, including $50 at Belle
vile and $500 at Alton, are
not only in need of assistance for the
present. but will in numerous cases be
dependent upon others for weeks to
come, owing to loss of crops and homes
and in some instances the loss of
their farming land, which was swept
away by the flood. Gov Fifer will inn
mediately obtain census of the suf-
ferers in each county where they have
taken refuge, in order to determine the
exact number of persons who will be
burdens upon the various communities
for some time to come and to form a
systematic plan of relief in which the
people throughout Illinois will probably
be asked to cooperate.
The Mississippi and Missouri valleys
present a melancholy picture of ruin
and devastation. For distance of 10
miles above and below here the valley,
to width of from to Is miles, is one
vast waste of muddy water. On every
hand the roofs and upper stories of
farmhouses stand as melancholy land
marks of what were once prosperous
farmers houses. Fences, barns and
haystGcks are gone, and the patient
work OF years has been destroyed in a
single week.
To add to the serious condition of the
beleaguered people, sickness has over
taken them to an alarming extent.
They have been living in improvised
Nd +nJ
buildings and, as result of exposure
to the inclement weather of the past
week, many families are suffering
from pneumonia and other sickness in
cidental to cold and wet weather.
ALTON, H., May 2S.-For the last
seven days the relief committee has
labored increasingly. Its members
dropped their business and gave them
selves up to the work of the rescue.
They have had at their disposal, freely
rendered by their owners and captains,
the ferryboat Altonia, the steam pleas
ure yachts Ramble and Piasa, and for
part of the time the St. Louis Post-Dis-
patch boat Percy Swain, together with
forty-five skiffs rendered by Brance
Dorsett, and several scows and fiat
boats.
The instant boat load of sufferers
steamed to the docks it was met by the
relief committee, who opened their
homes to the unfortunates and pro-
vided them with food. But soon the
homes were all filed, and the Y. M. c..
A gymnasium and parlors We're thrown
open as temporary quarters. Freight
cars, barns, public halls, the city hall
and all available shelters were turned
into homes for the sufferers. Food and
other clothing were freely given.
1t is impossible to estimate even the
immediate loss, but the most serious
phase of the trouble is not so much the
actual loss to the growing crop as the
fact that the distressed farmers, with.
out cent ahead in the world and with
no credit, will have to be supported by
public benevolence until next years
crop is harvested, and many of them
are ruined forever and will need gen.
erous help to place them on their feet
again.
SIOUX CITY, Ia, May 23.-With few
days warm sunshine Sioux City will
begin to feel herself again. Almost
nothing in the way of rebuilding homes
trict becomes passably dry. At pres
ent mud reigns. Until Sunday it has
rained necessarily since the flood. Fri
day and Saturday were two days OF
billiards., hail, sleet and wind, retard
ing even the superficial salvage work
A general roundup of the situation
places the dead at about twenty-five
careful estimate places the number
of those rendered temporarily homeless
by the flood at 5000. The majority Of
these have found shelter with friends
The relief committee has probably l,0O(
applications on file. The committee
will accept outside aid, which has beer
generously offered from many quar-
ters. Mayor Pierce and other leading
citizens have favored the declination O.
outside aid, but at public meeting or
Friday night were induced to reverse
their course.
1t will take many weeks to restor,
order out of chaos in the flooded bot
toms. The direct losses to property
while over $1,000, 900 all told, are but
fraction of the total indirect losses b,
interrupted commerce. There is n,
kind of business but will feel the blow
ana yet the people are hopeful, evel
buoyant.
Viewed from any point, the ioode
districts are indescribably desolate
Houses are lying on their sides and tn
debris of things movable is strewn owe
surface of several square miles
Fences, sidewalks and house support
form general litter. Along the bank
of the Floyd tons of earth have bee
torn away, showing the terrible fore
of the waters that swept the vale
with fatal suddenness.
Sudden and overwhelming as was tn
Sioux City flood, its property losses ar
small when compared with the genera
flood losses throughout the state an
country. This rain-soalSed corn countr
is in danger of at least n partial failur
of crops owing to the lateness of tn
planting season. The total damages
90 20 ,n;l lie Nd I,