Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1892-05-27
THE WESTERN FLOODS.
The Worst is Over, but There Is Still
Much Suffering.

Thousands of People Are UOmeless---
Probably 100 People In Different Sec
lions Have Been DrO,vned---The Prop-
erty Loss Estimated at 10000, 900.
The worst is over in the noode districts
of the West, but there is still much suffer
ing, as many people have lost their homes.
The damage is enormous, being estimated
as high as Sj0,0O0000. Probably 100 per-
sons have been drowned. The calamity at
Sioux City was not as bad as at first re-
ported. Over 700 houses were damaged
and the total loss in that section will be
about 100000. Not over 20 lives were
lost in the vicinity of Sioux City. The
river towns for hundreds of miles in Ne
braska, Iowa. Missouri Illinois and Ar
kansas have been under water, but the
flood is now subsiding. Many railroads
cannot be operated, as long stretches of
track are under water and scores of bridges
have been washed away.
The distress at Sioux City and i'm other
places was increased on Friday by a fall of
sleet and snow
The damage in st. Louis and the dis
tricts Immediately tributary to that city is
estimated at S11,000,0 600. These figures,
astounding as they may seem, are consid
cred by competent judges extremely con-
sentative. In looking at this loss it must
be remembered that in all the flooded ter
ritory referred to- practically 1900 square
miles, the waters have rendered it, in the
majority of cases, impossible for the farm
ing population to raise crop this year.
All this comes in addition to the damage
actually done to existing property.
A trip from st. Louis to Cairo by boat
reveals sad pictures on either side of the
river. Sometimes 10, sometimes 20 miles
| wide, the river runs carrying down great
| piles of driftwoOd, eating away homes,
| drowning stock and submerging bottom
| lands and islands. Along the section of
| the river traversed it is estimated that TO-
GOO people have been rendered home
less and $4,000 acres of growing
| grains destroyed. One former landing
| place is like another and all are desolate
wastes of water. The stories are all the
/ same. Every one within the low-lying dis
trict along the river has been driven from
home and ruined
\ despatch from Red Bluff, Ark, says
that the steamer Anna b., which was in
/ the flooded district for three days, rescued
/ 1900 people. Twelve negroes were drown
ed near Red Bluff. Five hundred people
who have been rescued near Chester, ILL.,,
are quartered in hotels, barns, and in stalls
at the fair ground. The Red river valley
/ in Arkansas is a sea from hill to hill.
Sentenced "a Hard Labor for 80 Years.
Oliver Curtis Perry, the train robber who
shot Messenger Mclnerny in an American
express car between Rochester and SYRIA
cuse, February II, and then made one of
the most desperate attempts to escape on
record, was convicted at Lyons on Thurs
day of last week, when he was sentenced
to hard labor in Auburn prison for 49
years. 1t will he possible for Perry to re-
duce this sentence to 20 years by good be
havior. Perry has hitherto exhibited the
most remarkable effrontery, but when the
sentence was pronounced he was thorough
" humbled and came near breaking down.
O'Brien. the noted New York buncC
steerer, who recently escaped from Utica
after he was sentenced, was captured at
Havre on Monday while leaving a steamer
which had Just arrived from New Orleans
\ few hours later he escaped from tn,
Havre officers and i, again at large.
\ steamship which reached New York
Tuesday morning reported passing an i'm
mense iceberg on which were seen two
large polar bears winch had evidently peer
upon the berg when it separated from the
foe in the North sea, and were making al
involuntary journey to a warmer climate.
Edward Parker Deacon, the Boston mar
who shot NJ. Abeille, his wife'S paramour
in her apartments at Cannes, has been con
victed of manslaughter and sentenced t.
one years imprisonment at Nice, The
sentiment in France is strongly in Deacon
favor and the sentence is generally pro
nounced unjust
The New York city aqueduct commits
sioners are to build the largest dam il
the world in the town of Cortland. 1t
top will join two hills nearly 20O0 fee
apart. Back of it will be a monster reser
vOir where A, 600, 100000 gallons of waite
will be stored, and New York city, for 81
years at least, will be in no danger of
water famine.