The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-01
SUPREME CATASTROPHE OF THE
FLOOD MAY COME AT ANY
TIME.
uEvEEs UNDER I PRESSURE.
BANKMENTS IN THE GREAT
EST PERIL.
Everything Is Against Those Who
Are Struggling ts Save Their
Lives and Property.

MEMPHIS, Tenn, March 81 - A
heaVy rain fall, accompanied by. g.
strong gale from the west, is adding to
the horror of the food situation $50
miles below Memphis, in the MISSISSIPPI
pi delta. There are four breaks, and
each is letting in a stream as large as
the Ohio river at Cincinnati or the
Hudson at Albany, and this tremend-
Gus outflow has caused a fall of only
one-tenth at Vicksburg, Immediately
below the last break. The rain and
wind will probably cause more breaks.
The river Is now like an inland sea.
and this afternoon a brief telegram
from a point below Rosedale, Miss.
announced that great waves were
pounding against the levee and that.
at frequent intervals, the water tore
Itself loose from the main channel and
dashed over the embankment. This
pelng true there will be in all proba-
Dhlty more crevasses before morning.
All the forces of nature are against
the people. The rainfall increases and
the wind intensifies the danger. If
the wind were from the east it would
mean little. but the gale is blowing
from the west. On the Arkansas side
the levee, from Helena to Arkansas
city, tonight, is as full of holes as the
outer wall of a fertilization after a
se1ge There is a break at Westover
which occurred at an early hour this
morning. A thousand men were at
work on the levee when the crash came.
FOR moment a thin spread of water
began to tr1ckle through from the inner
wall of the embankment Experienced
leVee men saw the danger and cried out
a word Of warning and the laborers
rushed back. In five minutes a gap
fifty feet wide and six feet deep was
torn in the wall Of earth. The break
grew until 1t is now several hundred
rect wide. This creYasse is ten miles
below Helena and the. water rushing
through 1T will destroy dozen splen-
did plantations and may back up to
Helena. Other breaks will probably
occur on the Arkansas shore.
The, Laconia circle country, few miles be-
low Westover, is under. water This circle
is surrounded by a levee. The levee in the
rear went to pieces at late hour Monday
and the water rushed in and spread itself over
$1,000 acres OF the most fertile land in
Arkansas, cut up into plantations, giving
support to no less than 5000 people Tonight
Gunnison. Miss, Rosedale and dozen other
small towns are under water.
The whole country, as predicted last night,
Will be inundated. The water is spreading
over the territory from Pearthshire, Miss,
10 point 10 miles north Of Vicksburg and
back from the river 80 or 40 miles. Already
the loss of cattle has been enormous The
corn was planted and growing, but is under
water and preparations for cotton planting
We're well under way. The ploughed earth
will be swept into the Yazoo and thence
into the Mississippi 1t is difficult to esti-
mate the loss, A thickly settled country, con-
tanning an era of about 1000 square miles,
dotted with farm houses, negro cabins and
small villages, will be flooded. Labor will
become demoraIizad ana negroes cannot be
secured in sufficient numbers to cultivate the
crops when the water subsidies The Yazoo
Mississippi Valley railroad will have $50
miles of track under water before the food
is ever.
The loss to human life SO far has been
small. Not a half-dozen people have been
drowned in the delta, and probably dozen
on the Arkansas side south of Helena. The
upper floods which have prevailed in the St
Francis basin for two weeks claimed prob
ably no more than fifty victims, all co.ored.
Greenville, Miss, is still safe. Water is
in Rosedale coming from the Perthshire
break, while Gunnison is badly flooded This
night may bring forth the supreme catastro-
phe, the breaking of a levee Immediately in
front of a town. Those directly behind the
levees are Helena, Friars Point, Rosedale
and Greenviile.
slight rise in the river at Memphis Is
announced by the official weather bulletin.
issued by the local office. This rise amounts
sidered significant Of any increase in the
volume of water to be expected here. The
! bureau predicts no continuation of this rise,
but stationary condition FOR the next TWEEN
ty-four hours The guage registers 1858 feet.
A considerable fall is reported at Cairo. At
points below Vicksburg the river is rising
with increased rapidity. FL