New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-03-20
GREAT DISASTER IMMINENT.
NAVY LIVES ALREADY LOST.
~-,-prvER RISE FEARED IN THE SWOL-
LEN MISSISSIPPI.

.v,sr TRACT OF COUNTRY INUNDATED BY THE
uoon wATsRs-REscvING PEOPLE AND
LIVE sTocx-GuARDIXG THE LEVELS
ven,ph,s Tenn. March 19.-A further half-inch
5se in the Mississippi means the devastation of
,ronertv and probably a loss of life unequalled
- the food history of this section. The rise is
threatened because rain is still falling.
seventeen persons are reported drowned fifty
miles below Caruthersville. Mo.
A stretch of country from point seventeen
miles north of Memphis to a point fifty miles
.outh Of the Tennessee metropolis is submerged
IN places to a depth of ten feet. The fertile val
,.vs Of Tennessee and Arkansas are completely
Inundated and many lives have been lost and
.ock drowned fencing and dwellings swept
ovav inhabitants destitute and homeless. and
,ef, 70 starye or drown by the remorseless rising
food
Reports from tributary streams show rains and
rapidly rising rivers foods from which Will soon
he emptied into the Mississippi adding to the
danger when hurled against the already weak
ened levees The levees are patroed hourly by
armed and desperate men. provided with sand
,acs IN strengthen weak places or TO close threat
,,oa c-evasses and rifles TO shoot down any mis-
croant who would venture to cut the emoanK-
,oent and allow tine waters on his plantation 10
fnd vent into the lowlands Of his neighoor.
The foods now partake of the nature OF
celuge. AS far as the eye can see hoth'iis ou'
water meets the gaze.
Six hundred people were rescued yesterday on
,,o Arkansas side Of the river and brought
.o Mennhis hut there arc flood districts so sitn-
o,ad that rellef-boats cannot reach the stricken
ones.
ON Island No 80, 100 sufferers and considera-
hle live stock were rescued by the steamer
ltasca- Neither man nor beast had tasted 1000
for over twenty-four hours. Human beings ana
bo,nless brutes are huddled together awaiting
assistance all along the Iron Mountain and
Kansas City For. Scott and Gulf tracks
Five hundred people were forced to fee from
the foods in Dyer and Obion countess LEM
nessee A.,
cavin Ark. March 19.-For many miles the
country is flooded and the weter Is up u ."e
Iron Mountain tracks. Hundreds of section
bands are striving to keep II back with dirt
bags. At every station the negroes are gather
ing waiting to be takeY, away. Many get on the
trains and are carried without pay.
The list of fatalities is said 70 be long ana
probably never will be known. William cart
wright and William Cox. WORKING on judge
Hodges's farm at Rosebud Island los, thelr
lives on Thursday by the upsetting OF dugou''
"Iake" Carty was drowned at Gavin on Thurs
dav night from the same cause. Amanda Chap-
man. coored just arrived from below, reports
the death Of six persons she could not name
Charles BurlSley also was drowned near Gavin
He could not manage his dugout.
4 mountain of household goods is piled up at
every railroad station. Whites and negroes beg
.or ,,el, from every train crew. Houses along
the road are submerged TO the roofs, and cattle
are standing in the fields with only their heads
above water. Many corpses Of hogs and COWS
are washed up by the water
Helena, Ark March 19-The river at noon
was within two inches of the highest water on
record here. The sun shone to-day after one OF
the most prolonged and heavy downpours of rain
for many years and conditions are more hopeful
THE Observer" urges people in the lowlands to
move at once 10 higher ground. The levees in
front and north of the city having the atten-
tion of the officers of the city. and levee boards
are being raised and strengthened. Heavy rains
yesterday and last night have partly Inundated
q portion of the northern suburbs Of the city.
but the water is now fast recedine.
The levees at Modoc are still holding. and with
the recent recruits to the already large army OF
levee workers. there is a bright chance Of main
tanning them The levees on the Mississippi sice
appear 10 be in good shape.
Cairo Ill., March 19-The river here rose four
tenths Of a foot, in twenty-four hours, and the
prospect is that 1t will go TO highwater mark.
which is j22. The citizens have organized TO
be prepared 20 meet any emergency and watch
the levees around the city thoroughly
4 large area of wheat land has been flooded In
the UeiEhbOrhOOd of Commercial Point. in this
county. Until the results Of the heavy rains are
known. predictions as to the extent of the rise
impossible
Birds Point is entirely under water, and the
. Cotton Belt and the Iron Mountain trains cannot
enter Cairo The steamer Mary Morton arrived
from the lower river this morning. reporting the
b1ff ha
are fearing a break. The Morton rescued a large
number of peoDle and live stock.