The herald., 1897-03-30
LEVEES
CRUMBLE
Before the Assaults of
Angry Waters
TEN THOUSAND ANXIOUS MEN
WORKING DESPERATELY DAY
AND NIGHT
TEN THOUSAND ANXIOUS MEN
Whole Counties in Mississippi Are
Already Submerged and DAM
age Will Be Appalling
Associated Press Special Wire.

Associated Press Special Wire.
! MEMPHIS, Tenn, March 29.-The
river situation in the vicinity of Green
vile, Miss, is alarming. The reported
break at Wayside. nine miles south of
that city is fully confirmed and the lat
est reports are to the effect that tfs wa
ter is pouring through crevasse 800
yards in width with tremendous force
! But the most startling news reached
Memphis at 6 o'clock last evening. A tel
egram from Perthshire, forty eight miles
north of Greenville, at the head of the
fertile Yazoo delta, states that break
has occurred in the main levee there.
Just how serious this break the telegram
| does not state, but several trains loaded
with sacks of sand have been hurriedly
| dispatched to the scene. If the break at
Perthshire assumes anything like the
| seriousness of the crevasse at Greenville
the damage will be enormous. The floods
now sweep over the rich lands of Wash
| ington, Sharkey, Issaqueena, Yazoo and
| Sunflower counties in Mississippi and
the loss of stock and property will be
appalling Ten thousand men line the
levees between Memphis and Vicks-
burg, watching and working with des-
peration most pitiable. The warnings
sent out by the weather bureau from
Washington last night are having their
effect Many inhabitants in the delta
have corralled their animals on high
strips of land and moved their families
out of dangers reach.
The situation at Memphis is about the
same as yesterday. The river continues
to fall slowly, the gauge tonight regis
| tering 36.2 feet. A dispatch from Gun
mis-, Miss, states that a break in the
levee is momentarily expected at Sun
nyside, but it was thought this catas-
trophe could be averted if $50 men and
material could be had at once. Nearly
100 white men were dispatched on spe-
cial train for the scene. The negroes at
Camp Congo were offered 81 per day and
all expenses to lend helping hand, but
with one exception the offer was refused.
| There is much indignation among the
citizens at this act of the negro refugees.
A GREAT CREVASSE.
GREENVILLE, Miss, March ga
|
seven miles south Of Greenville on the
Mississippi side. through which an i'm
mense volume of water poured into the
Black and Steele Bayou country. The
opening is 500 feet wide. Unless it can be
stopped which Is highly improbable. all
the country west of Deer Creek, and the
most prosperous part of the delta, Will
be overflowed south of the Yazoo river.
This break relieved the pressure some
what on the Greenville front.
At p. m. the break at Lake Lee was
600 feet wide and widening. All hope of
closing the crevasse has been abandon
ed. The levee along the Greenville front
is still holding and a superhuman effort
is being made to keep it intact The
weather conditions ar unfavorable,
the rain now coming down in torrents.
CHILDREN DROWNED.
SENECA, Kan, March 29.-Six chill
dren of John McGrath farmer residing
in the northwestern part of .Nemeha
county, were drowned near their home
on Sunday evening while attempting to
ford Pole creek, which is running bank
full.
A DREARY PROSPECT.
QUINCY, ILL.,, March 29.-The Mis-
sissippi keeps up its record of the past
week at this point and another rise is
registered making the stage fifteen feet
above low water mark Thosands of
sght-seers line the banks and bluffs,
to see the muddy water, which has sub
merged all of the islands and stretched
far back over the Missouri river bot
toms for several miles with only the
tops of trees and partly submerged
houses visible here and there to mark
the former places of abode of thrifty
farmers.
The situation in the levee district Is
the same as it was yesterday. A large
force of men are working heroically to
strengthen the weak places in the levees
and thereby save their homes and crops,
but 1t Is now believed that the task is
hopeless as old river men say that the
river will go beyond the mark of nine
years ago.
Reports from north of here are very
| discouraging and the rain storm. which
prevailed Sunday. increased the fears
of the owners of land in the levee dis
tricts.
GROWING .GRAVER.
ALTON, ILL.,, March 29.-Flood condi-
tions became graver every hour. Men
were put to work this morning overhaul
irg all the levees protecting the higher
bottom lands. The railroad companies
are putting their tracks in American and
st. Charles bottoms in the best possible
condition to Withstand the floods. for
less than twelve feet of water will bring
the stage of 1892, when the tracks of all
railroads were submerged between AL
ton and ST. Louis. The gauge shows an
advance of four-tenths of foot In the
last twenty-four hours. The river is
within less than three feet of the stage
reached in the middle of May last year
and with nearly two months of wet
weather ahead the outlook is gloomy