The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-04-09
THE FLOODS INCREASING.
MISSOURI AND OTHER RIVERS
STILL RISING.
and Thousands Of People Driven fren
Their Homes - The Water Spreading
Over More Iand-A State ment From the
Memphis Relief Cons mittee-Congress
Asked for Aid.

Over More Iand-A statement From tf,e
Memphis Relief Committee-Congress
Asked for Aid.
Washington. April 6.-Messrs. r. e.
Graves and j. ;. Menken, representing
the citizens relief committee Of Mem-
phis. Tenn. organized for the purpose
OF relieving the people OF the flooded
country tributary 10 that city. have ar
rived in the city. They have prepared
a statement which they will submit to
the president. Among other things. IL
says:
From Marion. Ark, north Of Mem
phis, to Greenville, Miss, there are
now at least fifty towns and villages
under water, and territory extending
from loo miles north Of Memphis to 200
miles south and ) to 40 wide. is sub
merged and devastated by the flood.
Hundreds of thousands of acres OF cul-
tivated soil, with growing crops, are in
cluded in his submerged territory, and
there are from 50, 600 TO 81. 600 people
whose property has been destroyed and
whose business has been suspended
thereby. The amount of damage to
property is in~calculable. In addition to
the growing crops which have been de-
stroyed, thousands of head of working
stock and of cattle have been drowned
and starved"
~AANSi ahS ie u q
done by the relief committee, the state
ment concludes:
They have now almost reached the
end of their resources, and reluctantly
confess their inability to cope with the
without obtaining relief from
the government"
| Memphis, Tenn, April 6.-The fea-
ture of the flood condition in the Mis-
sisSippi delta is the gradual spread of
water over an area that hitherto was
never overfiowed. The upper crevasse
in Unica county is 1000 feet wide and
so great is h outpour that water from
below the break is being drawn up to
and distributed over the fertile valley
through the All of the coun-
try east to the main line OF the Yozoo
and Mississippi valley road is flooded
and in many places the water has gone
over the tracks, filling the Yazoo river.
The fall in the main hanne at Helena,
~Greenville, Vicksburg and Arkansas
City is due to the filing up of the delta.
and the Lower White river country.
The supreme question is the duration
| of the flood. If the lower levees along
| Louisiana and southeastern Arkansas
| should hold, which il is believed they
will not do, the emptying of the delta
and St. Francis basin will be slow.
If they break and and the river con-
tinues to fall at Cairo, the upper ST.
| Francis basin and the delta will be
sclear of water by May 9Th. If his
| should prove true there will be no diff
Guilty in growing cotton. But breaks
in Louisiana and southeast Arkansas
will hold the water in that locality
until the middle of May, far after the
usual time for planting cotton in tina
territory. The river at Memphis is
stationary tonight.
Jackson, Miss, April THE govern
or tonight telegraphed Secretary Alger
asking for an appropriation of 800, 900
from congress-, which, he says, will
close the ~crevasses in his state, give
employment to all the needy and allow
people to work land thirty days later.
st. Joseph, Mo-, April 6.-The Mis-
souri, river is rising rapidly, having
risen thirteen inches here in the last
twenty-four hours. The river is now
ten feet above low water mark and in
dicatiOnS are that it will continue to
rise.
La Crosse, Wis, April 6.-The condi-
ton of the river is very threatening.
Easements of wh%olehouses along Front
street are flooded and the water is
still rising rapidly. The tracks of
the Chicago, Milwaukee and st. Paul
Railroad Company are under water.
People along the river front are NOV
ing to higher ground.
Redfield, S. D.. April 6.-Henry
StruVle and two sons were to-
day near Frankfort this county. This
makes six deaths from drowning during
the present overflow. The floods ex-
coed anything ever witnessed here.
The water in the rivers if eight feet
higher than the highest water mark
heretofore. There has been great loss
of staked grain and stocks.