The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1897-03-18

of all kinds, the property of fugitive ne
groes or poor white folks, and there are
great numbers of livestock, horses and
cattle that have been saved. while still
greater numbers have been lost. The
work of getting this stock aboard the
ferries is not the least important part of
the business. When the first relief
boat, the G. B. Bryan, got TO Marion,
there was great rush on the part OF the
with their property. Negroes had been
standing in the water with their stock
for hours, waiting for this moment. There
is not in the city standing room for
dozen people that is not under water,
except on the railway track. and the
feelings of the country people who had
driven in and waited with the water up
to the bellies of their animals, not know
ing whether the relief would come in time
or not. may be imagined. And all the
time the water is rising. 1t was race
between the ferry boat and the flood.
Livestock has been destroyed in tre-
mendous quantities in the course of this
unprecedented flood Up and down the
river very few signs of life are manifest
ed, and as there has been no means for
saving the stock, it is certain that nearly
all have perished.
Nearly all the refugees that are brought
10 the CITY are totdiy MthouI heuh'.
Many of them slept on the levees last
night, while others found temporary ac-
commOdations at the homes of friends in
this city.
A hundred citizens of Memphis got
together this morning and devised means
to send relief boats to the Overhowed dis
trct and to furnish support to the flood
victims when they are brought to this
city from the surrounding country. A
relief fund of $1,000 was Immediately sub
scribed by citizens present:
The only planting which has been done
in the district which is being devastated
by the water is the Irish potato crop.
much of which has been put in. All that
has been planted is ruined. Cotton plant
ing usually begins ON April 10, but farm
ers in the submerged districts do not be-
leve they will be able to plant until the
10th of May, or maybe later, this year.
If the seed is put in maybe crop can
be made. though there is danger of cot
ton planted so late being caught in the
boil by frost. The river is still rising
1t is reported tonight that four persons
living on -Four Mile bayou, near Marion,
Ark, were drowned in the floods today;
At West Memphis today Jake Carter ana
child were swept away by the torrent
and both perished.
All of the islands in the vicinity of
Memphis are entirely submerged and
| many people have been rescued and
brought to this city.
The small steamer Minneha ha was sent
| to Marion and vicinity late last night to
| render what assistance it could. On re-
| turning to Memphis John NJ. Couch. in
charge of the relief boat, said:
"We went into the submerged country
| four miles beyond Marion. | saw any
number of women wading in water. up
to their waists and others up TO their
| shoulders. Some of them were carrying
| with upifted arms their little ones high
above their heads. There was not q
| spOt of dry land as far as the eye could
reach. Many of the people were penned
up in their homes with no means of egress
| We rescued half hundred of these. but
we were told that scores of people were
living back of the lake and could not
! get away"
The situation with the railways is I'M,
changed since yesterday. All the west
ern trains are coming into and going out
| of the city save the night passenger train
of the Little Rock and Memphis, but all
of them are using the tracks of the Iron
| Mountain through the low lands.
| In the Wolf river bottoms in this city
the water is getting dangerously close
| to the tracks. Tonight it was stated by
an official of the Kansas City line that
nothing could be done until the water re-
| ceded toward getting the tracks into con
| dition. Superintendent Elune and the
chief engineer of the road, are still in
the city doing all they can to, protect the
| The Little Rock road is running its
trains on the Iron Mountain road tC
Wynne, reaching its own tracks at Forest