Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1897-04-03
LEVEES NDANdER
Ana Further Ruin Threatened to
the Plantations.
FLOOD SITUATION Is ACUTE AeAu

Twelve Hundred 9Quare lGilss Of Texr4kury
In Peril Of Observation-Disclosures Arc
u Work Day and Night strengthenins
the Embankments- II Railway Lend .
Hand with An Their Eorees-lGere water
Coming from the Upper Mississippi
Memphis. April 3-The Hood situation
has once more become acute from q
point q few miles above Austin, Miss.
as far down as the first break at Perth
shire. Miss. and q crevasse In this line
OF levees would not be surprising. The
pressure on the levee is brought about
by the waters of the st. Francis basin.
which Is here congested between tie
levees in front Of Helena. There is no
levee on the Arkansas side down to
distance Of 100 miles, and it is at Austin
that the levee system on each side Of the
river begins and goes to the passes be-
low New Orleans. The waters are now
SO high in the st. Francis basin that
the current rushes from the west and
cuts along the east shore levee for
miles. and several alarming kilograms
have been received from near Austin,
and the situation is most grave. Boats
have been requested to run on slow
bells and laborers are constantly
strengthening the entertainments.
Railways Render Great Assistance.
A crevasse at Austin would inundatc
a strip Of fertile country in Tunica and
Coahoma counties. twenty miles wide
and sixty miles long. Reports from
Helena, Ark, show that the river there
Is still slowly rising, and 1t Is almost
miraculous that the levees at Helena
have not been swept away. Thousands
Of people have been working day and
night and their energies are seemingly
exhaustless. The Missouri Pacific and
Cotton Belt railroads have rushed train
load after trainload of sacked sand into
the beleaguered city, and still stand
ready to help the Helena people. The
railroads have rendered great as
slstance to the levee boards. The ILL
nois Central. Missouri Pacific and Cot
ton Belt railways have devoted all their
great forces to the work of saving the
country, and that without charge.
Greenvflle an Island, RoseSlale . Pond.
Greenville is on an island, and Rose
dale, Miss, is in water from five to ten
feet deep. The funds of a bank in
Rosedale have been moved to the Sec
ond story. Thousands of head of cattle
are standing on the levee and many
unfortunate refugees sleep there with
no covering to protect them from the
water-soaked winds of night. Back of
Rosedale and throughout the lower and
middle delta country everything is un-
der water. In many villages no COM
munication with the outside world has
been had for several days. The threat
ened rise at Cairo is now a certainty.
The Mississippi above Cairo and the
Cumberland and Tennessee rivers will
send great flood into the already filled
st. Francis basin, and from Cairo to
Memphis it is feared that the deluge
will mark high-water figure that will
be without precedent.
Calls for Relief More Frequent.
The calls for assistance from nu-
merous points along the river are be-
coming more and more frequent at
headquarters Of the relief committee
in Memphis. The committee is in re-
cefpt of information to the effect that
there are some fifteen or twenty white
people, principally women and children,
in great distress at a point near ST.
Glars Landing. about fifteen miles up
the river. which Is about six miles from
Mound City. These people are located
In houses the lower floors of which are
overlooked. and they have no food and
no means Of obtaining it. Arrange
ments were made to send supplies.
EsohR