El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-05-28
WORST FEARS REALIZED,
ONE THIRD OF Ell PASO UNDER
AND DESOLATION GENARAL.
At Least Two Thousand People HON E.
less and Dependent Upon Charity.
congress to Be Appealed to.

The south part of the city and East
FL Paso are submerged today, hun
dred5 of houses of al kinds have gone
down before the ali conquering waters,
at least two Thousand people have been
driven from their homes, and the eX-
tent of the calamity is such that ade-
quate assistance from the city or coun-
ty is out of the question, and congress
will be appealed 100 for aid.
The sad story taken up from last
evenings narrative Is as follows:
The crevasse once started near the
headgate increased 10 100 feet in the
course Of an hour, and the diversion of
SO much water lowered the flood in the
river perceptibly. A small cut hal
been made just above the sand bag
dam to let the water out: but it only
resulted in letting the water in, for
the time, a. all events. Then there
was another break about 200 feet so Ith
of the first one ana the water shortly
was pouring in there like a mill race.
Agent Trull's Mexican laborers on
finding the water coming down like a
regular cloud burst at once abaudOne d
their work and put for their homes to
save sheir Lares and Penates from the
flood. So when the train load OF rock
came down from the smelter, the train
just laid there, aad nothing could be
OOuG. AlOIcONSIs lLclS NO. UCalll
TO be had in town. The entire Mexican
population seemed to have taken a
gre at fright, and there was q general
scramble for teams of any and every
kind, and the vicinity of the First
National bank was all the afternoon
and night as bare of express wagons as
d telephone pole is of foliage. 1t was
q case of muchOS pObre5 everywhere,
and the vacant lots on the north side
especially, shortly looked more thaa
ever, like some southern cities during
the war with refugees flying from the
Yanks. MeXicauS have camped every
where, and it is interesting to note
that they do not seem to take the
IL after so much to heart. AS long as
they have rescued the family kerosene
lamp and the family dog, chickens and
pig, the world an just wag as it will:
1t appears to be case of well be gay
and happy still" Quite a number Of
the refugees have returned to ward D
whence they came perhaps to swell the
vote of the noble ward contingent
and help win notable democratic
victory. The new city park and the
territory to the west of it, are especial
ly varie gated with fabrics of all kinds
and colors flying in the air from all
kinds of fixtures aud persons, and tbs
family stove in the open air is very
much in evidence.
But the return to the raging torrent.
The water roared and al but SCARED
down the canal, and the way the surf
showed up was Il knOck out on COney
island. The! lower flats became flooded
speed ". and the water poured from
two directions into the large plat ia
front of the water works pump house,
and with the breaks in he canal banks
below, the water was soon up to the
Santa Fe depOs, and SpOrtmGn park
was shortly under five feet Of water.
All of the land north Of the river dyke
was flooded in short order, and back
water from the canal east Of the Mex
lean Central canal-bridge came up and
around to the east end of Finnegan's
hide house. and was pre- emily ruuning
up Ell PdsO street. 1t diverted to the
low spot to the wCst which was filled
up, and thea the water rushed over to
til e east side of the street and filed up
the square to the east. OF course, there
was general scra N BILE to get out, AID
the street was checked up with fugi-
tives and their humble possessions. As
usual, the family kerosene lamp and
the domestic animals were the first
objects of attention. Everything else
seemed secondary. The way the water
ran up against ths FinGegan warehouse
dyke suggested that the dyke would not
last long.
1t seemed as though the entire town
had turned out TO take in the show and
the amount of concrete wisdom that
was wasted on the empty air in the