The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-03-19
DEATH AND D~ESOLATION
by Break In the Mississippi Levee.
A Vast Inland Sea Formed-Farms Under
Water-Property Gone-Deat Reported

"Ater-frORerty GOne-Death Reported
Memphis. Tenn, March 1e.-The val
IL % the lower Mississippi is a vast
IL - sea. Death. desolation and dis
- is spreading from - far north
as Birds Point, Mo-, to the country be
low Helena, Ark The heavy rainfall of
the past fortnight in the Ohio valley
and the consequent floods are the i'm
mediate causes Of the frightful swelling
in the Mississippi in the vicinity Of
Cairo and south Of there.
The break in the levee near Nodena,
Ark, Saturday, has wrought havoc in
Mississippi county, which is virtually
at the mercy OF the raging torrent
Many persons are thought to have per
ished in his vicinity. Twenty-Five ne
groes are reported drowned in Bushy
bayou. For miles and miles, west of
Memphis every home has been aban-
doned.
One planter, ]. T. Butler. tells a ter
ribIe story of the destruction OF farm
houses, property and cattle, but he re-
ports only one drowning. Butler, how
@'N' $500 *
great.
The break in the levee is widening and
no power on earth can stop the crew
aSse. Six hundred people have been
brought to Memphis from Crittenden
county, most of them from Marion.
Ark. Many were in a state OF starva
ton when they arrived. The steamer
Minnehaha has returned from a trip to
Island Forty, five miles north of
Mound TjtU u-harn CnxaroI E a ~ iljac
were found. The women were in water
up to their waists. and two of them
were holding babies in their arms.
| Charlottesville, Mo, March 16.-The
water is rising here at the rate Of near
ly an inch per hour. Work on the levee
is being kept UP night and day. At
! Osceola, Ark, the levee broke yester-
| day and the floods ere doing great
damage in that section. At Tyler,
| thirteen miles below here, ten families
were driven from their homes and are
camped on a sawdust pile. At Cotton
wood, nine miles below. the water is
nearly a foot deep in business houses
| and dwellings,. At GayOSO, six miles
above here. the water is all over the
town and from three to twelve inches
deep in the houses. Prisoners had to
be removed from the jail to the court
house to escape the water.
Cairo, H., March 16.-The guage this
morning marks within two inches Of
fifty feet. The leveeS are intact n
can stand several feet more rise. At
Birds Point, Mo, the Cotton Belt and
IrOn Mountain railroads are under wa
ter. If the floods continue for twenty
four hours, ain on these roads will
be abandoned.
Memphis, Tenn, March 16.-So far as
reported with reliability tonight, there
AVE been but two drownings in the
flood, both being negroes, in the vicini-
ty Of Marion, Ark. Stories of rescue
by the half dozen or more steamers en-
gagged in the work and vessels arriving
from above and below, however, added
highly thrilling features to the situa-
ton. From refugees arriving from
back of Marion it was learned that
hundreds of people in that section were
in the water and without means to es'
cape. Accordingly a light draugh1
steamer was pushed in that direction
as far as possible and skiffs penetrated
even further. The result was the res
cue of scores Of sufferers. On Presi
dents island below here, a large mum
Der were found in the water ant
brought out.
On Island Forty, above, a report cam
that there were between fifty and
hundred people in between three am
our feet Of water, and a steamer wa
dispatched to their relief. The steam
ers Mary Morton and w. F. Nisbet
from above, brought tidings OF desOla
ton and distress all along the river 70
100 miles or more. The latter's officer
declared that there were certainly hun
dreds of people for whom there was n
prospect of relief. Every piece o
ground along the river above water wa
crowded with people and live stock, an
in one instance their place Of refug
49, $500 81 -r-nr hntnt
steadily swept away from under them
The YaZoo river at Greenwood, Miss
is at flood tide with the Tallahatchi
and Yallabusha pouring great volume
into it. All Of this goes into the Mis-
sissippi to increase its floods. Helena
Ark, reports the Mississippi two fee
-four inches below the highest mark
rising, and with rain all last night an,
today. That correspondent also report
an expected levee break at MOdoc, nea
: there. Reinforced government crew
are now engaged in Stacking" it.