Mexico weekly ledger., 1898-04-07

Low bSSA 0NS bAS AAAA
death list is unknown and cannot be
estimated until the water recedes and
O search Is made.
DETAILS OF THE DISASTER.
CARMI, ILL.,, April 4.-Death and de-
vastation-death by drowning, devas-
tation by flood and fre-came sud-
denly and awfully at Shawneetown,
ILL.,, a place of 1880 inhabitants, just
about dusk last evening. The big
levee surrounding the town burst un-
der the pressure of the Ohio River
finnd.
The break in the Ievee was very
large and within an hour scarcely q
vestige of the town was left.
1t was stated that $50 persons were
drowned. Hundreds of others were
swept into the Ohio, clinging to the
roofs of houses or floating on pieces
of boards.
The disaster came when the great
majority of people were in their homes
eating supper.
The break in the levee occurred a
mile above the town and was, within
ten minutes, more than half a mile
wide.
A stream of water twelve to twenty
feet deep, carrying half of the current
of the ~iood-raised water, descended
on the unsuspecting people. 1t came
down in a great rush like a tidal wave.
There was nc slow rising of the
waters to give warning. The houses
on the outskirts were lifted up and
rolled over and over. More of them
were torn into splinters. Their in
habitants were drowned in them.
Nearer the center OF the town some
brick structures stopped the onrush
of the water for q few minutes, but
about two-thirds of the dwellings
we're lifted from their foundations and
foated careening into the black ur-
rent of the river.
FIRE HORROR ADDED.
After a few minutes the horror of
the situation was added to by the
catching fire of a large house that had
started down stream with the others.
AS it struck one house after another
in its zig gag course, some caught fire,
and the unfortunate people were
to intrust themselves to the
mercy of the swiriing water On tiny
floats of wood to avoid a more terri
BILE death by fire.
The break in the levee flooded for
miles the valley land, and cut off COM
on two railroads, the Bal
timore & Ohio Southwestern and the
& Nashville.
THE BROKEN LEvEE.
Besides the hundred or more who
were on the roofs of two sound build
1t is known that more than 1000
of the Inhabitants managed in one way
or another to make their way to high
ground or houses in the higher part of
the town. The property loss is ire
1t is believed that the vaults of one
of the banks have burst and that the
contents have been scattered by the
The levee at Shawnestown was
strengthened last year and the utmost
was expressed in its ability
to Withstand the rivers rise. AS a
consequence the residents were taken
completely by surprise.
A messenger on horseback carried
the news OF the disaster to Cypress
Junction, 6 miles distant.
THE ILL-FATED TOWN.
Shawneetown is one of the Oldest
towns in Illinois, and has often suffer-
ed from the Ohio floods. 1t is the
county seat of Gallatin county and has
a population of 1880. 1t has several
banks, mills, a foundry and a machine
shop, and has a river trade of some
Importance. It is on a branch of the
& Nashville railroad.
Shawneetown is 10 miles below
on the Ohio River. 1t is
situated in a valley of extremely low
land, with hills skirting in the rear
with a % foot levee in front running
from hill to hill. The town is very
much in the position of a fortified city
and when the levee gave way a mile
above town, under pressure of the
very high river, the water shot
through q 20 foot opening and struck
the place like n hurricane, sweeping
everything before II.
Houses were overturned and tossed
about like boxes. The people had no
warning of the break and for that
reason so many were caught.
LEvEE BREAKS TWICE.
When the levee burst a mile above
the town the water was above the
roofs of the two story houses in the
lower part of the town before the peo-
Pile had any opportunity to escape.
immediately after the destruction
Of the town the levee broke again
below the town and almost the entire
current of the Ohio river was turned
through the center OF the hapIess
On the ievee close by the landing
place stood the largest hotel in that
section of the country-the Riverside
il 10 feared, though not
positively known, that this has been
away by the gradual destruct-
on OF the levee.
The action Of the water on the out
ying houses first struck by il lie de-
"a not unlike that Of q cyclone.
The buildings yer caught up like;
In the first dash of the flood and
Tere rolled and tossed about on the
rest OF the surgsng waters. They
truck others and carried them away, /