The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-04-06

statement OF several natives of Shaw
neetown hat they saw people I'VE did
not know and we saw them drowning
There is no danger of further DAM
z to the town unless storms should set
in. and even then IL Is difficult TO see
how matters a be made worse than
they are. The entire town is buried
under 10 to Is feet of water. with the
exception of houses on the embank-
ment Immediately fronting the Ohio
river. All OF these nave water in the
cellar and most of them are flooded TO
the second story.
The water began to fall to-day, and
about 2 o'clock this morning had reced-
ed eight feet from the highest mark OF
Wednesday. A high north wind was
driving the waves before IL. and II no
more rain comes II is probable that the
town will be dry in two weeks. Not a
single body has been recovered as yet.
and there Is no probability that any VIII
be found until after the waters have en-
tirely subsidized.
The levee broke on the north side OF
the town. sweeping what h known as
the First, Second and Third wards clean
of all buildings. All of the people who
were drowned met their fate in the First
ward and northern part of the Second
ward. which was nearest to the break.
There is a large semi-circular dyke
TO the south of the town enclosing II on
that side as the broken dyke did on
the north. Down the edge of the dyke
and in IA town prope Is a tangled
mass OF trees. shrubs and brushwoou.
Into the curve formed by the southern
dyke the bodies were carried by the
food. and all of them are supposed to
be scattered along the southern dyke,
which Is nearly a mile in extent. No
attempt will be made to find the bodies,
unless they come to the surface, until
the waters have entirely subsidized.
In addition to the pressing necessity
for food to sustain life. 700 people have
been driven from their homes with no
clothing but what they wore at the
time they were overtaken by the Hood.
Every available room In the town is
taken. every family is living in the sec
ond story of it's house. and of those
whose homes were wrecked a ndr
or more are camping in the cour
house. 100 in the school house. IS In the
loft OF a small elevator, so in a Touring
mill and the ferryboat Jessie Wilson
has furnished refuge for 100. Many
have been taken to Mount Vernon, Cy-
press Junction n other places. The
entire country north, south and west
Of Shawneetown Is covered with. water
and locomotion in most directions is al
most impossible. Immediately north of
Shawneetown there Is not sufficient dry
ground to-day for a single polling place
and there was therefore no election to-
day and the old officers will hold over
for another term.
Many acts of heroism were performed
by the townspeople in rescuing their fell
low citizens. Prominent among the
leaders In this work were Lloyd Rowan.
an old man. who. with a skin, saved "a
people by his own individual efforts:
Frank Robinson, Marshal Callicot and
William Vaughan, all of whom did he
roic work with skiffs. Callicot is the
son OF Washington Callicot, and was
within 80 feet of his father and mother
when they were drowned. He made
desperate efforts to reach them. but
they were borne down by the flood and
did not rise again. The only way IN
which those using skiffs could save
people was by dropping down to points
lower.
The Hood water was so rapid that no
enc could make Roadway against II,
no rescue work could be done In the
neigborhood Of the dyke. With the cx-
ception OF the lives lost in the three
squares near the dyke. all persons I'm
the town escaped as the waters spread
with less and less rapidity.
There never was a town more diff
cult to obtain news from than Shaw
neeton. There were only two ways OF
reaching IT, one from the river and the
other by a road from Cypress Junction,
six miles from the town. All telephone
wires were down and the telegraph lines
were in no better condition. The asso-
ciated press men built their own line
of wire from a point three miles south
of Ridgeway to Cypress Junction, and
over this carried the first Geographic
news that came from Shawneetown ui-
rect.
In reaching Cypress Junction the wire
was carried across the Wabash river,
nearly thr~ee-quarters Of a mile wide.