The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1898-04-09
BROKEN DYKES VICTIMS.
Later Reports Reduce the Death
List to Twenty-three,
THOUGH IT MAY REACH THIRTY.

The Flood was So Quick and Thor
ough That Not Pound of Provl-
sions of Any Sort Is For Saje in the
Town-All Must BE Fed by. Charity.
Shawneetown, Ills, April 6.-Twenty-
three known dead, a possibility that
the list may reach 30 1,500 people in
actual need of the necessaries of life,
zoo people homeless, and damage to the
amount of 100000 is the net result of
the flood which swept through Shaw
neetown late Sunday afternoon. Not
one of the bodies have been recovered,
and it is not likely that they will be
until the waters subside, which will
be in ten days or a fortnight.
There is no danger of further damage
to the town unless more storms set
in, and even then it is difficult to see
how matters can be made worse than
they now are. The entire town is
buried under 10 to IS feet of water, with
the exception Of the houses on the en-
bankment Immediately fronting the
Ohio river All of these have water in
the cellars, and most of them are flood
ed to the secoR1 story. The water be-
gan to fall yesterday.
The levee on the north side of the
town broke, sweeping what is known
as the First, Second and Third wards
clean of all buildings. All of the peo-
pie who were drowned met their fate
in the First and northern part of the
Second, nearest the break. There is
large semi-circular dyke to the south
of the town, enclosing it on that side
as the broken dyke enclosed it on the
north. Down the edge of this dyke
and in the town proper is a tangled
mass of trees, shrubs and brush wood.
Into the curve formed by the southern
dyke the bodies were carried by the
flood, and all of them are supposed to
be scattered along the southern dyke,
which is nearly a mile in extent from
the western end of the curve to the
eastern end.
The flood at the time the damage was
caused and the people were drowned
was not over three feet in depth. 1t
rushed in with such violence, however
that all people who were caught waist
deep in the stream were hurled to-
gether and smothered before they could
rise. AS an example of the speed with
which the flood came, it may be men
toned that Mrs. Charles Pillow had
Just removed her dress, for the purpose
of putting on a new gown when the
alarm was given. Before she could don
the new dress the water was six inches
deep on the parlor floor Warned by
the shouts of her husband, she grasped
her baby and ran for the unbroken
portion of the dyke, distant but a few
feet Before she could reach it the
water was knee deep, and she was
thrown to the ground and would have
been drowned but for her husband.
The flood was so quick and so thor
ough in its work that not a merchant,
a butcher a baker, dry goods man or
any dealer in any of the other neces-
saries of life was able to save any por
tion of his stock. The consequence is
that today in Shawneetown there is
not loaf of bread, a pound of meat
or an ounce of drugs that can be
bought with money. There is absO-
lutely nothing in the town for sale.
Charles Carroll, the richest man in
Gallatin county, was obliged to stand in
line at the relief boat and receive food
for his family from the contributions
of adjoining towns.