Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1899-07-12
MANY ARE STARVING.
FEARFUL CONDITIONS CAUSED
BY TEXAS FLOODS.
People the Brazos Valley Face Death
BY Famine and Flood Fully Three
Hundred Negroes are Known 10
Have Perished.

The total number of lives known to
have been lost in the Brazos anl Colo
RADIO river floods, that are spread over a
great area Of central and southern Texas.
is fully 300. There are unauthenticated
reports Of many lrofe cases Of drowning.
Nearly all of the victims were negroes,
who refused to heed the warning of the
impending overflow and seek higher
ground.
In Buriesen County party of twenty
TWO water-bound negro men, women and
children We're rescued from tree tops,
where they had been stationed for two
days. They were IN famished condition
The water is. subsiding along the upper
source of the Brazos, but is still rising
near the gulf. 1t is now many feet above
the highest water mark ever known. In
Waller County there is great destitution
among the sufferers and appeals have
been sent TO the mayors of all the larger
cities Of the State for aid in the way of
clothing and food. Through railroad traf-.
nc on all the principal roads of the State
is still suspended. Gov. Sayers received
a telegram Il -ned by committee of citi-
zens Of Fulshear, Fort Bend County, say
ing that thousands OF people in that conn
ty are starving and appealing for immedi-
ate aid
twenty-five counties are submerged to
q greater or less extent, and thousands of
acres of cotton lands are under water.
The loss of cotton yield is estimated at
from $1,000 to 10000 bales in each coun-
ty, entailing monetary loss of fully SS,-
100000. 1t is estimated that the damage
to other property, including loss of live
stock, will approximate $7,000,000, max
ing total due to the floods of $15, ,0O0.-
000
Terrible stories Of destitution and dis
tress, of hunger and death, to come in
from the fiood-swept belt In the BRACES
river bottom near Brookshire, station on
the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway,
thirty-eight miles from Houston, comes
an appalling account. The ineager dis
patches received from there state that in
the Brazos bottom men, women and chill
dren are lodged in trees and are dying
from hunger and exhaustion. Hundreds
of people, mostly negroes, are the victims.
Around Brookshire people are huddled
like sheep on little knobs and in other
places of temporary safety.
A report received at Fort Worth by tel
ephone from south Texas flood points
gives additional appalling accounts of the
disaster fraught by the unprecedented
flooding of the Brazos river. Fully 200
lives have been lost near Sealey, at a
point called The Mouno The spot is a
small upland entirely surrounded by the
raging waters, extending three or four
miles in all directions. On this spot were
ctngregated 800 negroes. The waters
seemed to be closing in on them, with no
avenue of escape. On another sIr1...
patch Of ground, out in the river, near
Brookshire, was another bunch of 400
negroes, who were in danger of being
swept away. The situation, the dispatches
say, is frightfuT and people are panic
stricken and unable to lend the unfortu-
nate ones su"cor of any kind. From indi-
cations the loss of life will reach 500, un-
less Imprisoned negroes are given assist
ance.
Reports received from Calvert and
Brookshire, 1u0 miles down the river
from Calvert, portray a fearful state of
desolation and suffering, particularly
among the plantation negroes hemmed in
by the raging torrents. The river is seven
feet higher than ever before, and the LASH
ing, leaping waters cover an expanse of
more than five miles. Plantations along
the river, near Hearne, are all under wat
er and crops practically ruined. 1t has
rained continuously Tor eight days
throughout the flooded districts, the great
est rainfall since 1S42, when similar dis
aster befell the people along the Brazos
river and hundreds were drowned.
The War Department has granted the
request of the Governor OF Texas for aid
for flood sufferers. Such Government
boats as are available will be placed at
the disposition of the Governor, and the
rations asked will be issued at once.