The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1900-04-25
STORM SWEPT.
THE WILD WAVES SING A DlRGE OF
DEATH AND DESTRUCTION.

Cites Surrounded by Water Terrible
Condition in the Flood Sections.
Property Of all Kinds Damaged Be-
yond Estimate and Loss OF Life
Probable.
jackson, Miss April 20-Ihe Il
linois Central managed to open traf-
&c with New Orleans tonight over
the Natchez branch of the Yazoo and
Mississippi Valley road, although
trains are running with great caution
on account of the treacherous condi-
ton of the track. The main line is
still tied up below Magnolia by the
high waters, and the officials do not
expect to get traffic opened before
the early part of next week. A
bridge was washed out at Pearl river
today. The situation in Jackson is
rapidly growing worse, and a good
size section of the southern porto n
OF the city is submerged with the
hsckwater from Pearl river. Sur
rounded on three sides by water and
with the three small streams swollen
beyond their banks, the city is at the
same time confronted with q water
famine. Leaf river has broken from
its banks and is spreading out over
the surrounding country, sweeping
away fences and houses, ioundatiDg
crops and drowning much live stock
and poultry. Viewed from the w9gon
bridge at this point, Pearl liver is
one vast lake stretching six or eight
miles to the east and south. The
Alabama and Vicksburg railroad
bridge is .ottering on it's foundations
tonight and will doubtless be swept
away before morning.
Adyices from several States, from
which a general idea of the food is
gained, indicate that the damage
will reach into the millions, and the
calamity falls especially hard on the
farmers.
Memphis, Tenn, April 20.--A
special to the Commercial-Appeal
from New Orleans says:
The food which commenced the
early part of the week has already
caused, at a conservative estimate,
fully 50, 900, 900 loss in central and
southern Mississippi, to say nothing
of the damage by the railroads.
The extent of the losses have not yet
been fully realized and it may be
some days yet before an accurate
total can be reached for mail COM
m1nication has been totally cut eff
between these localities which have
suffered most and the outside world
and telegraph lines suffered greatly
so that the news is just now begin
ming to arrive by wire. In Louis lana,
too, the damage done by the unpre-
cedented rains was general but in
this State they r more inferential
than positive. A special from Co.
lumbia, Miss which was received
late tonight fixed the loss in that
little town and its immediate vicinity
at 100000.
Many farm houses were carried
away by the mad waters, the occu-
pants barely escaping with their
lives and the number of cattle drown
ed was great. A great many gins
aud mill houses we're washed away
and many sawmills saw their lumber
piles melted away as if by magic.
Nearly every bridge around Colum-
bis was swept down stream. Pearl
river is now higher than it has been
known for many years. Miles and
miles of the New Orleans and North
eastern track are still under water.
Honey island, the rendezvous Of the
noted train robber, Burch, is under
twenty feet of water and the island,
which has for years been one of the
natural game preserve of the south
is DOW devoid of wild animals.
Hundreds of deer were drowned and
the hills near the banks of the Pearl
river are now the temporary abiding
places of all manper of four footed
life. The log booms in the neigh
borbood of Pennington were all car
ried away and the loss sustained in
this direction alone amounts to thou
sands of dollars. Distressing news
from Hickory, Miss, a small town
on this road which is now completely
surrounded by water and inundated
in many localities. Hundreds of
hogs and cattle near this point were
drowned and miles of fencing have
been washed away. The latest ad-
vices from the town of Enterprise
state that the losses there have been
great and much restitution prevails.
TT