Warren sheaf., 1903-06-11
Entire Group North of East St. Louis
Under from 10 to 18 Feet
of Water.
SEVERAL PERSONS REPORTED DROWNED
No Confirmation of Reports Can Be
Had and Towns Are All Cut On
from Railway OmmunicatiOn-
Thousands Driven from Home
. Situation at Other Places.

from 10 to 1S feet of water, which is
still rising, and deaths from drowning
are variously estimated at from to
20. Eight thousand people were driven
from their homes. Very little con-
frmatory of the reports of drownings
can be had, as these places are all CUT
of from railroad service, and tele-
phone communication is uncertain at
best. The weather bureau promises
relief after the river shall have risen to
about 80 feet. 1t is now within few
inches of that mark, but rising slowly.
The harbor boat Mark Twain and phi
vate yacht Annie Russell, with seveIa!
tugs, have gone to Madison and Gr; nie
City where the floods have caused a
number of deaths and where scores of
families, cut off from escape, are at
the mercy of the rising water.
Dummy trains of the Terminal asso-
citation, connecting with skiffs, COM
menced Monday morning the work of
bringing across the river more than 700
persons who spent Sunday afternoon
and night on the tops of the houses and
at other points of elevation above the
flood in, Madison, Venice and Newport.
Four drownings were reported by the
refugees, but none knew the names of
the victims. One man said that a
father, mother and child had been
drowned while trying to reach point
of safety and another told Of the death
of man under like circumstances.
All Business Suspended.
In East st. Louis, on proclamat tion of
Mayor Cook, business is suspended,
the saloons are closed and every body is
at work on the levees in a desperate ef-
fort to save the city, which is from one
to four feet below the level of the Wa
ter that presses up against the en-
bankments. A hastily constructed
levee of sandbags and mud is all that
stands between the city and almost
complete submersion. If the Ievee
gives way all the main parts of the
city will be quickly flooded and not a
street in the business section will be
left out of water.
The Relay station is now surrounded
by water. Train service in every direc-
ton is laid out by the high water and
no freight business is being done at all
on the east side. Two roads, the Mis-
souri, Pacific and Frisco, are the only
ones running trains between here and
Kansas City. Passenger traffic and the
most urgent freight business is a II that
the railroads will handle west. 1t is too
early to estimate the damage, which
will run into millions, and the loss due
to the interference of business.
Vfaduct Declared Unsafe.
Monday afternoon the viaduct con-
meeting East St. Louis with the Eads
bridge was condemned as unsafe. The
street cars were stopped, and not al
lowed to cross the bridge.
The water of the Cahokia creek has
been washed against the viaduct for
. several days, and it has been strained
to its utmost by sightseers who used
it as vantage point to view the. flood
List of Casualties.
So far as known the casualties are as
follows:
John Crittenden, aged ten, drowned,
near the Merchants bridge in Venice.
A woman and seven children swept
from fence by the food in sight of
the Terminal railway operator a Mad
ison, who was attempting to save them.
A woman drowned in Madison, near
the American car works.
A woman and baby seen clinging to
a telegraph pole in Madison. The pole
turned in the water and both disap-
peared
Manager Shipley, of the Madison car
works, reports seeing seven employees
of the American Car and Foundry Co.
drown e~
Henry Edmunds, farmer, drowned
near Granite City. His wife was res
cued.
Others are reported.
Seep water has entered the cellars
and Easements in the central portion
of the town, and the men not at work
on the levees are removing goods to
higher places. --.~. J.. '....-.. >...-
After daylight Monday morning, wa
ter began to break through at Cohn
station, in the railroad yards west of
Summit avenue. The several breaks
were stopped before the water gained
any great headway.
Backwater from the river has flood
ed farms to the southeast and the farm
ers in that section of the country
threaten to cut the timbers blocking
the water. Should this be done, the
waters would back up Pittsburg lake,
which at present reaches the limits Of
East st. Louis, and gain another point
of attack on the city.
Relief In Sight for St. Louis.
According to the local weather
bureau relief seems to be- in
sight for the flooded districts in the
vicinity of St. Louis. Monday morning
the stage recorded by the governments
gauge was 37.5 feet, a rise during the
past "a hours of 1.3 feet. This breaks
all records but that Of 1914. It is ex-
pected that the river will rise very
slowly until Tuesday morning and that
the predicted stageof 3s feet, if atall,.
Will be barely attained. Then after