The Monticellonian., 1903-06-11


 Sheltered in SchooIhouses.
 The final break came shortly after three o'clock Monday morning. and the flooding of Granite City followed rapidly.
 The school houses at North Venice and West Madison are havens for hundreds whose homes were too low to afford any place of shelter from the waters. At north Venice 300 were sheltered on the second floor ot the school.
 Mrs. Lena Walker and her fve-days- old baby were conveyed 10 the West Madison school in skiffs from the Woman's Home in Newport. She was carried from her house on q cot by four men.
 Sudden Deiuge.
 On the roof of house in Venice. which the skiff had difficulty in reach ing, were William Patterson and an infant, sick with brain fever The father appealed in vain for a physi- elan.
 E. F. Akers and wife and family of three were pulled from the second story window of their home by those in skiff, having been unable to reach the roofs.
 Mrs. William Dickinson. one of tie Venice refugees. described the flood at that town as a sudden deluge, of which but a few minutes warning was given to anyone. She said the water came from the south, and 1e lieved it came from a break in the Chicago & Alton levee.
 More Barriers Broken.
 At three o'clock Monday morning the combined forces of the Mississippi river and the Cahokia creek broke the barriers at the Relay depot, East St. s.onis
 The Relay depot was surrounded with water. but the embankment ol cIay and sand bags made by the workers Sunday saved the city front the rush of water
 Trains continued to pass on the tracks around the depot, but at S:45 the cast-bound Southern was stopped on the bridge incline The water has risen so high that the engine could not pass through without dying"
 An army of men is working along the tracks that reach from the north. ern extremity of the city 10 the south and now form the eastern bank oi the Mississippi.
 Removing Goods to Safety.
 Seep water has entered the cellars and basements in the central portion of the town. and the men not at work on the levees are removing goods to higher places.
 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 b2fore the Water gained headway.
 Men at work on the leyees have been there for four days and four nights.
 Just back of Eniot's frog shops. three blocks south of Broadway, tine water is three feet higher than Main street, the first street east of the tracks. It is kept back by an em- bankment of clay, topped with sand bags.
 It seeps through constantly, but does not break the bank, because it has little current, and is not beaten by the wind.
 Suburbs Under Water.
 Rush City Denyerside and the DOT tion of town east of the Southern tracks, and south of Broadway, are under water.
 Breaks in the Conlogius tracks at Ca hokia caused the water to rise there.
 Residents of that part of town have left their homes and gone to the northern part of the city. Owners of different halls and large buildings in East St. Louis have protfered them for the use of the flood sufferers. Wm. F. Launtz, owner of Launtz hall, at Fifth street and Missouri avenue, has given the use of his large hall.
 Guards are on duty at the canal bridge on the Illinois Central tracks at Centerville station, seven miles southest of town. The authorities have closed the space beneath the trestle.
 Back water from the river has flooded farms to the southeast. and the farmers in that section of the country threaten to cut the timbers blocking the water. should this be done, the water would back up Pitss- burg lake, which, at present, reaches 10 the city limits of East St. Louis, and gain another point of attack on the city.