The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-06-09
MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI
BRINGS HAVOC AND DESTRUCTION
TO ST. LOUIS.
SOME TWENTY HUMAN LIVES
FOLLOW MILLIONS OF PROPERTY
IN THE FLOOD.

story of the Eject of the Flood
Upon st. Louis shows Vast Dam
age-EaSt st. Louis Is Threatened
With Complete InundntiOn-Men
Are Striving to Make a Slender
Levee Hold Against the Strength
of the River-StOries of the Deaths
Are Pathetic.
st. Louis, June $50 great an ex-
tent of territory is covered by the
flood, so constantly changing are the
conditions as the water creeps higher
and renders the situation the more
chaotic as the rumors of devastation
come to hand, that an accurate esti-
mate of the loss Of property and lives
cannot be obtained, but tonight infor-
nation from apparently the most re-
liable sources showed the situation 10
be as follows:
River stage 37.5 feet, stationary;
probably a slight rise by morning,
when the highest stage will be reach
ed.
Twenty lives known to have been
lost.
over 100000 acres of rich farming
lands under water.
All of Venice, and the greater parts
of Madison and Granite City under
/ water
Twenty-Five thousand people render
ed homeless.
Freight traffic completely paralyzed
and passenger traffic practically so.
The shipping and manufacturing dis
| trict of East st. Louis for three miles
along the river front under from two
| to eight feet of water.
| Hundreds and probably thousands of
head of stock drowned
East st. Louis threatened with COM
plete inundation.
st. Louis flooded only along the wa
| ter front.
| Entire property loss estimated at 3d.
| 900, 900.
East Side Cities Under Water.
The entire group of East Side cities
| lying just north of East st. Louis and
| including Venice, Madison, West Mad
ison, Newport, Brooklyn and Granite
City, are under from ten to eighteen
feet of water, which is still rising.
Very little confirmation of the reports
Of drowning can be had, as these places
are all cut off from railroad service,
i and telephone communications is I'M
certain at best. The Weather Bureau
promises relief after the river shall
have risen to about thirty-eight feet.
So far as known the casualties are as
follows:
John Crittenden, aged 10, drowned
near the Merchants bridge in Venice.
A woman and seven children swept
from fence by the flood in sight of
the terminal railway operator at Mad
ison, who was attempting to save them.
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 Com
pany drown.
Henry Edmunds. farmer, drowned
cued.
Boats Go to Rescue.
The harbor boat Mark Twain and
private yacht Annie Russell, with sew
eral tugs, have gone to Madison and
Granite City, where the flood has caus-
ed 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 to-day 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 food in
| Madison, Venice and Newport. Four
drownings were reported by the refu-
gees, but none knew the names of the
victims. One said that a father
mother and child had been drowned
hill g. ..1I-
| ty, and another told of the death of
a man under like circumstances.
In East st. Louis. on proclamation
of Mayor Cook, business is suspended,
| the saloons are closed and everybody
is at work on levees in desperate eff
fort to save the city, which is from
one to four feet below the level of the
water that presses up against the en-
| bankments. A hastily constructed le-
wee of sandbags and mud is all that
stands between the city and almost
complete submersion. If the levee
gives way all the main part of the
city will be quickly flooded, and not
a street sin the business section will
be left out of water
Train Service Ruined.
Train service in every direction is
laid out by the high water, and no
! freight business is being done at all
| In 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 all
that the railroads will handle west
1t is too early to accurately estimate
the damage, which, however, will run
into the millions, and the loss due to
the interference with business.
This Afternoon the viaduct connect
ing 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 wash
ing against the viaduct for several
days and it has been strained to it's
utmost by sightseers. who used it as
vantage point to view the flood.