The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-06-11

mon Laborers-RniIroad Cars Half Covered by the Flood.
 St. Louis June 10.-Almost two- thirds of the territory of East St. Louis is under from two to fifteen feet of wa ter Between sunset last night and dawn to-day eleven lives were sacrificed to the waters. and damage which no man to-day attempted to estimate has been done to property.
 Probably never before in the history of the country has more valiant fight been made by brave men, with defeat staring them in the face, to protect lives and property than has been made by the citizens of East St. Louis. When the rising Mississippi began to threaten the city last Thursday morning Mayor Silas Cook ordered men to work to con- struct sandbag levees at once. The river rose higher and more men were employed. Citizens of the best classes worked side by side with the laborers.
 
 men, under the leadership of Mayor Cook, without sleep, with little rest and food snatched at intervals, have toiled increasingly to strengthen levees and to do everything possible to save the city. Not a wheel of industry is turning in East St, Louis. The smokeless chirn- neys of manufacturing, plants stand lifeless while the flood whirls at the foundations.
 The vast railroad yards are outlined by hundreds of half-submerged cars, and here and there stand locomotives only half visible.
 Huge grain elevators stand surround ed by a veritabIe sea.
 To the south, beyond the railroad yard, are thousands of homes, mainly humble cottages owned by laborers and containing their all, submerged to the caves.
 In northern East St. Louis the de- scription is repeated, but not on so large scale.
 The business portion of the city and the district containing the better resi- dences are still intact, "but for how l long?" is the question tonight. Broad way, running from Eads bridge east to the city limits. wide street walled | with stone fifteen feet high, divides the | city in halves. More than ten feet of ! water is pressing against Broadway from the south and in some places is sweeping through in streams as thick as 8 mans body. If Broadway shall break the water will rush over much of the city until Missouri avenue, running parallel one block north, is encount- | tered.
 | Along the river front to the west a levee of sandbags from two to six feet | high and two miles long keeps the river l out.
 Without warning the river suddenly began to rise. The city was made safe along the river front, but suddenly a | new danger menaced Word was re- ceived that the Illinois Central em- | bankment skirting the river along the
 southern boundary of the city was | threatening to give way Couriers were l sent on horseback and afoot to shout warnings to the inhabitants of the southern half of the city. Carloads of sandbags were rushed to the place and work was hurriedly begun. Accustom- ed to warnings of impending danger,
 the inha bitants did not leave their 1 homes. Higher and higher crept the
 water until thin stream began pour l ing over the embankment and suddenly l it broke.
 Thomas Middleton, a volunteer in
 charge of a gang of men who were ! at a pniaf ot Irhian tho =
 bankment gave way, gave a description of the break to the Associated Press. | He said:
 l ''The break occurred at 11:40 o'clock
 last night. My gang was hard at work with the others. The water was pour l ing over the top of the enbankment in sheet, even after all our work Sud
 denly, with roar, a jet of water shot | through the embankment almost at my
 feet. I was carried away, but seized
 some firm object and pulled myself out
 of the water. D. H. Sherwood, labor
 CT standing at my side, was swept away
 and I saw him drown. In an instant
 the water had cut a section of the en- bankment out and stream twenty-five | feet wide was rushing through. I saw l anOEnef SeCClO1l or IIlS 6IilpdUhIHeIlI gu
 out a few minutes later, and then that
 portion between the two torrents went
 down and the river poured through in
 all it's fury I believe many men, es-
 pecially negroes, were drowned. I know
 that several negroes, worn out, had
 been permitted to nap and they were
 lying asleep right in the path of the
 break. They certainly were drowned
 Middleton escaped by running along
 the embankment back to the city.
 The alarm spread like wildfire and whistles were blown, bells rung, shots
 fired and cries of warning were sound 1 ed, but with all this pandemonium the
 majority of the aroused inhabitants did
 not leave their homes.
 Within an hour the houses stood in
 water that reached to the roofs of the
 one-story cottages. It is known that
 numbers of people fled to the Central
 hotel a four-story brick structure, and
 to the large brick buildings of the 1 Washington and Franklin high schools But none of these buildings to-day con-
 tained more than 250 persons, and al l though the rescue boats found many
 people in second stories and on house l tops, there are rows upon rows of cot
 tages that early this morning did not
 show sign of life. There is grave fear
 that many bodies will be found in the ,, flooded cottages and in this section of