Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-06-25
WILLIAM III. TYLER's TRIP
TeIls pr ' | sunFerlngs of the sSss1herr
 PAouEe.

William M. Tyler of Bucks Hill was about town to-day for the first time since his return from the south last week. Usually MT Tyler wears a very pleasant countenance and greets his friends with a warm handshnke and q hope you're well' that comes direct from the heart but to-day he ap- peared somewhat out of sorts and scarcely recognized his old acquaint- ances. He looked like a man that had been playing in hard luck and was dissatisfied with himself and every Dody else. A Democrat reporter who has known MT Tyler for many years nnd never saw him in such mood be- fore inquired what was the matter and Mas informed tfat he could not turn his mind from the sights he saw on Kis way south. He had seen thou sands of the food sufferers, homeless, hungry. cold and half wild with de- Epair over the loss of their property and the awful fate that met many or their relatives.
 ssI never expected to look upon such sight, said Mir Tyler, shaking his head and turning pale at the thought of the subject. About 500 of us were detained oyer night at Alton, some twenty miles from St Louis. We reached there by rail and in oruer DO get to St Louis we had to cross the Mississippi, but the water was so hlgn navigation was at StandstiH and we were told we would have to wait. 10 make things worse we couldn't get any place to stop and after several hours frampilg about the town, mingllng with the flood sufferers and listening to their heart t-rending stories over thelr losses, we finally obtained permission to board a boat and make the best handtw could of ourselves there unrll The next day when they promised to take. us to the other side There was no alternative and we crowded in and ladd down wherever we saw chance. Most of US slept on the bare floors. It mas bad enough on the men fodKs' but I don't know how women and cnll- dren stood it. I saw four little ba- bies. none of them over six months old, Stretched on table with napkins un- der their heads, and their mothers standing about them, sadly in need of sleep, too, but with no place to lay Eheir heads This was but one in- stance of the suffering we beheld that night, so that really could not think of recounhing half the sad sights that were noticeable every place you turned your eyes. Tn the morning they put out to take us across tlhe river and be- fore they got us to the other side they had to remove the smoke stacks and cabin before they could pass under the bridges. The water was so high that the vessel could not pass under the bridge with the smoke stacks or any @s1-o yts upper deck and before we reached the other side we were pretty well scared md wished that we had not ventured but On the way home I made a roundabout trip of 800 miles by rail rather than try the same experienced T
 When Mir Tyler left here everything was parched and Bucks Hill people as well as others dn this part of the country had despadred of getting rain on time to be of any benefit to the crops. but after he got back he was as- tonished at the change that had taken place while he was away and imdg- fined that the overflow from the Missis- sippi must have reached Waterbury and deluged everything. He said pota- toes and early corn are ruined, but he believes that grass will come out all right and that the prospect for hay crop is encouraging. While MT Tyler brightened up trif1e at mention o1 better results from his hay fields thar he fhad expected earlier in the season still this could not shake off the thoughts of what he had seen during his vaScatfon and before the reportei was aware of it he had introduced tht subject again and was wondering wira, would become of the thousands 0, homeless human beings he had seer bewailing their fate along the route o. the Mississippi river.