The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1910-01-28
REJOICING is
SHORT LIVED
PariSianS Believed Waters
We're Subsiding.
SITUATION NOT IMPROVED

Momentary Fall in the Seine Due to a
Rapid Overflow Where the River
Had Broken Its Rarriers-Raging
Torrent Runs Through the City of
Paris at the Rate Of twenty-five
Miles an Hour.
Paris, Jan. 28-The sun is shining
in Paris. The rain ceased throughout
the afflicted district before noon and
as the waters of the Seine appeared to
subside the lamentations of the popu-
lace gave way to rejoicing. 1t is hoped
that the worst is over, but the wish is
father to the thought.
At IL o'clock the water gauge showed
q drop In the waters of the Seine at
Point Royal. The subsistence con-
tinued for thirty minutes, amounting
to three-quarters of an inch. Cries of
joy from the watchers were taken up
by thousands along the Quays.
Later it was asserted that the fall
was due to the rapid overflow into the
Bercy quarter from points where the
Seine had broken barriers. The ex-
perts say that the river is still rising
but that the maximum flood should be
reached soon. The Bercy quarter has
been abandoned by the residents.
The valley of the Seine now presents
a tnr hn iG
miles wide for twenty-five miles above
and the raging torrent runs through
the city at the rate of twenty-five
miles an hour. 1t is flush with the
parapets of the bridges, where it is
not actually overfowing them, turning
streets into muddy lagoons and chok-
ing underground workings of the city
to the bursting point
Paris resembles a beleaguered city.
The military commander in each of
| the five sections into which the me-
| tropolis has been divided holds his
| soldiers in constant readiness for dis
| patch to points of danger. The gov
ernment of the municipality has placed
the military barracks and public
| school buildings at the disposal of the
| refugees, who already number more
| than 100000
| Miles of Streets Washed Away.
| Miles of the boulevards of Paris, one
| of the city's chief points of pride, have
been washed away, many of the most
notable structures in the city, to see
which travellers have been wont to
come from the corners of the earth
have already suffered heavy loss and
are in danger of collapse; $4,000 are
homeless and subsisting on scant pro
! visions furnished by the city; the in
dustrial life of the city is completely
| suspended and the one thought in the
| minds of the people is the imminence
| of staggering calamity that may yet
come If the Seine continues to rise.
For once Paris has been sobered
The gay mood that permitted the peo
| pie to look on the flood for their enter
tainment, has departed and grim feal
is now in the hearts of every one ant
is plainly written in the faces of all
Every subway in Paris-and Paris
has more underground tunnels thar
any other city in the worlds nov
flooded. This is the cause Of the enor
nous damage, a damage that in Paris
alone is likely to run over 100000, 900
These subterranean rivers hav'
caused the collapse of scores of streets
and are responsible for the water tha
now stands in varying depths owe
nearly half of the city.
Had it not been for the filling o
these subways the loss would hav
been comparatively slight, confine,
mostly to the property along the rive
front. As it is every part of the cit
4 q