The Mena weekly star., 1910-02-03
FEARS ,EP|DEMIC
sPEcTRE OF PEsrit EkcE s+AvNTs E PARIS AS. A RESULT OF TEE
 eREAT HOOD. q .<s .1-a :
SEWER SYSTEMS. ARE CLoGGED
4 Commission of Physicians Formed to Ley,se Plans to Avert the Threat ened Visitation of Dsease--Aneri cana Preparing to Leave City.


 ened Visitation of Dsease---Ameri
 cana Preparing to Leave City.
 Paris, Jan. 23.--The valley of the Seine presents now a terrifying spectacle. Above the city the river has Burst it's banks for space of 9 Hes. leaving nothing to mark the col rse of tAe current but a boil ing tide in the midst of, a sea of. backwater, Held to it's narrow course by parapets within the city the Seine races through, Paris at 25' mics an hour. flush With the parapets of the bridges where 1t. does not ac. tually overflow them. ne streets are muddy lagoons of yellow water; the undefground workings of Paris are fiooded to the bursting, point and wherever the masonry gives way there are .ge1sersV of dirty water and sewage.
 Underneath Paris are 700 miles of sewers ard two, rivers, one of the latter. flowing under the grand opera rouse. the walls of which are sub jected to the terrific pressure of thou sands Of crbic vars of water.
 The flood has reached the very heart of Parisssi ia.s, ~o7 f.., Fashionable bou1evards are lagoons. Famous buildings are surrounded with water. and first floors are afioat. Res taurants and cafes which were the re- sorts of tourists in happier days are silent except for the tapping waters that creep over the marble floors.
 Streets whose names are familiar the world over, apparently safe one moment. will be raging torrents the next The explanation of the sudden change is the bursting of those sewers which have been considered one of the wonders of the world. Unable to withstand the pressure of the water from within, sewer will burst. lift , ing the pavement and 'huriing col. umn of water into the air.
 Scores and hundreds of such explo- sons are being seen in all parts of Paris The rush of water undermines adjacent buildings. causing some to ldil fthdCtAtt6 OtHtlo uusdtt.
 The cheers of yesterday, which greeted smiling sun. turned a lamen- tations today That part of the gay capital which slept last night awoke this morning to find the rain falling in torrents, every drop augmenting the already swollen river.
 And throughout 1t all the Seine rises and spreads. Not slowly now, but at the rate of nearly h inches an hour the yellow flood is reaching upward. taking into It's grasp moro streets and other famous piles at each inch. The river Is now almost up to the mark reached in 1915.
 It was discovered that the water pressure had caused a Assure in the Auteuil viaduct at the foot of the city. This was the 'crowning horror of the flood for If the great viaduct falls 1t will act as a dam and the entire city will be submerged.
 All the military barracks and public school buildings have been thrown open to the refugees. There are now 100000 homeless people within the city limits and the problem of shelter. ing and feeding them during unusual conditions Is one which has taxed the government to the limit The public subscription has reached $200, 900. ST :. 400 of which was contributed by the American chamber of commerce.
 The Spectre of Pestilence is the great haunting fear of Paris It al. most overshadows the present peril of destruction by flood
 A commission of doctors has been summoned to perfect plans to avert what they fear will be~ah epidemic or plague when the water subsidies. The ttirbid streams in the -torrential course have washed out graveyards Count less dead cattle have been swept along In the current and the great sewerage systems are damned This dreadful burden has been borne into the great underground passages which underlie Paris--subways, sewers. cata combs. etc.-snd with this situation the city will have dread accounting to make
 Americans are hiring automobiles with which to leave Paris f
 The following telegram has been sent by President Taft to President Fallieres:
 "ls there any manner in which, through the National Red Cross or oth- erwise. appropriate expression could be made of the sympathetic distress with which the people and government of the United States learn of the re ported calamities which floods are causing your beautiful and Historic capital. as we'll as in the provinces of France? Meanwhile I offer you the sIncereut sympathy and the most ar dent wishes that the cause Of these disasters may soon abate,
 fsiRuedl CIVILIAN IT TAFT'