The weekly Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1911-1922, 1912-04-11
GREATEST FLOOD
IN LATE HISTORY
Eight Persons Drowned and
zoos More Homeless.
MILLIONS IN PROPERTY LOSS
Sweeping Waters and Factories,
Houses, Lumber Yards, Etc.,
are Borne Away.

st. Louis, April 5.-Seven thousand
people homeless, nearly 10000 more
neeing their homes or preparing for
instant flight, eight persons drowned,
property loss extending into the
tens of millions, dozens of cities up
and down the river under water or
menaced, and levees giving way be
fore the pressure of the vast wastes
Of water like cardboard. briefly tells
the story of the greatest flood in late
history.
Everywhere a grim and determined
hight against the great father of wa
ters' is being waged. Millions OF
bags of sand and dirt are being used
to strengthen levees, long since weak
ened by the pressure of the flood and
by long continued rains. Everywhere
IN the entire water-swept valley men
are working with but one idea or pur-
pose that of staving off impending
breaks that would sweep away homes
and perhaps lives. In the wake Of
the flood is the grim spectacle of
pestilence which may result from the
overflow when the waters recede.
The five-day fight of the people of
Cairo to save the Cairo drainage dis
trict ended In a complete rout and all
hope of saving the industrial and agri-
cultural district OF 5000 acres just
north of that city was abandoned. In
place of beautiful alfalfa fields and
fine manufacturing plants there is a
sea of turbid water. The break in
the Mobile and Ohio embankment was
the beginning of the end.
Water ran through the crevasse all
day, but hope was entertained until
late in the afternoon of stopping the
flow at the Illinois Central right of
way. About 8 p. m. fresh break &C.
Cured in the Big Four embankment
near the plant of the Pioneer Pole and
Shaft company. With a rush the wa
ter swept in. hurting houses and lum-
Der piles before them. All along a
five-mile stretch of 1evee from the IL
linois Central bridge to Cache river,
the water. was up to the very top Of
the levee There was nothing to build
on and no hope whatever of checking
the flow. Hundreds of workers were
strung along this leyee They were
hastily rushed back into the city for
fear that they would DE caught be-
tween the breaks ami drowned. At
the plants of the Chicago Mill and
Lumber company and the Weis Peter
son Box company men were put to
work In a desperate effort to remove
f4I hR
washed away.
Reports from Arkansas towns back
of the st. Francis levee, across the
river from Memphis, state that many
of them are partly flooded from back
water in the inland streams. The ST.
Francis levee protects an area as large
as the state of Delaware and SOC, 900
people. Thousands have fed to the
hills.
The Ohio and Wabash rivers in In
diana. already racing over their
levees in many places, have not yet
reached their highest mark. The
weather observer at Evansville, Ind,
predicts the crest will be reached next
Tuesday. Most Of the levees are
strained to the breaking point now,
and can never hold out with a contin-
ued rise until next Tuesday. In some
places the Wabash river is fifteen
miles wide and considerable live stock
has been lost. 1t is estimated that
losses from the food along the lower
Ohio will be the greatest since 1884.
Terre Haute reports the Wabash Is
the highest there since the disastrous
hood of 1884 and that the people are
on the move for safer localities.
The arrival at Charleston, Mo-, OF
mail by boat from Belmont, Mo-,
brings tidings that the latter town has
been wiped OF the fs"e OF the earth
and the citizens hoI n In a house
hoat where the posto : is doing bust
ness. Loss in prope. y and live stock
is beyond estimate and many have
lost the savings of lifetime. 1t is
feared also many lives have been lost
n this section.
At Hickman, KY, flood conditions
a1O worse than ever, with hundreds OF
food refugees pouring into town from
Missouri and Kentucky. Water Is
running over the government levee
the last block of the main business
district was under water, and lootine
In West Hickman added to the seri
BUSINESS of the problem with which the
authorities are confronted.