The Forrest City times., 1912-04-19


 officer and members Of the levee board who had made the trip had a conference with local officials that night, regarding the situation.
 The officers of the Wynoke report distressing and desperate conditions along the St. Francis as noted during their trip. They tell Of being hailed by man near Ralph Bayou, who held rifle in his hand and threatened to shoot their pilot if the steamer was not slowed down as it passed his house, and of the captain having 10 have his engines stopped while he parlayed with the man and told him that the engines were barely running fast enough to keep the boat headed against the current.
 At this point also the steamer St. Joe, wes fired on Sunday night on her down river trip, the shot going through the pilot house. and wound ing Mariana citizen.
 The pilot of the Wyanoka said Wednesday evening that he had made his last trip up the St. Francis, unless he was assured Of protection and the captain of the steamer stated that upon his return to Memphis he would advise that smaller boat be put in the service, owing to the hos tile attitude of the dwellers against the big boats, which had been arous- ed through fear of the wash from the boats wheels overturning their houses and washing away what they had managed to save from the flood S grasp,
 The water has reached the town of Widener, good deal of land immedi- ately surrounding that village being under water Saturday, especially south of the railroad. and Tuesday it was possible to run boat iron Fish ing Lake right into the town, while gasoline boats made the trip from Madison to Widener.
 The water from the river backed into Crow Creek, and now reaches a point good distance above the rail- road trestle, while south of the rail- road track the backwaters of the creek and the flood of the St. Francis from the east, meet. making an al most unbroken lake or sheet of water from the high ground on the west bank Of the creek as far as the eye can reach to the east, and covering that portion of Madison south of the tracks and where k situated the Morgan West Box Factory and the homes of it's employees with from three to six feet of water.
 IL Was stated Wednesday by gentle men well yersed i'll river matters that the Mississippi would have to fall at least six feet at Cairo. before the wa ter would cease flowing through the upper breaks, and until it had been lowered to that extent, no cessation of the rise could be hoped for at Madison, and that at that time three feet and half more was the least could be expected at Madison.
 Communication with the outside world, was somewhat improved the first of the week blythe establishment of the mail route from Memphis and the east through Helena and thence north over the Iron Mountain and the NJ. X \. A, but the L LAuguile (Which is crossed by the first named road few miles north of Mariana, ] hlled up with backwater and over flowed it's tracks. making the running of trains after Thursday. possible by yrunning through T inches of water. Before that day the use of the small passenger engines had t0 be discon- tinued and the largest and highest wheeled engines on the division sub stituted
 And the Rock Island crosses this stream to the west of the city, and here conditions are rapidly becoming as bad. The train Tuesday night ran through water that lacked only about five inches of touching the lower steps on a passenger coach, and Il Is feared that by tonight communi- cation will be cut off in that direction.
 The Steamer City St. Joseph, tied up at Madison Sunday afternoon, after having been out from Memphis since Friday afternoon. She landed four or more carloads of freight for For rest City and Rock Island points west, besides a miscellaneous cargo Of stock and refugees from the oyer- flowed sections along the St. Francis. and left the same evening on her re- turn trip. She left Memphis again Tuesday and was expected to reach Madison, Wednesday. but was delayed and did not reach there until Thurs day This time Sba IrgI7uIt +,ro,,,,.