The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-11-13
THE HURRICANE At ST. THOMAS.
Further Particulars OF the Terrible De-
atructAOn NYhIch Rnauad.


private letter from a gentleman who has
long resided at St. Thomas gives the following
account Of the recent hurricane in that To-
caliy:-
"ST. THOMAS, Nov. IL am able to tell you
that we have all escaped with our lives. An
awful hurricane burst over this island, aud many
neighboriLg TO 6ns, on Tuesday, the 29th Of
October, about IL O'clock. At quarter to l It
was At its greatest height, and, wearied With
destruction, 1t began to subside little about 3,
and exhausted its fury at P. NJ Words canuot
de- c11be this frightful tempest. No poetic ina
gerry ever read has come up to 1t. ! have now
witnessed the reality OF a cyclone, and hope
may never again be exposed to the horrors OF
another. Almost every house in the place is
unrooied; a large number are in ruins: those
covered with shingles or tin have alone escaped.
From my windows you can see the trucks o. the
masts and hulls OF thirty vessels, to ally wrecked;
and in other parts Of the haIbor about thirty
more may be seen.
among them, the Liverpool steamship Ca
ribOean, which came in an hour or two before
the hurricane began, the Spanish steamer
PsisrO, and the royal mail steamship Derwent.
AS yet one hundred and ten dead bodies have
been found and buried, some who were killed in
their houses, and the rest, the majority, In the
harbor and about The wharves. But there must
be very large number still TO be found, as
frightiul stencil is ascending from the King's
wharf, westward. Tue corpses are no dOabt
covered with debris, such as masts and spars,
which prevent their coming up to the surface.
US The Pelayo and Todd steamets were driven
on shore. Immense trees, totally uprooted lie
about in every direction. The rain Tell heavily
at the time, so that every one who hat the good
fortune to have a floor or cellar underneath
took refuge below. In the height of the
storm, the strong shutters, firmly barred,
booked, and bolted, were wreLched
open, and torrents OF oinding rain swept into
the house, making it like an open street. was
in this pTeoiCament, and my wife handed me
the nails and kept the jalousies fast whilst
nailed them TO. The merchants have sustained
immense losses, for besides many OF the sunken
vessels containing goods just shipped by pur-
Chasers iIOm Porto Rico and elsewhere aud not
insured, the warehouses we're filled with mer-
chandlse which has been spoiled by the rain.
But the worst remains to be told. The
royal mail steamship Rhone was at Peter Island,
about twenty miles from here, almost ready to
start Tor Europe, and engaged IN taking on board
passengers, mails, and cargo from the inter-
colonial steamers, when the blast began. She
stood out to sea, but the wind sent her on the
lron-oound coast, the waves burst her boilers
she was cut IN two, and about one hundred and
twenty people, including her noble Captain
Woollev, went down in her. About twenty
three men were saved. The royal malt
steamship Wye was dashed to pieces on
Buck Island, and out of seventy only
thirteen escaped. The royal mail steamship Con-
way was driven on shore at Tortola; do not
know whether she lost any OF her ere Y or pas
seDgers. The Caravelle, French steamer, is also
reported to be total wreck. On a rough cal
culation, the estimated damage to shipping aud
property on board and 10 town cannot be less
than fifteen to twenty millions of dollars. You
cannot imagine our situation. 1t is terrible.
The gas works were levelled to the ground, kill
ing a number of people; and every church and
place OF worship is more or less injured. If the
place had been subjected to hombardment it
could not present a more deplorable appear
ance. In the midst of the hurricane, many
persons felt shocks of earthquake; l did not
but 1t must have been so, for there are abun-
dant indications of it everywhere. OF the in-
numpIabtn small craft LIGHTERS and boats.
there are very few remaining. The soldiers
barracks were all blown down. The light
house is gone, so are the dredgiHg-machine and
telegraph. MANY of the gas lamp post, of solid
iron, were also blown down. / must write you
further of particulars next mail, for / am too
horrhed TO 90 on noW.n