Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-11-02
THE CUBAN HORROR.
FEARFUL STORMS AND DELUGE.

AhO lnOuSanu Lives lOSls"-lWelTe
Thousand Head OF Cattle Destroyed
- Cemetery Scattered to the Winds
Sugar Plantations Destroyed.
A letter from Havana, the material
portions OF which we give, brings de-
tails Of the terrible disaster in Cuba
briefly noted by telegraph. The wri-
ter says:
Re-established communications
with the interior of the island and
with the north and south coasts at
last enable us to write of the losses,
damage and disasters caused by the
. storm or hurricane on the 9Th and Sth
outside of Havana and immediate
vicinity. AIatanzas is the place worst
dealt with, and the reports from there
are indeed sad ones. Nearly 400
/ houses swept away and about 1000
| lives lost tell at once how Overwhelm-
/ inc was tie storm there. The city is
buiIt on the bay, of the same name,
and upon the banks of two rivers
| the San Juan and the Numuri-which
Dour their waters into the bay hardly
/ half a mile apart. From its peculiar
I location MatanZas is often called by
I the Spaniards "Ld CiUddd dc tOS Dos
/ RiOs'-the "City of the Two Rivers"
and this peculiar location was chiefly
! the means of the disasters it suffered.
The storm was of rain as well as of
wind, and the heavy showers soon
swelled the waters Of the San Juan
and Yumuri to overfiowing heights.
On the opposite banks of the twOsTiv-
ers were small suburbs, the two prin-
eiple ones built around the two rail-
way stations of the city. Two bridg-
es over the San Juan and one over
the Numuri connected these suburbs
with MatanZas, one of the San Juan
bridges having cost Sl20, 900, and was
therefore a very fine one. These
bridges caught the descending drift in
its course to the bay along their piers,
and soon species Of dams were formed
that forced the accumulating waters
Of the two rivers yet faster from their
natural beds; and worse still, the
wind coming from the east drove the
waters of the bay over the front streets
of the city, and up the two rivers,
thus preventing the streams from dis
charging their fast increasing volumes
in their regular way.
Att A. NJ, (of the Sth,) the Bailen
bridge gave way, and was soon a per-
feet wreck. Quickly the Numuri
bridge and the remaining one of the
San Juan followed. Then the adj
vancing waters of the bay and the de-
scending, OverflOwing ones of the two
rivers met, and cOmmingling for a
terrible work of destruction, swept
furiously to the right and left, front
and rear, and inundated the wards of
Pueblo Nuevo and OjO de Aqua, part
of that of Versailles, and all the sub
urbs on the opposite sides Of the two
rivers, the water rising in the city
proper as far as San Francisco street.
Most of the houses in the inundated
wards and suburbs were of but one
floor, and as in many streets the water
attained a height of fifteen feet, they
proved of but little protection to their
inmates. Besides the waters bore
against the buildings with such pow
er that many were soon broken ups
particularly as the wind, which then
reached its greatest strength, and the
rain, which fell faster and harder
than ever, materially assisted in the
devastation. The inhabitants of the
uniuundated wards were able to rend-
er but little assistance to their fellow
citizens of the inundated wards and
suburbs, as the wind extended its
work Of destruction to their homes,
unrOOfing houses, demOlishing balcO-
nies, leveling trees to the ground, and
doing other damage. For more than
two hours MatanZas and inhabitants
remained thus scOurged with wind
and water-the first increasing in in
tensity, the second in height. Final /.
IL, at $3.50 A. NJ, the rain ceased, the .
wind suddenly fell, the dark clouds I
opened, and through the opening the |
moon poured a welcome flood of light, /
and the sOrely tried inhabitants hailed |
the semi-phenomenon as of good aug !
ury-the fOrerunner of the ending of I
the storm. On truth, they were not 4
mistaken.
A HORRIBLE SCENE.
With the lull of the storm and par I
tial change of the wind the waters of /
the bay at once retired from the city /
and suburbs, and the two rivers, trans /
formed into torrents, were enabled /
once more 70 discharge their supera- /
bundanee where they had been wont l
to. The rapid flow towards the bay, |
however, impaired to the waters so |
much current and force that, in their /.
ebbing from the inundated wards and /
suburbs, they wrecked many more
houses, dragging to wateTy graves |
many more persOnss Buildings, and /
parts and fragments of buildings, fur |
niture, trees, goods, and bodies innu- /
merable, of man and beast, of fish |
and fowl, were for several hours borne /.
by the retiring flood to the bay, there |
to be only in small proportions recOv- |
cred. When the waters were gone a |
sad, desolating sight was indeed pre- |
sented by the scOurged wards and sub /
urbs. As stated at the beginning of
this letter, nearly 400 houses were I.
swept away with all their contents /.
more or less valuable 1891 houses by |
exact count-90 of stone and brick, /
and 3Ol of wood, and more than 400 /
other houses were more or less in /
iured Some of the buildings swept
away were very costly ones, including
nearly all the fine warehouses on the |
Ievee and the lower banks of the San /
Juan and the Yumuri, not one of /
which but had boxes of sugar and |
hOgsheads of mOlasses in storage, the |
whole of which was also lost. In /
lives. I stated at the commencement, [
the losses would exceed l,OOG. There /
are accounts which reduce the num- /
ber to 500, and Others that raise it to /
1000. I find a letter from a Matan- /
zas merchant, which states that 4S2 /
dead bodies had been found and bur- /
led, and that 500 missing persons were /
accounted for. The most prominent /
man drowned was the rich merchant, |
Pedro Benet. Not a single American |
was among the victims. The brute 1
creation naturally Jared worse than /.
the man in the inundated wards and /
suburbs, and the number of horses, |
cattle, hogs, dogs, &c, drowned is /
very great. In the two wards of
Pueblo NuevO and OjO de Aqua only |
one horse was saved, and he in truth |
saved himself, being found, after the
waters were gone, upon the roof Of
house, to which place of refuge he
had made his way whilst the waters
were at their greatest height. No
pecuniary estimates of the losses
within the city have as yet been made !
that can pass for reliable. The letter
quoted from affirms they will exceed
100000.
INCIDENTS OF THE HURRICANE.
There are many incidents of the
storm and disasters that deserve men |
ton The railway train that left Ha- |