The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1875-09-29
TIE INDIAN0LA DISiSTFes
The Narrative Of the Terrible visitat..
THE SCENE AFTER THE STORM

|ternoon at Brashear, brought tile l.s
test intelligence from Indianola ma
| the Texas coast.
The news as given in the Galveston
News extra, Of the 21st inst, viii 81
found elsewhere.
! Among the passengers was Mi. " &.
D. O'Kelly and family, who had boar.
ded the Harlan on last Monday when
/ she stopped at Indianola.
The narrative Of Mr.. O'Kelly fully
substantiates the rumors Of the Jn5i.s.
anola disaster which have, reachad
this city, and conveys some idea 81
the horrors of the terrible catastte.
lphe. He states that on the morning
]of Thursday, the 10th inst3 the Va.
ter commenced rising with startling
rapidity. The wind was blowing !
perfect hurricane from the eastward
| =
and huge waves were cast l,pon the
beach. The last observation al the
signal Office before its destruction
Thursday night indicated that the
velocity of the wind was over 88
miles per hour and it increased Id vi
olence during the night. The baron.
eter stood at 1896 and the thermom.
eter at IS. The town, according to
the most reliable information. con. I
tanned between three and four thou
sand inhabitants. Mhe residents. az
the beginning Of the storm, were not
greatly alarmed, for the reason that
on many previous occasions tile va
ter had risen over one foot in the town.
but when, on Thursday evening, the
depth increased to six feet, conster-
nation and terror seized them. The
food continued to rise, the wind blew
with augmented violence, and even
the most sanguine saw that in few
more hours the fate of Indianola
would be decided. Yet there was no
means of escape from the doomed
town.
Terror-stricken women and chill
dren took refuge in the more substan-
tial buildings, while others calmly
awaited the dreadful end. Thursday
night came, and truly it was a night
OF horror An appalling darkness
enveloped the scene, the rain poured
down in dense torrents and the mad
dened waters of the bay were hurled
upon the town. It was between the
hours Of u aud 2 O'Clock that the
storm ragged at It's height. Nothing
could withstand the force Of the flood.
House after house gave way and was
swept along with the current, bury
ing the inmates in the seething
waves.
The shrieks of women and children
sounded through the darkness as d
refrain to the roar Of the hurricane.
The morning light broke upon the
awful scene Of utter ruin, and when
the wind from the north drove the
waters back, a ghastly spectacle was
revealed. The town was perfect
wreck. A few houses had escaped
complete humiliation, but there was
not a single one that was left in a
sound condition. Then commenced
the search for the dead. Bodies were
found scattered about in every diree-s I
tion--sometimes pulled out from be-
meath the debris Of dwelling houses,
or half buried in the sand. Scores Of (
corpses were discovered at a distance
of miles from the spot, having besn
carried across the bay.
Many Of the inhabitants, when the
flood came upon the town and over
whelmed the houses, endeavored to-
save themselves by clinging to the
timbers. A young man was blown
off FIVE miles, clinging to the roof Of
a house, and the next day he returned
to Indianola. Large numbers ofpeo-..
pie were rescued from their perilous
positions when the water began to
subside. In some cases che limbs Of
the corpses were found protruding
from the sand, and metallic coffin
was exhumed from the graveyard aud
landed upon the beach.
The persons Of the unfortunates
who were drowned were, in the ma
jority Of instances, so disfguredsby
floating pieces Of timber and the
effects Of the water as to be often
unrecognizable New Orleans Hc-
ayune. d
MoNpAY was . beautiful, clear,
cool and bracing day, just tleday Of
all days for good cotton picking, and
yet over five hundred able bodied
cotton pickers were in Town--a con.