The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-09-30
The Floods in Texas-AccOunts O
Some Of the Disasters.
THE DESTRUCTION oFLYNcnBuRe

l CVnC VI tuc DlSuSLcfSs
THE DESTRUCTION OFLYNcHBURa.
i Thursday night was one of terror. The
tide, now to its full height, surged with
the fury fthe gale Torrents of rain fell,
and the wind howled with all the fury OF
hurricane. All but few too-confident
people of Lynchburg and San Jacinto had
gone to the hills for safety before night.
After midnight houses, vessels, everything
yielded TO the gale
! Friday morning nothing but devasta-
ton met the eye. Destruction and wrecks
all around; RATS, logs, timbers and frag
ments OF houses, bearing struggling hu-
manity, driven here and there by the pitt
less gale; futtering signals of distress from
many a tree-top; the fierce wind and waves
dlmmed all cries for succor; piteous mo-
tions alone told the locker on of the dis
tress of the imperiled.
| The steamer Matamoras No. 2, Can't.
Alexander Bell, formerly of the Houston
Direct Navigation Company, had been
| driven across the flats on the north side
of the San Jacinto. Thesteamer Star and
barges were driven near her. The drift
commenced accumulating around them.
and fortunately her position was point
of concentration for the floating debris to
which people had clung. Capt. Bell, with
Mr.. Leacock, engineer, and four men, got
out the life-boat and rescued such persons
as they could get near, but the gale was so
| fearful that they could make but little
| headway.
About ten a. m. small raft with two
persons on was seen approaching As ii
| came nearer they were discovered to be
DR.. Chamberlain and wife, of Lynchburg.
He was sitting on the raft holding his
| wife's head in his lap. Her body was
partly under water. The current swept
them near the Matamoras, and as the raft
struck among the drift, and just as their
rescuers from the Matamoras got rope
around Dr. Chamberlain, Mrs. Chamber.
lain's body was torn from his grasp and
swept under the drift. The husband,
thoughtless of his own life, was appealing
to the rescuers: "Don't save me, save my
wife," and after she was gone begged
them to let him down with her. He was
hauled on board in a benumbed condition
1t is the opinion of Capt. Bell and Mr.
Leacock that she was dead before seen by
them.
About noon family named Perkins,
three men, Il woman and child, came
floating from down the river on top of
house. 1t caught among the trees, into
which they all got, from where they were
all taken in safety by the yawlboat of the
Matamoras. The current and wind were
so strong that four men could not manage
the boat After various efforts to get to
them Capt Bell paid out line and floated
the boat to them and took them off. Dur
ing the day Campbell, Mr.. Leacock and
the crew of four men picked up and saved
twenty persons.
The Perkins family say that everything
was swept off from Adams Island which
is about five miles below Lynchburg.
A number of persons are known to have I
been drowned in the vicinity Of Lynch
burg and San Jacinto.
The report is that all the houses along
the shore from Lynchburg to the bay are
swept off.
The scene from Harrisburg to Lynch
burg is deplorable. The water isup to the
top of the cars on the San Antonio Rail
road track at Harrisburg. At Morse
worthy's it was up to the frontyard gate
At Massie's the drift marked the height of
the tide far up the bank at his landing.
Dr. Massie stated to the passengers on the
Fowler that the tide-water from the gulf
was thirty-four inches above the highest
rain-food within his knowledge on the
bayou.
Between Lynchburg and Morgan's
Point not house is standing on the I'M
mediate shore of San Jacinto Bay or on
the islands except the warehouse of the
Ship Channel Company on the point. OF
the residents Mrs. Pierce and four chill
dren, little Clara Grafton, Mrs. Mckee and
Mrs August are known to have been lost.
Mr.. and Mrs. Alexander and Mr.. Mckee
are said to have been saved by young MIR.
Miltrun.
UNHAPPY EXPERIENCE OF TWO FAMILIES.
Mr.. and Mrs. West formerly Mrs.
Grafton) occupied new house at Bay
town Mrs Mckee and little Clara Graf
ton, Mrs. Vests child, were with them.
When the water rose over Hog Island Mr..
Mckee, Charles Post, the lightkeeper, and
Mrs. Pierce, with four children, aban-
doned that place and came in skiff to
Vests, Thursday morning before day
light. During Thursday the water rose
gradually in the house. and by afternoon
reached the ceiling. They hung on by
the windows until about four p. M, when,
finding that the water was gaining, they
got into skiff, with the hope of reaching
the high land. In half an hour the skiff
was swamped, and in getting hold of the
windows again two children were lost,
the oldest and youngest girl. Mr.. West
then made hole in the roof, and all were
got on it. Small hand-holes were made
to cling to. In a short time the roof was
swept away from the building, the tide
carrying them up the bay several miles.
They drifted about Thursday night and
Friday at the mercy of the waves, during
which time Mr.. Mckee and Mr.. Post got
in tree, when the norther came out on
Friday and drove them back down the
bay. Of the occupants of the roof none |
remained but Mr. and Mrs. West, Mrs. |
Pierce and one child, and Mr.. Post. The |
wind drove them across the bay !
and the current into the mouth of the
canal Just as the roof entered the canal |
it turned over and Mrs. Pierce and child
we're lost. Mr. West rose, clinging to
his wife, and seized the roof again, the
current swept the roof over on the east
side, and when it struck the bank the two |
were thrown up on the side OF the dump
Post was able to reach the bank, West
was senseless and Mrs. West stunned, but
moaning The tug Coates had been driven
by the gale on the point and lay on the |
other side of the dump. MIR. Nelson, who
had brought her up from Reddish
through the gale, and Mr.. Rhett, master
mechanic, were on board. Hearing the
means, they went over the dump and car
ried the rescued pair on board the tug.
About seven p. M, within half an hour
after Mrs. West was carried on the tug, |
she was taken ill and gave birth to boy.
These rugged men, fathers themselves, yet
unused to such ministrations, aided by |
Mr.. West, faithfully performed the duties
belonging to gentler hands. The brave !
little woman who had undergone all these
perils, seeing mother, Child, sister and her
four nieces swept away before her eyes,
gave directions which doubtless saved her
life and that of the babe. As soon as
mother and babe were in condition to be
moved and the gale would permit couch |
was made, and the men of the dredging |
fleet carried them up to the old Morgan
place, occupied by Mr.. Tom Edwards,
where every possible arrangement was
made for their comfort Yesterday even
ing, when the Fowler left Morgan's Point, |
both were doing well.-Houston Telegraph, |
Sept. 81.
In the Sfeeraye and How IT LOOkS.