The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1886-10-29
xHg STRICKEN TEXANS.

An Aggregate OF 900 Lives Sacrificed During the
I.t" Storm at Sabine Pass, SohnsOn's Bayou
I'D R,Sford-Pathetic Incidents Of the Calam'
fly.
JoHNsoN's BAYOU, La, Oct. lo.-1his
village is on a high ridge on the sea ooasU,
and the bayou from WnAch IL 0akes tTs
name runs through the inhaolCapl'
part OF that section OF the settie-
ment in which is also situated the
p~ostofice station known as kadIoru'
Thev are in Cameron parish, on the Lou
isiona. shore. six miles east oil SABINE fass;
The BAYOU is nineteen miles In length ana
varies from one to four miles IN width'
Ridges face the gulf twelve ieet above the
sea level, and in the rearls a dense andlm-
penetrablem marsh. The population on last
Tuesday numbered 1000. Today 90 OF
that number are counted with the dead.
Forty of their bodies have been recovered
and consigned to graves in the Shell reels
while the decomposed bodies Of the remain
ING As lie in the marshes. Radford was very
thickly settled and populous. These rldg-
es composed some OF the richest and most
fertile grazing land in the country, 5000
head OF cattle and horses being wnned by
the community. Communication with the
outer world was had through two steam
vessels, both owned in JOhnson's Bayou
/ And hAulOTu, NlllO q hOSO Va p"AhAhS
vessels piled the water OF the
BAYOU. When the storm descended upon
them everybody took to his home, and
waited with abated breath the tate which
he foresaw. The waters began rising, the
wind swept through the lower stories OF
the buildings, driving the afirighted people
into attics and upon roofs. By 10 o'clock
the first ridge, which was twelve feet
above the sea level, was ten feet
under water. House after house fell
in, or was swept away, either bury
ing the doomed people III the debris or
hurting them into the kissing waters. Cot
ton gins and stores next su:Cumbed, and
Radford and JOhnson's Bayou were de-
stroyed as completely as il an invading
army had lone the work. 1t was a night
OF terror, described by survivors as appal-
ling. For twelve hours the storm ragged
over the devastated settlements, and then
there came a lull. Hope soon revived as
the waters receded and the storm
passed away. The survivors gathered on
the most elevated points, viewing the
scenes around them. The houses that had
stood the action OF the storm were com
pletely Quilted. There was no food nor
drink, salt water having invaded every
thing. Then the search for the dead began.
Those whose bodies lay p~inioned by the
ruins of houses were speedily recovered.
From out OF the marshes more corpses
were taken, and likewise buried.
SOME OF THE VICTIMS.
The death roll was then made up as fol,
lows: Mrs. Frank Turner and two chill
dren, -- Locke, wife and seven children;
old Mrs. Locke, Mrs. w. Ferguson aud
three children, Bradford Berry and daugh,
ter, Mrs. Albert Lambert and two children,
Sam Burwick's eight children, Mrs. Shell
w II g., Is11-n- Ta@~rN GfyanD,
and four children, Mr.. G~ranshall, wife and
grandson; Mrs. s. Caller and four children,
Ionic Smith and child, Mrs. Toochake's
four children, Jack Toochake and seven
children, Mrs. Hawkins and three children,
DR.. Geor, Smith, wife and four children.
All the above were white people. The
following is a list OF the colored people
whose bodies have been recovered and
identified:
Elmer johnson and wife, Jack Lewis
wife and brother; Richard Hambrick, wife
and five children.
Yesterday morning the regular packet
stern wheel steamer called the Emily z. ar
rived at Johnson's Bayou and brought tc
Orange as many as she could carry-about
sixty people. Not one Of them had any
thing but what they stood in. And the
people, save a few who nave large stock
interests, say they AVE abandoned
the place forever. They are descend
ants OF a race OF people who in
the past made Johnson's Bayou
vast orange grove. Frost came and ruined
them, and then they turned to cotton and
sugar and stock raising, only TO meet
the fate Of their forefathers. OF 5000
head OF stock OF which once the bayou
boosted, G,000 are drowned, while the re
mainder will die of thirst, vs. all the water
is salt. There are 127 persons missing a.
Sabine Pass and supposed to be dead
The total loss OF lives at the three places
approximate 200. Only about twenty
five bodies have thus far been recovered