Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1886-10-18

gradually lIullS WIFI refugees from tne
flooded district, and the city's distress is
heartrending. Every report from the
flooded district swells the list of the dead,
and it is an assured fact now that the death
roll exceeds 100, but their names are not all
known yet
The story of the catastrope as told by sur
vivors is as follows: For several days the
tide in both ~the gulf and Sabine lake has
been very high. This high tide began Sun
day, and on Monday the lake was very full
On Monday night the tide had reached,
passed, and remained above the danger
point On Tuesday the wind began blowing
rather freshly from the northeast 1t then
veered round to the north and blew perfect
gale for several hours. Now for the first
time the people recognized their perilous po-
stion BY O'Clock the whole town was
flooded and the waves from the
gulf and bay mingled in the streets
of the doomed town. The wind fresh
en- ed again, driving the huge waves with ire
sistible force against the houses and fences,
and all began to give way before them The
people, tcrr or stricken, soug ht safety in the
second stories, and many broke through the
roofs, crawled ont on them, looked upon the
wild waste of water, and prayed for deliver
ance. The whole catastrophe was so sudden
that it found all unprepared, and hasty
scramble to places of temporary safety was
all that could be done. In an hour after the
| first rush of water had taken place several
small frame houses had been beaten into frag-
ments and washed away Two were occu-
pied by negroes and all of the occupants are
known to have been lost
With the destruction of these smaller houses
| the danger appeared to double for the re-
| mainder of the town, for they had acted as a
breakwater, and when the smaller houses had
| been washed away the merciless waves had
an open, unobstructed sweep to the more sub
stantially built houses in the center The
| scene that now followed was indescribable
One house, upon the roof of which several
people had taken refuge, was seen to rise up
suddenly, as it tore loose from its foundation,
| sway slowly from side to side, then fall wit b
| a crash that drowned the shrieks of the poor
people who were dashed into the boiling flood
There was more than one scene such as this
witnessed by those in more secure positions,
who momentarily expected to meet a similar
| fate. Maj. Stanford, a prominent citizen of
Sabine, was here during the storm, but his
wife and children were at Sabine.
lulS UTHNt HtlN owes 1eT WOnuPr1ul
| cape to her unsurpassed nerve and pluck
About O'clock in the evening she realized
that her house, although the best built struc-
ture at the pass, would soon he torn to pieces,
so she tied her little baby to her back and,
| from an upper window of her house, sue
ceeded in reaching limb of a good-sized
] tree. She sat in the tree with that little babe
all through that awful night. and she had not
| been in the tree ten minutes when she saw
her beautiful home totter and move toward
the gulf carrying with it couple of colored
| servants who were lost.
| Another incident showing bravery and
great presence of mind was that of Mr. Mer-
riman He tied one end of rope to tree
near his tottering house and managed to
swim to another tree, to which he made fast
the other end of the rope Then one by one
he took his frightened family to this rope and
| tied them to it. The wind and waves lashed
and beat them numerically through the long
dreadful night, but they all survived and are
reported safe
| Another heroic incident was the rescue of
Capt. Plummer and his family at the hands
Of William Lapham, who had shot Plummer
in a personal difficulty some months pre-
vious, He saved his own family, then swan
to the house of his enemy and rescued Plum
mer's family, consisting of five persons.
The steamboat L. Q. c, Lamar left Orange
Wednesday night at 10 O'Clock with relief
committee on board When she would return
no one knew, but constant watch was kept
at Orange and here At exactly midnight
| Thursday night the whistle of the Lamar
was heard The people hurried helter skel-
ter to hear the news and 10 receive the sick
and destitute The relief committee aboard
the Lamar consisted of twenty men from
Beaumont and about forty from Orange. The
committee report that 101 persons are miss
ing, ninety of whom are known to have been
drowned Thirty five of the victims were
white and fifty-fve colored Ninety-one half
| clad shivering, wretched victims of the storm
were brought up on the Lamar Blankets
and bedding were immedi ately gathered from
house to house for the comfort of the heart
! broken sufferers, every one of whom has
| some dear friend or relative among the dead.
| Nearly all the refugees are sick and pros
| trated form exhaustion.
DR.. Calhoun requests aid for the destitute
He says it makes no difference what is sent
whether food, clothing, medicine, or money;
they need them all Dr. Calhoun is may O,
,o,n,uittaaS ,,ha.aror - - 80. 80 - - 'Nios -
ali occomnts s-atbar..d Iana,,aoa -..r, ia ~.
o~ar,,aroto tba stata Of go; ~ c,I,;r
Pocs Ont of p,ora tb,n IN horsas - g.
,i1Iaca 1ass tban s;, ra,,a;n l.anJ;ra and I,i
tha,- go r,;nad W. and 7' sSn,.a.s ,1.'1 ulru
want a,r,r and drowr,d i; th, :,
rho;,, a. a,,d tatLlrI fe'eiieo y
| - a., tn -, - -, -
fbe I;rht -bonse in solid vii sftr foat h;nh
te,rins- ont the windows at the xerv ton q,
tbe structure Correas b.,a hoo, ,,;cLad -,
at dist,no, Of tbirty ,nilos fro,,, H. sao,,t ~
Of the disaster Friends and relatives of th,
Irowned reside,,s are coming into orana,
n0' "ho N'iii'"s hi.o Olahs'