St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-10-15
The Elements Combine to Cause Remark
ably Widespread Destruction Of
Life and Property.
Further Details Of the Terrible Disaster
at Sabine Pass--The List of
the Dead.
Gone Down on the Great
Lakes.
PASSPORT, Me-, the Scene of a Conf1a-
gratfon--Indian Territory
Prairie Fires.
The sabine PassEorrar.

WIN
munication with the Pass, wires all being
down, but all engine arrived here last night
that left there about 6 o'clock. Two citi-
zens, who rowed in small boat across an
expanse of tossing waves. a distance of sew
eral miles from the town OF Sabine. to the
railroad, came in on an engine and gave a
heartfending account of the affairs there.
They say the waters began to invade the
town from the gulf and the lake together
about 2 o'clock Tuesday afternoon, and
ROSE WITH GREAT RAPIDITY.
The citizens of the doomed town did lot
realize the great danger until too late TO
escape when safety by flight was recognized
as being out of the question. People who
were situated so they could do so betook
themselves to houses and resorts adjudged
to be safest. The water kept rising and
between and O'Clock the smaller houses
began to yield to the resistieSs force OF the
waves and not only moved from their
foundations. but turned on their sides and
tops. Later, the larger houses began to
give way, and death by drowning seemed
certain for every citizen in the place. With
the yielding of smaller houses several per-
SONS who had remained in them were
drowned, and when residences and business
places began to crumble the fatality began
to double. The following
INCOMPLETE LIST OF THE DROWNED
was obtained from the two gentlemen who
came over on an engine:
Miss MAHATA CHAMBERS.
JIM VONSEY and family Of six.
Mrs. OTTO BROWN and two children.
HOMER KING, wife aud child.
Mrs. JUNKER and soc.
Mrs. POMERY and family of five.
A Io,.
A man named WILSON.
Mrs. ARTHUR MCREYNOLDS.
Mrs. MCDONALD, daughter aud grandson.
FRANK MULLIGAN and family.
COLUMBUS MARTEE and family, and
about twenty-five colored people, whose
names could not be given.
The above list comprises over fifty human
beings, victims of the storm, among them
some of the leading families of the place.
There are others, and many of them doubt
less, drowned without any one now living
knowing anything about it. 1t is feared
that whole families in different parts of the
place have been swept away without leav-
| ing person or vestige to indicate their hor-
rible fate. tits said that the situation dur
ing the latter part of the afternoon beggars
description, the people realizing that there
was no escape, and the dying cries of
women rendered almost noiselesS by the
roar of the sea. On receipt of this news,
citizens of Beaumont Immediately began
preparations for relief. The East Texas
railway has placed an engine at their dis
posal and party of men have gone to
Orange to carry the news there and procure
boats and start for the scene. The damage
to property at Sabine has been very great.
The wharf property of the town was owned
by New York capitalists, who also own the
adjoining lands and were aiming to make
Sabine Pass an important point on the gulf
coast.
GREAT LOSS OF LIFE.
NEW ORLEANS, Oct. IA special
from Orange says: Details of the destruc-
ton by the storm at Sabine Pass and John
sons bayou come in slowly and are indefinite
but all agree that there has been great
loss of life and property. Two brothers
named Pomeroy were picked up by the
schooner Andrew Baden in Sabine lake.
They had been in the water thirty-six hours
clinging to their capsized yawl. Their
mother and sister and Mrs. Capt. Junker.
her son and little girl of the party were
lost. The Pomeroys report that fifty lives
were lost at the Porter house where the
people had collected as the best place of
safety. 1t went to pieces at o'clock.
Many persons are missing. Still greater
loss is reported from Johnson's bayou.
Whole families were swept away. Not
house was left standing within five miles of
the lake. Parties were organized last night
and left on the steamers La Mar and
Emily P with provisions and bedding.
They are expected back tonight. when fur
Their particulars will be obtained. The loss
of property along the Cameron Parish gulf
coast and for some distance west of Sabine
Pass by the storm Of Tuesday night was
fearful. The mail boat from Cameron Par
ish reports that the water at Calcasien pass
was eight feet deep at the lighthouse, and
that the entire country east and west was
also submerged Tuesday night, drowning
thousands of cattle and growing crops. No
lives were lost at Leesburg or Calcasien.
but the following were lost at Johnson's
BAYOU: The entire families of Alfred
Lambert, Marion Lukes. George Striever,
Charles Blanchard, Radford Barry and two
familesiby the name of Franeswar, besides
many others whose names have not been
ascertaned.
THE VILLAGE OE SABINE PASS
is located at the mouth of Sabine river
within half mile from the extreme point
iutting from the Texas side. The town lies
OlIV lOuE 16cG dUONc bllO uCdu tiuC ul&l hs
and is bounded by great swamps on the
west and Lake Sabine on the north. The
entrance to Lake Sabine is mile and a
half above the town. The lake is fifteen
miles long, with an average depth of seven
feet, which is always maintained
by the huge volume Of water pouring into
the basin from the two navigable rivers
Neches and Sabine. 1t was this lake, &C
cording to the most experienced navigators
on this coast, that destroyed the town. The
hurricane of last Sunday in the West Indies
blew the waters with great violence towards
the Texas coast This hurricane was at
first noticed on this coast On Sunday morn
ing attaining it's maximum on Tuesday
afternoon, and was maintained at high
point by the impetus of the waters behind.
THE HURRICANE ITSELF
did not reach these coasts at all. as scarcely
breath of wind was stirring when the
tidal wave first touched the coast. When
its maximum was reached on Tuesday aft
ernoon, however, fierce northwestern gale
sprung up along the whole coast, and at
Sabine this gale blew the waters out OF Lake
Sabine and drove them toward the gulf,
where the lake waters were met by the
great swell caused by the hurricane. This
resulted in driving the lake waters over
onto the little town, submerging the coun-
try for ten miles around without mo-
ment's notice. The account of the disaster
is confirmed by our experience here with the
same gale. and all information from Sabine
also confirms the above theory. As soon as
tbe collector of customs was appriSed of
the disaster. he ordered the government
tng. Penrose. to prepare to make trip to
Sabine. and she started for that place at 2
O'clock this afternoon. The distance to
Sabine is sixty miles. The Penrose cannot
get back before tomorrow, wnen the de-
tails of this awful disaster Will De Known.
Private kilograms from Beaumont this
evening confirm the reports previously sohs