The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-07-07
A BLOW ATBATON ROUGE
TEN CONVICrs KILLED AND THIR-
TY-FIVE INJURED.

The Walls of the Penitentiary Blow
In-Business Places Unroofed and
Residences Wrecked All Over the
City Several Persons Injured, but
no Deaths Except Among the Con
victs
BATON ROUGE, La, July Ga cyclone
passed over the lower portion of the town
this morning, unroofing houses, tearing up
immense trees, and carrying missiles along
in the air for many blocks. The governors
mansion was directly in the path of the
hurricane, which made a clean sweep Of
every chimney and cleared the front of its
large trees The roof OF the handsome resi-
dence belonging to Mr. Marshall was car
ried away, and large damage was done TO the
place. The boulevard is one mass Of trees
that have been torn up by the wind, and
the street is filled with pieces of house tops
and other timbers of almost every descrip-
tion. Rain has been falling in torrents
since 4 o'clock this morning, making it
almost impossible to learn the extent of the
damage. The penitentiary walls were
bown down, ten persons killed and thirty
wounded. The loss is very great. The fac
tory building was demolished, and the hos
pital of the penitentiary is mass Of debris.
DIRECTION OF THE BLOW.
NEW ORLEANS, LA, July 6.-The Pied
1ltneS Baton Rouge special says: "a terri
ble cyclone struck this city little after
O'Clock this morning, passing from south
the Garig brick yard, passed up through
Catfish town, and struck the hill
just to the east of John Johnsons
residence. Its path continued in a north
easterly direction, crossing the north boule-
ward 100 yards to the east of the governors
mansion. 1t then went north, striking the
penitentiary building and j. A. Dougherty's
residence on North street. and then beyond
the city. The cyclone was 300 yards wide,
and ricochetted along its course like
cannon ball, devastating as it went.
THE DEATH LIST
"In the city no one was killed, though
several persons were seriously injured. |
have just returned from the state peniteu-
tiary, which is partially wrecked. Ten
convicts were killed and thirty-flve injured.
Five Of these are very dangerously hurt
The following is a list Of the dead
"Whites-Isaac McClelland Of Calcasiau,
j. W. Waggoner of Claiborne. Fred Cage
of Ouachita, James Van Meter of Natchi-
toches and John Gibson and William
Willow Of New Orleans. Gibson was one
of the Malay mu-derers.
"Colored-Nathan Chaucey of East
Felicina, Henry Calestin of Orleans. Beau
regard Harden of Bossier and Edward
Buckner of Caddo.
KILLED WHILE AT WORK.
''The convicts were at work in the
trousers factory. in the third story of the
north wing, when the storm struck the
building and entirely demolished the sec
ond and third stories. There were others in
the hospital on the second story, and it is a
miracle that aay escaped with their lives
John r. Hodus, one of the guards, was
sitting in the third story window opening
TO the south, when he was blown out into
the yard along with bricks and other de-
bris. He escaped unhurt.
MUTTERING A PRAYER.
"Ex-Judge f. T. Ford was in the commits
sary on the first floor when tine building
collapsed. He says he got near the wall
and stood still, muttering prayer, as he
felt that his hour had come When the
materials quit failing he saw an opening and
escaped on his hands and knees into the
yard uninjured. He Immediately went TO
work to save and TO assist the others less
fortunate. In addition to the north wing
the cell building was unroofed and partially
destroyed.
The woman's ward was also unroofed.
ut is impossible to form any estimate of
the damage TO buildings, as all the property
Is more or less damaged. In the city City
houses at least were unroofed or destroyed.
SOME OF THE WOUNDED.
81. H. Young and the members of his
family were seriously hurt by the collapse
of their house on st. Charles street.
"Mrs. Cotton, son and two daughters,
living in brick house on Main street, were
injured in the falling Of the building. Mrs.
Cotton received "A dangerous blow on the
back of the head, and also internal injuries,
while one Of the girls was cut on the limbs.
Mrs. Cotton, it is thought, will recover.
There were no others seriously hurt"
The tow boat Smoky City was caught in
the cyclone eight miles below Baton
Rough. Her entire cabin was blown down.
The escape of the crew from death was
something wonderful considering the fact
that they were all asleep and that the
greatest possible damage was done to the
boat
WHERE THE DEATHS OCCURRED.
BATON ROUGE. July 6, II P. M.-There
We're forty prisoners at work in the trousers
factory at the time of the crash, and of that
number six were killed and twenty-five
were wounded and horribly crushed. On
the second story. central floor, was the hospi-
tai where twenty-six prisoners lay under
gong medical treatment, of which number
Tour were killed and fourteen ser! ously if not
fatally injured. The fire alarm sounded
summond to the scene of the dreadful
catastrophe and together with the citizens
and prison officials aided by the uninjured
prisoners, worked vigorously for the rescue
OF the unfortunate souls confined under the
great heap of debris. Scenes of the greatest
Imaginable horror greeted the eyes of those
engaged in the rescuing work.
A VIOLENT RAIN
The storm was attended by most vio-
lent rain. in which the resouers worked and
tolied for several hours, or until both living
ana dead were extricated from the ruins.
1he total number of wounded is thirty>six.
OF whom six are expected to die at any
moment, and the recovery of several Of the
oIhers is extremely doubtful. The total
Damage to the penitentiary buildings is
estimated at $4,000
Shade trees on many of the streets were
uprooted.
A visit to the capitol and other state
buildings showed them to be unharmed by
tne wind, as was also the business portion
OF the town on Main and Ford streets un-
euected by the mad storm
CATFISH ToWN's DAMAGE.
az Che southern portion Of the city, styled
Cathsh town." suffered great loss and
uahage OF property. In this section Of the
WY several persons we're seriously hurt and
bruised by flying timber from falling
houses and fences. The drug store
oi d. A. Day was completely demol-