New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-05-21
TWELVE HUNDRED KILLED.
WORK OF THE HURRICANE AT MAURITIUS.
ENORMOUS DAMAGE TO BUILDINGS. SHIPPING
AND THE STANDING CROPS.


AND THE STANDING CROPS.
London, May 2O.-Baron de Worms. Parlia
mentary Secretary of the Colonial Office, read a
telegram In the House of Commons this after
noon, fully confirming the news Of the terrible
disaster at Maurtius. The dispatch said that
one third of the capital city, Port Louis, was
destroyed. Among the buildings wrecked were
the Royal College and twenty-four churches
Many sugar mills in the country were completely
demolished.
In this dispatch the first estimate OF the loss
OF life was aiven. In the city of Port Louis
alone 500 persons were killed In the various
country districts at the time the dispatch was
sent, 300 persons lost their lives. The latest
official estimates that 200 persons We're killed
IL is thought that many of those who were
injured will die.
The hospitals in Port Louis were filed to
overflowing with the injured, and tents were
erected on the hospital grounds 10 accommodate
those whose injuries demanded instant attention.
In Port Louis alone 1000 persons were injured.
The Government, which is under the direction OF
Sir Charles Cameron Lees, has taken measures
to relieve the distress that prevails in every
direction. Thousands Of people have lost their
houses Baron de Worms added that Lord Knuts-
ford, the Colonial Secretary, had communicated
the facts of the disaster TO the Lord Mayor of
London and stated that the latter would at
once open fund for the benefit of the islanders.
Other advices from Mauritius to the effect
that the devastation caused by the hurricane was
enormous Business at Port Louis. the capital.
and at the other towns on the island Is still
greatly interrupted. All the crops suffered more
or less. and some Of them are ruined. The hurrl-
cane was accompanied by of the heaviest
.rainstormS in those iatitudes
When the storm broke, the scene dehed
description. Amid the of the gale could
be heard the crashing of thunder that was appal-
ing in its violence The flashes of lightning were
so awfully vivid that even those who have seen
the electrical displays that sometimes occur in the
tropics were frightened. The people were panic
stricken and sought safety in their houses. many
Of them only TO find death shortly afterward in
the falling buildings. The wind gauges were
blown to atoms, but those best qualified TO
Judge say that the wind blew at
the rate of 120 miles an hour
1t was utterly impossible for a
human being to stand against it.. Many Of
those who lost their lives were killed by
heng lifted bodily from their feet and dashed
against trees, walls and houses. The greater part
of the fatalities among the laloring classes
Africans, IIindoos, Chinese and Malagassys, who
do much of the work in the plantations
The British barks Aconcagua and Genevie NJ.
Tucker, the former from New York. and the latter
from Newcastle, y. 5 W., are ashore, hard and
fast. There is faint prospect of floating either
Of them. They partly laden.
The British bark Lady HARDWOOD weighed
anchor and put to sea before the storm burst No
tidings have since then been had of her.