The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-10-05


der the circumstances for the safety OF the
rest of the colony. it became necessary 20
take prompt steps TO bury those VINO naa
lost their lives. There were still many
people who were alive and ablebodied, aho
they We're Immediately organized for the
work of duty and charity. There was no
time there were no tools with which TO
construct them. no boards that could be
hade had Tig tGgeth NO she for vhs
merely hunted up shovels and commenced
the. task of digging trenches for the re-
mains. Up. to IL O'clock Mr.. Schurb as
sisted in the grewsome task, and during
that time he participated in the interment
OF no less than fifty men, women and chil5,
In placing not less than six people. There
was little time for the ceremonies usual
upon the burial of a human being. .
Mr.. Schurb says gentleman from New
York is among those lost. He had gone to
Cheniere for his health and occupied
house near that in which Mr.. Schurb slept
During the height of the storm Mr.. Schuro
heard him crying piteousy for help But
no succor was near, and the man per-
ished. Mr. Schurb related many instaneeiS seii
never be accurately known just how many
lives were lost in the storm. The mighty
waves swept. with such irresistible iorce
over the land and at such a great depth
that 1t is probable tf at many bodies and
perhaps many who are still living were car
ried into the marshes. the populauon oI
Cheniere was about fourteen hundred. Mr..
Schurb thinks that one thousand OF these
have been lost though his calculation may
be somewhat overdrawn. No thought has
been given to the monetary damage In
less steps are Immediately taken 10 organ
ize relief companies it is likely that many
will perish from starvation and thirst The
wind and waves destroyed all the pro-
visions upon Cheniere island and swept
away all the cisterns of the residents The
result is that fresh water is so scarce that
1t is not sufficient to relieve the thirst of
those who without anything 10
eat and scarcely anything TO wear, and
CHI fDr--
less as was Robinson Crusoe on his lonely
island. Mr.. Schurb was one of a party of
thirteen that came to the city on the GOOD
Mother traversing the Company canai
route. Each one of them had a thrilling
story TO relate. On their way up they had
no water to drink. Fortunately they saved
several pieces of ice, with which they
slaked their thirst.
LOSS AT BAYOU COOK.
There is to-day only sadness in the news
from Bayou Cook and the various set
Elements that are tributary thereto. There
has been frightful loss of life through
out that section. There will never be any
means of correctly estimating the exact
loss which humanity has suffered. Many
of the bodies have been carried into the
country is a scene of wreck and devasta-
ton. An arriving passenger, this morning,
said that not fewer than eighty-seven dead
he had ere wtnessed ieae r owing rs
throughout the Bayou Cook country, and
the news received is to the effect that the
rived this morning brought many
of the Bayou Cook survivors to
the city, many of them wretchedly attired
and their faces bearing the marks of fear
full suffering. There were men and women
and children in the party, and they were
met at the depot by fellow-countrymen and
brought to the city, where they received
kind attention. The population on Bayou
Cook consisted Of nearly all men-Italians
negroes in the settlement. Tony Negovitch
came direct from Bayou Cook. He said
that during the height of the storm he
saw his wife swept by him, appealing pite-
her a helping hand. and she perished. He
witnessed scores of people drown about
him, men and women whom he had known
all his life. Many of them did not drown,
but were dashed against their houses, and
their lives were crushed out. Others per-
ished in the destruction of their homes.
Negovitch's cabin was splintered, and he
was thrown into the water and tossed
about by wind and wave. but he chung to
He Is authority for the statement that
eighty-seven bodies have been found.
of was d5e e Sodes of
women lashed to plank and being buff
fetted about by the waves. They were
floating in Grand lake, which is the en-
between the bodies, and on that appeared
to be that of body of boy 1t is learned
of life has been considerable. 1t seems TO
be pretty we'll understood that the old fort
on Grand Terre has been considerably dam
aged, but the lighthouse which is on neck
OF the same island Is still standing. II Is
difficult to establish the correctness of the
report that there has been great loss OF
| life on Grand Isle. The houses on Grand
Isle are built on a ridge that runs through
the middle of the island, and as many or
them are sheltered by the trees 1t is diff
ficult to calculate from the water what the
result of the storm there has been. There
are only about two hundred residents on
the islands. and no one has yet arrived di-
rectly from there
Several boats have already left the city
| stocked with hundreds of loaves of bread
and other provisions for the sufferers at
Cheniere Grand Isle and Bayou Cook. AS
| soon as the news reached the city that the
people were suffering for lack of water re-
| lief parties were made up to carry barrels
| of fresh water TO the survivors. AS many
| as may desire will be brought to the city
| by the boats that have been sent down TO
the scene of the disaster 1t is quite possi-
| BILE that many will take advantage OF the
| opportunity to return TO town.
1t is learned here tonight that Shell
| Beach was visited by the storm, and that
| twelve or thirteen persons lost their lives.
| a small island. st. Malo, just off Shell
| Beach. is also reported TO have been swept
| by the tidal wave. 1t had a population of
| twenty-five souls, and so far as is known
none was left to relate the story of the
disaster.
Ex-Congressman Dudley Coleman and a
party succeeded in reaching the city from
Woreland, one of the Mississippi sound re-
sorts where they have been penned up
for several days, owing to the waShoutS
on the Louisville & Nashville road. Mr..
Coleman says that two schooners owned
by Pochevant & Favre had been lost, and
that the crews of each, numbering alto
gether ten. lost their lives. These are the
only fatalities that are known to have oc-
Cured on the Mississippi sound. The rail-
road company has chartered q tug to bring
all belated passengers TO the city. Along
Bayou Senet there are many Cinnamon en-
gagged in the occupation of drying shrimp.
They were within the track of the storm,
and many of them have probably perished.
The steamer Comet running between
Buras river and Port Eads, under the COM
mand of Capt. II. L. Lang, had lively ex-
perience. Captain Lang told a reporter that
during the night of the storm man named
Casey, who was stationed at the end of
the jetties, had been washed overheard and
drowned. Far off to the westward of Buras
could be indistinctly seen the mast of a
| three-masted schooner. During the awful
night tie vessel dragged her anchors from
Grand Pass, and went ashore on the shoals
of Adams bay. She had her flag at half
mast a distress signal, and seemed in a
dilapidated condition but the people were
too busy looking at their losses to give her
any assistance. Early in the morning,
when the Grand Isle railway hands We're
clearing the debris from the tracks just
tie white girl in a fence corner 1t was
horribly torn on the barb wires. Clinging
TO the child were two others, evidently it's
sisters. All three were in rags. almost
| naked, and all were terribly cut and bruised.
An italian recognized them as children he
know whose children they were.
Perhaps of the most thrilling ex-
periences of the storm was told by wom-
an who drifted ashore lashed to log. She,