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

A~A-~AAASs dilQ SilOW tudt lLc iOSS VI AANNS
has been enormous. Matthew Ertezez and
Dominick Mirgovich, two sailors. were res
cued by lugger. The story they tell of
the disaster at Grand Isle is horrifying in
the extreme. They went almost wild in
giving description OF their terrible ex-
perience and cried bitterly. The sea was
raging all day, they said, and towards
night had increased to alarming de-
gree. About 10 o'clock at night 1t had
shifted to the west. The men were watch
ing the storm from the west end of the
island. Far out at sea, as the flashes of
lightning would vividly illuminate the
darkness, could be seen mammoth wave
travelling with awful rapidity towards the
island. 1t was accompanied by thundrous
noise. On came the terrible thing grow
ing larger each moment. The island was
in the stiffness of slumber. and not a sim
gle human being could be seen anywhere.
These men, being too frightened to go to
their homes remained in their boat dur
ing the terrible night. Horrified, they
watched the tidal wave approach the ISL
and until like flash of lightning, it
struck. Then all was darkness, and the
island, as far the eye could reach, was
covered with water The next fash found
tiiS N"O hSuciiiltu ldI Oil u ltlc uOI III VI
the island. Looking about, they could see
nothing but sheet of water, the island
having totally disappeared
Mr.. Matthew Schurb, of Gouldsboro just
opposite the city, was one of the survivors
of the Cheniere Carminada calamity. He
arrived this morning on the schooner Good
Mother, and brought with him a harrow
ing tale OF his experience and of the loss of
81 C-l., 4
island about four weeks ago with Mr..
George Thompson and a negro bricklayer
named Louis Roberts for the purpose of
constructing a schoolhouse. He engaged
board in house in which there was a very
large family. not less than twenty-five in
all. The house was rude affair of
boards, but it had withstood many gales,
and the occupants of it felt reasonably
safe from storms. 1t turned out to be the
death place of probably twenty-five people
Mr.. Schurb, on Sunday night, had ex-
perience severe enough to turn a mans
hair gray, and when he reached the city
this morning he showed the results of the
peril he had been through. He was almost
naked; what clothes he had on were torn
to shreds. His face was bruised and he
had not yet recovered from the excitement
he had undergone and the frightful. scenes
of death he had witnessed. Mr.. Schurb es-
Inmates that the loss of life will reach eight
hundred to one thousand. When he left
Cheniere island yesterday he counted but
five houses standing out of total of about
three hundred, while the land was covered
with corpses.
A NIGHT ON A TREE.
AS the wind increased in severity the
houses began to go to pieces. The wind
picked the roofs off as though they had
been shaved from the rafters with a huge
carving knife. Then the buildings began
to rock violently, and one by one they were
tern to pieces, crashing down upon and
killing their occupants. and then rapidly
drifting away with the terrible current
that was sweeping across the land. The
shrieks and groans of the unfortunate peo-
pie was heartrending as they were buried
in the ruins of their fragile homes. Mr..
Schurb, Mr.. Thompson and a negro brick
layer were in the house mentioned above.
Fully twenty-five people were huddled to-
gether and terror-stricken at the mighty
agony of the elements. Suddenly there was
a fearful crash of timbers, and the roof
caved in. burying nearly every one of
the party, only Mr.. Schurb and the negro
bricklayer escaping. Mr.. Schurb clung to
floating debris, until he saw a light twink
ling in house not far away. He went to
the house, and was admitted. There were
several people in 1t. Mr.. Schurb had hard
ly entered, however, when the structure
went to pieces, and out of those who were
in the house only Mr.. Schurb. woman
and a child escaped. Mr.. Schurb succeeded
in getting the woman and child to tree,
and there the party stayed Hntil o'clock
N the morning. when the wind began to
abate The negro managed to reach the
pole to which the fishing smacks are ustI-
ally tied, and clung to 1t during the whole
of the awful night finally being rescued
Mr.. Thompson. who lived at Harvey's canal
was lost sight of, and he was probably
drowned.
Mr.. Schurb is certain that not less than
nine hundred to a thousand persons per-
ished in this awful cyclone and tidal wave
He says the night was narrowing. The
wind howled, cabins crashed and the
shrieks and groans of the wounded and dy-
ing made ones blood curdle. While he re-
mained in the tree three waves washed
over him that were mountain high, but he
and the woman and child chung tenaciously
to the limbs for support and saved them
was highest about midnight and continued
for couple of hours Then it began to
abate in severity until o'clock, when it
was blowing with only moderate velocity,
finally dying out to light breeze. While
the wind was highest, the rain fell in tor
rents. and beat with the force of hailstones
on the faces of the unfortunates who clung
to trees, posts and other debris When the
wind died out the waves began to decrease
in size and the water that had swept over
the land commenced to run back again
into the gulf. When daylight broke the pic
ture of desolation was awful. Only here and
there stood house. Everywhere there
were merely foundations to mark where
homes stood. Trees lay PROSTATE upon the
ground. Timber was lodged in piles in
ipdiscriminate confusion, where it had been
thrust by the mighty rush of waters.
Ruined chimneys suggested stories of
stricken he Irths. Furniture, bedding.
clothing. stoves, kitchen utensils and house
hold goods of all kinds were floating in
Iromiscu )us confusion. And here, there
and everywhere were the ghastly faces of
corpses turned upward to the Skies now
bright and beautiful, and bearing no trace
many of the dead were still evidences of
the terrible agonieS they had suffered be-
fore the end came. Some had lost their
lives in the wreck of their homes and some
had been drowned after escaping from the
shells which could not shelter them from
the blasts of the frigbtful gale Many of
the women and children had lived through
the night blIt mOrtallX wounded and