The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1893-10-12
ABANDONED.
The Isles in the Tidal-Flooded
Southern Districts.
Death and Silence Govern without Let or
Hindrance- Driven to Desperation by
Hunger the Survivors Threaten to
Attack the Depots of Supplies.

New ORLEANS, Oct. 9.-The news
from every section stricken by the
storm would indicate the loss of life to
be fully 1000, while millions of dollars
worth of property was destroyed. Be-
sides that, several thousands of people
have been deprived of the means of
making livelihood. The situation is
appalling. but New Orleans is doing all
it can to relieve the thousands in want.
DIR. Story, coroner of Plaquemine par
ish, has made the following report:
"A good many car loads of prov;s-
ions and clothing have been sent out,
but not near enough. Men, women
and children are without food and cloth
ing. They have become SO desperate
that they have threatened to attack
residences that withstood the effects of
the storm and steal food. 1t is fire.
quent thing to see little sufferers cry
ing and begging piteously for some-
thing to eat. Single graves for the dead
were impossible. Great trenches were
dug and bodies piled in one on top of the
other. The earth was thrown over them,
and if their name were ascertained they
were cut on rude crosses above the
graves.
II do not think l exaggerate the
facts when | state that at least ?, 800
souls were ushereo into eternity by the
recent storm in Louisiana. This, of
course, includes the Bayou, Cook coun-
ty, Cheinere, Camanida. Grand Isle etc.
| never saw bodies decompose SO rapid
ly as those of the storm sufferers which
were viewed by me. This was due to
the fact that the fish and crabs in the
bayous eat the remains. ~
The relief party which set out from
Biloxi tells an awful story of the desti-
tuition and loss of life in the Louisiana
marshes The marshes are filed with
dead and purifying bodies, in very few
cases the corpses being recognizable.
The number of lives lost on these
marshes will never be known. The
territory covered was a distance of two
hundred miles. Newly-made graves
were everywhere. The only sign of
life seen in the marsh was one raccoon,
and it was floating on a log. Hundreds
of oyster boats and luggers were lost
with most of their crews, and the few
survivors tell terrible stories of suffer-
ing.
Capt Lefort, the leading spirit among
the survivors of the Cheniere Caminada,
places the number of the saved at 800
The population of the plantations and
the bayous Immediately connected
with it was slightly more than 1,5OO|
He says the island will be abandoned
as a habitation of man. Grand Isle
4 =
doned.
The mayor Sunday received tele-
gram from R. K. Arnold, of Chicago,
general freight agent of the Monon
route, rendering free the services of
the Louisville, New Albany and Chi
cago railway for the transportation Of
donations of clothing and provisions
for the relief of sufferers from the
storm.
This city has raised relief fund of
about s75, 600 in all and steamers, lug
gers, skiffs and trains have been sent
in every direction to extend relief.
The only new development is the intel
ligence from Bayou Sandress, leading
from the Grand Isle district, that there
are hundred deaths along that Sec
tion, making about 1000 deaths be-
tween Cheniere and Bayou Cook.
The Louisville and Nashville railroad
is still busy repairing bridges, and will
not be in good order for two weeks. A
great many people are leaving their
former homes in the stricken section
and coming to New Orleans, but the
heroic Slavonians oh Bayou Cook and
the Malayas at Shell Beach and st. Nal
say what they want is to recover and
repair their boats and rebuild their
houses and they will be able to earn a
living and pay back the money loaned.