Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-09-01
ON EVERY DOOR KNOB CREPE.
SIX Hundred Lives Loaf On the Sen
Islands,

Islands.
Receiver Averill of the Port Royal and
Augusta railroad has wired that the loss of
life on Sea Islands. s. c., far exceeds any
thing yet reported. and will not fall short
Of 500. Great restitution among the remain
Ing Inhabitants. and earnest appeals are
made for provision
A special to the Augusta Chronicle from
Beaufort. 8 c.. says:
Over $50 dead bodies have been found ON
the Islands about Beaufort and Port Royal.
Over s2.O00O0o Of property has been wreck
ed near the same points. Both are the di-
rect result of severe storms which swept
along the Atlantic coast Sunday night
Every one of the fifteen or twenty Islands
lying around Port Royal and Beaufort Is
mourning. On every door knob there Is
there are fresh made graves.
The beaches, the underground trees and
shrubbery. the marshes and the inlets are
revealing dead bodies every time an tnyeSu-
cation Ia made.
Those who are at all posted about the
country and the habits of the people In the
storm visited sections are coniident in their
prediction that the death roll will run as
high as so. Some Of the best people of this
section of the state even place the loss 1T
mere than 1Ooo.
since the early hours of Monday morning
that a dead body has not been found at
some point on one OF the many islands
As the waters recede and the people move
deeper into the wreckage gathered by the
storm the CHASTITY remains are uncovered
So frequent are these discoveries that the
finding of a single body attracts no atten-
ton at all. IL takes the discovery or at
least half a dozen or more To induce them
to show any feelings whatever.
1t Is around Beaufort and Port Royal that
the death rate was the greatest, but IN
neither Of the towns were many lives lost.
Port Royal. lying on a tongue OF land
down the Beaufort river. Is practically In
ruins. It's water front Is destroyed enc
great damage has been done 10 it's buildings
The great loss Of life which resulted from
the storm on every shore Of thu islands Is
greatest there. Thirty odd negroes were
found dead on the beach and the plumber
was expected % be largely Increased before
the death roll was finally closed.
Several gentlemen from Charleston, who
were IN Port Royal or Beaufort during the
hurricane. returned TO Charleston Wednes-
day on the first train which came into the
city over the Charleston and Savannah rail-
way. They report that the loss of life and
the destruction Of property at those places
and the neighbprins Sea Islands have been
fearful. The death roll has already risen to
thirty odd pereons. among whom was DR..
Ellis. the newly appointed quarantine Of
Paris Island, where the United States dry
docks are building. and which stands be
tween the Broad and the Beanfort rivers,
was swept by the cyclone. The fatality
provements since their inception found its
elimination on Sunday night The injury
could not be accurately calculated
Beaufort, the prettiest island town in the
Carolfnas, Is terribly damage notwith-
standing the fact that 1t stan1s six miles
up the river. Many of the residences in the
town were badly damaged. and the wharves
are nearly or quite destroyed
Thousands Fighting for Food.
An Augusta special 70 the New York
Times says:
Further and more distressing, news of the
disastrous work of -he hurricane at Port
Royal was received tonight
The number of the dead has been increas-
ed from 100 to So
News has been heard from Hele.,a Island.
just of Beaufort The dead there alone
number 12D.
The people are now SUFFERING for food,
anu 100 negroes, who have been driven to
Pert Royal by the storm from the surround
ing islands and the rice AMI cotton planta-
lions. are starving They are so destitute
an. badly in need Of something to eat
that hey have resorted 20 lighting amorg
themselves for food.
Several were killed in a fight for rrovi-
sions
Gov. Til,rnan of SOUTH Carolina. who
passed through Augusta today from Chi
cagO on his way to the capitol at Columbia,
has been appealed to for aid.
The negroes are getting more and more
daring in the struggle TO keep their wives
Many of them have lot had morsel to
eat since Sunday.
The dead are being SO quickly recovered
that there are not enough coffins to be had
for proper burial Many bodies are being
hurriedly buried in the potter's field with
out collins.
The scene is reported by those who have
Just returned from Port Royal weird,
gloomy and heartrending.
Men and women and children stand in
the streets pleading for something to eat:
Distress Is pictured in their faces, ard
there Is little to be given them to stop their
cries.
The white people in Port Royal are doing
all in their power to relieve the suffering,
ter affairs. Those who are not given i'm
mediate relief become rehellions. and it is
q difficult task to keep the sufferers in sub
lection.
AS soon as one negro gets some supplies
he Is attacked for his share, and consider
able food has been wasted ny these battles
Out of the coo drowned not more than 25
were whites and only FIVE were women
Most OF the negroes were adults. though at
least 30 helpless children are counted
among the dead
The body OF white woman was recov-
cred this morning. and clasped to her breast
was her baby.
A number of bodies are still missing. and
many known to have been drowned and not
yet recovered are supposed to have been car
He'd out to sea by tive strong current.
The work Of clearing away the debris has
not vet been begun. Everybody Is assisting
in the search for the dead.
IL will take at least year to rebuild Port
Royal. to re-establish homes and to provide
work for the laborers who Will be indefinite
1y thrown out of employment.
Most negroes are farm hands and as this
years crop Is destroyed and plantations
still inundated their labor will not be need
ed again before spring.
An Estimate of 1000 Deaths.
A telegram just received from your cor
respondents associate. who has been at
Port Royal all day. says that conservative
estimates by some of the most prominent
citizens Of Port Royal. who are familiar
with the surroundings and thoroughly ac-
quainted with the people, place the aggre-
gate loss Of life at 1000.
Up to this time $50 dead have been recov-
cred and have been buried,
Citizens are helping in the search for the
dead and assisting in digging graves. On
nearly every door knob crepe Is hung, and
men women and children are walking the
streets crying over the boss of some beloved
one, whose body they are searching for.
kilograms say that on the night of the
storm many persons tied themselves to
stout trees to save themselves from being
blown away.
The storm signals were flying LAST night
and another hurricane is expected
The Exhaustion of the Gas Fields.
Ta<a nd