Passaic City record., 1893-10-07
Two Thousand Drowned.


dispatch from New Orleans gives these
fuller particulars Nearly 1000 killed and
SIS 1000, 900 of property destroyed is the re-
suit of the great Gulf storm in Louisiana.
More than half the population in the region
over which the hurricane swept is dead.
Everything is wrecked. Probably one house
in ten is standing and the surviving popuia-
tion is left in q destitute situation Ihey are
without food. Most of them have no cloth
ing, for they were asleep when their houses
were crushed by the wind and the waves.
More than a dozen relief expeditions went
down from New Orleans to distribute food
among the survivors. The known death
list is already above 1900, and only part OF
the devastated country is heard from. 1t is
network of islands, bayous, lakes and
swamps, and it will be weeks before the re-
lief boats can traverse all the waterways and
discover the full extent of the damage done.
The loss of life in the parish OF Plaque
mine, lying on both sides of the Mississippi.
has been heavy The record there is 123
lives. But the great loss was in the interior
settlements, on the Gulf coast, and the
bayous leading to it. The country there is
mainly sea marsh, almost destitute OF trees.
The highest point is only seven feet above
the sea level, and the greater part is only
three feet high. When, therefore, the storm
piled the waves up fifteen feet they swept
over the islands and ridges carrying every
thing before them.
The deaths are confined to two parishes,
Plaquemine and Jefferson, and are more than
one-fourth total white population. The
seriously wounded are few in number. The
severity of the storm was such that it required
man of the finest physique and in perfect
condition of health to live through it ell The
weak and injured were killed, and In the set
Elements where the storm was worst not a
single child survived, and very few women.
The survivors are the young meninthe vigor
of manhood. There is none of them but has
terrible story to tell. and every one ofthem
is badly bruised. They escaped mainly on
RATS or log, floating from twenty to forty
hours in the water with the wind at lis miles
an hour. The deaths which are confirmed,
are
Chemie Caminada, 800; fishermen from
the settlement at sea in their boats, $40 ;
Bayou ChalIon, 40; Oyster Bayou, 28; Bay
on Cook, 81 fishing settlements around
Island, is Roserio Island, 90 Razor Isl-
and, s: ST. Malo. Is Adams Bay. 200 fish
ing camps around Daisy Postof1ce, 20
Grand Bayou, 26 Tropical Bend, TO- /; Pass a
rOutre, 40 ;Pointe ala Hache, A ;Grand Prairie,
5 Barthelemy, 6; Fort 81. Philip, 6; Hospital
Bay, s.; Shell Beach, II; Grand Bank, g;
Grande Isle, 10; Buras, 81 Point Pleasant,
s Sixty-mile Point, 8 Devils Flat, / Bolivar
Point. s Happy Jack, 2; Nichols 2. O.,
8 Faitulings, 8 ;Ft. Cosse's, 5 ;Stockfeths, / !;
Quarantine, q ]; Eadsport, /; Pearl River, !;
near Point Pleasant, 2 i Bay st. Louis, 2 |;
Back Bay, lost on Weber, 20; lost In the
bogs or at sea, As Bayou Laford 10 Bayou
Andre, 40 Bayou Dufon, 10; Cabanng, 20 !;
lugger General Vixie, 4.
These towns and settlements extend along
the Mississippi from Pointe Ia Hache, forty
five miles below New Orleans, to the Gulf on
Bayou Baratara and to the oyster reefs be-
tween there and the mouth OF the Mississippi,
also on the islands stretching from the Mis-
sissippi to the mainland at Chemie Caminada.
Bay st. Louis and Pearl River are in Mis-
sissippf. The majority of the residents in
the places are whites and not more than 100
are colored. At Chemfe Caminada there was
large Chinese colony engaged in preparing
md exporting shrimp to China. st. Malo
was settled by Malays or Manilamen, all fish
armen. majority of the population in the
fishing towns are creoles, Italians, Spaniards
and so-called Austrians or Dalmatians. A
large proportion of them were engaged In
fishing and owned boats.
At the time the storm visited Chemie Can~-
inada 100 fishing vessels were in the Gulf
fishing. Not a word has since been heard
fl. m them or their occupants.
The loss of the crop of Plaquemine Parish
is estimated at twenty-five per cent. The loss
in oranges is seventy-fve per cent. About
twenty per cent. of the orange trees were
killed or blown down. The oyster and fish
ing fleet were almost completely destroyed
and the levees badly washed and will have
to be rebuilt The shipping suffered severe
", but principally the smaller vessels.
The entire Gulf coast of Mississippi and
Louisiana west of the Atchafalaya is strewn
with wreckage OF the railroads, the Louis
vile and Nashville is the heaviest sufferer,
and the damage inflicted on it will run from
$500, 900 to $500, ,000
At Fort st. Philip the guns were dis
mounted Fort Livingston, In Barataria, one
of the most heavily constructed forts In the
South, is completely destroyed. Nothing is
left but the lighthouse.