The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-09-06

the O!SCONeTleS SldC TIC iiiItIb5 va -
single body attracts no attention at all.
Ittakes the discovery Of at least
clump of a half dozen or more to in
duce the people 10 snow any feeling
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. At beaufort oniy cofIins
were bought to supply the local de-
mand, while Port Royal got off even
lighter. Around the two towns there
is complete chain Of islands, and it
was upon these that the black augel Of
death lowered for hours Sunday night,
leaving in his path sorrow and desola-
tion greater than has ever visited the
State before, even in the bloody days Of
reconstruction.
AFTER THE STORM.
With the dawn CT Monday the rain
ceased and the W;rds began TO subs!de.
The sun came out and the skies became
blue and clear. There was nothing III
the morning to indicate the terrible
story of the night before. But scat
tered through the streets Of Beaufort,
Port Royal and the other towns along
the coast and along the banks Of the
rivers were evidences of the great fury
of the storm OF Sunday night. Houses
were found whole and in pieces miles
away from their foundations; steam
ships were resting upon dry land; trees
were twisted, p;aitel and scattered
about, while at Intervals dead bodies
were found, and ever and anon the
waves would cast up one or more life
less forms, swollen, distorted and
: bruised.
At first no one thought Of giving at
tention to anything or anybody out
side of bis own needs, but as the dead
bodies multiplied, the Good Samaritan
feeling grew, and by noon every one
on the chain Of isianCs about this
place had become a grave-diggeT. 1t
was the pick and the shovel alone
which were in demand and the num-
Der of dead prevented any unstinted
use of these tools.
All during the day Monday the
bodies began to multiply so rapidly
that the coroner was compelled to
swear in a half dozen deputles-one for
each of the islands where deaths We're
reported. One Of these deputies held
an inquest over seveuty-elght people,
and while the inquest was being held
seventy-eight graves were being dug
and seventy-eigbt dead bodies, swollen
and fast decomp"sjng, were waiting in
terment at the hands Of their white
and colored Iri""ds who had escaped
death so nar.o"ly.
A glance at the map will show that
around this place are some twenty
islands. Some of these are very small,
with only one or two families living
thereon, while others are larger anu
accommodate as many Inhabitants as
$500. Some of these have not been
heard from at all, while on those which
have been "spokeu" there was not a
single one Which did not increase the
dead roll. On some of these the death
rate was large, but in many Instances
the nanes vi ne dead canuot be as
certaiDed, many OF them being beyond
recognition when found, while others
We're buried as unknown because no
one was present who cuald identify
them.
There are only two boats here now,
and both are chartered by the Port
Royal and Augusta railroad. This
prevents passage between the islands,
and that, too, is an obstacle to tie
Identification of the dead, us many Of
the bodies are picked up on an island
where they did not live, AID thereby
are unknown.
ARECoRD OF THE DEAD.
The coroner, however, and the col
lect-r of the port, exc .s:..:, >-!iIan
Sualis, lie ccnpi ing the Information
as fast as it can be obtained and are
making a record Of the dead as rapidly
as possible. The book they are COM
piling will show that St. Helena has a
population of 4, SEQ; Lady's Island has
l,500; Dawtha's Island IS; Coosaw
Island 600; Beaufort town has $500;
Port Royal Island, embracing the
towns Of Beaufort and Port Royal, has
5000. Now, as far as reliable informa-
ton which has reached the officers
goes, the dead will reach 400, and they
are located in this way: At the Pacific
Works seventy-niue dead bodies have
been found and buried. It was here
five deputy coroners held tae one big
inquest. On Lady's Island twenty
eight bodies were buried on Tuesday,
aud others have been found since. On
Paris Island nineteen bodies had been
recovered and buried up to Tuesday
afternoon, On Beaufort Island twelve
bodies have been buried. At Coosaw
Mines five bodies have been buried.
At Gains Neck twenty-five bodies
have been recovered and buried, and
reports are that seventy-nine lives were
lost here. On Eustis place, one of the
richest plantations on Lady's Island,
forty-nine new made graves were filed
yesterday morning. AT the other end
of Lady's Island seven dead bodies
have been found. At Dawtha Island,
q place of about 1900 acres, eighty
lives are reported lost, and nearly half
that many bodies have been recovered.
A citizens meeting was held this
morning, at which a committee was
appointed to hurry the work of clean
ing up the town, and another commit
tee, with Collector of Customs Robert
Smalls as chairman, to issue a public
appeal to the country. Collector
Smalls confirmed the sad story of
death and devastation. He SAID: This
address embodies what I would say to
you, and if you will send it 10 the
country at large, by means of the AS
sociated Press, you will greatly facili-
tate US in securing the aid that is. i'm
peratively needed" The address is as
follows:
THE APPEAL OF ROBERT sMALLs.
BEAUFORT, S. c., Aug. 81, 1888.
It becomes my painful duty to ap-
peal, through you, to the friends of
humanity for aid for the sufferers from
the cyclone which passed over this
section on Sunday night. Every wharf
and warehouse has been demolished,
windows shattered, houses unroofed
and trees thrown down. While full
accounts have not yet come in, yet
enough have come to say that the loss
of life and property has been truly ap-
palling. Within a radius Of twenty
miles, between 400 and 500 lives have
leen lost. On the Island Of st. Helena,
proverbial for thrift and enterprise,
already over $50 have been reuorted