Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1893-10-05
A GREAT GALE.
The Storm That Visited Mobile,
Alabama.
CONSIDERABLE LOSS OF LIFE.
Later News May Show It to BE as bad as
the Late South Carolina Hurricane
Tho Storm In Louis
lana.

MOBILE, Ala, Oct ga southeast
gale broke here yesterday morning
about o'clock the wind blowing at
least fifty miles an hour. The wind
blew the water in from the gulf until
the river has reached Royal street,
which is four blocks from the river and
at an elevation of about fifteen feet
from the main river height There Is
no possible chance Of estimating the
agricultural portion Of the retail dis
trict of the city is some four feet under
water, and thousands Of dollars worth
OF goods have been damaged.
The pilot boat Ida Low was driven
on the wharf al the foot of ST. Francis
street The bay boat Heroine was
driven on the Mobile & Ohio wharf and
almost totally wrecked. The Crescent
City, another bay boat, left Point Clear
at the same time the Heroine did yes
terday morning and has not since been
heard from. IL is reported that three
dredges working the channel have been
lost II is also reported here that
some 80 miles of the Louisville & Nash
vile road along the coast is under
water, and that the Biloxi bridge has
been swept away by the gale. Nothing
has been heard from the gardeners in
the marshes east Of the city and the
worst Is feared.
Telegraphic communication Ia cut off
In almost every direction, and from the
present outlook Mobile will be entirely
cut off from the outside world when
darkness comes. In this city houses
have been unroofed, trees blown down
and one cotton warehouse has sue
cumbed to the fury Of the gale. All
the smokestacxs of all the manufactur-
ing Industries have been blown down.
Street car traffic has been wholly sus-
pended because of the damage TO the
electric wires, and the city will no
doubt be in darkness as the waves
were fast encroaching on the electric
light works The busiest thorough
fares In the city are being navigated in
boats and persons wading up TO their
arm-pits in order to save their goods.
uIt is conceded by all to be the worst
storm that has ever visited Mobile.
The southern part of the city presents
scene of wreckage as IL IL had been
bombarded. The towers on the court
house and Christ church are tottering.
Dredge No. 5 turned over near the
lighthouse and three men were thrown
into the angry waves. At great peril
the crew of the tug Captain Sam
steamed to the rescue and saved two of
the men, the other being lost. An un-
known white man lost his footing
while wading from the Union depot at
the foot of Government street and was
swept under the bridge and drowned.
The storm reached its height about 1
p. IN. when the wind reached a velocity
OF seventy-five miles an hour. From
that hour the fury of the gale began TO
increase and the wind gradually
changed from southeast to west The
rain fell in torrents the entire day. The
bay steamer Crescent City dragged her
anchor seven miles and went ashore on
the beach between Arlington and Mon
roe park, about three miles below the
city on the western shore of the bay.
Capt. Frank Lumsden and his crew and
one passenger, a cotton broker named
r. A. Lewis, donned life preservers and
swan safely ashore.
Nearly every bathhouse along the
western shore was blown down, and at
Morgan's an attendant named Graham
was swept away with five lighthouses
and drowned. The Magnolia and Coo
ley's lighthouses were blown down and
two unknown negroes were drowned
in the cotton yard Magnificent oaks
all over the city were laid low and the
earth was covered with green leaves
which snapped from the trees Houses
all over the city have been unroofed
and fences blown down. and IL Is
simply impossible to give details.
Nothing has been heard from the east
ern shore.
THE STORM IN LOUISIANA.
NEW ORLEANS, oct. 3-Reports OF u
serious accident have been received
from Pointe La Hache and vicinity.
The steeple of the courthouse and the
Catholic church were blown down dur
ing the storm Several houses were
wrecked, and it is said that four per-
sons were killed. Almost every planta-
ton on the lower coast has suffered.
II is reported that three children were
killed in one of the little settlements
below Magnolia plantation.