Huntsville gazette., 1893-10-07

BY Pent-Up Waters from the River ana
Bay Driven in Shore by Great Gale-An
the Wholesale and Much of the Retail
| District Four Feet Under Water, While
| the Terrific Wind Spreads Destruction.
MOBILE, Ala, Oct "A southeast
| gale broke here this morning about
| o'clock, and the wind has been in
creasing in velocity ever since until at
this hour Il p. n.y. it is blowing at the
rate of at least fifty miles an hour. The
| barometer is still falling. The wind
| has blown the water in front OF the
| gulf until the river has reached Royal
| street, which is four blocks from the
| river and on an elevation of about tif-
teen feet from the mean river height
There is no possible chance of esti-
mating the money damage. All the
wholesale and a great portion of the
retail district Of the city is some four
| feet under water, and thousands of dol
lars worth of goods damaged.
The pilot boat Ida Low has been
| driven on the wharf at 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 this
| morning and has not since been heard
| from.
1t is reported that three dredges
| working in the channel have been lost.
| 1t is also reported here that some fifty
miles of the Louisville & Nashville
railroad along the coast is under wa
| ter, and that the Biloxi bridge has
| been swept away
| Nothing has been heard from the
| gardeners in the marshes east of the
| city, and the worst is feared. Tele-
| graphic communication is cut off in
| almost every direction and from the
| present outlook Mobile will be entirely
| cut off from the outside world when
| dark comes.
In this city, houses have been un-
rooted, trees blown down and one cot
ton warehouse has succumbed to the
| fury of the gale. All of the smoke
stacks of the manufacturing indus
| tries have been blown down. Street
car traffic has been totally suspended
because of the damage to the electric
| wires, and the city will no doubt be in
| darkness tonight as the waves are fast
| encroaching on the electric light
works, which may be under water in
| another hour.
The busiest thoroughfares of the
city are being navigated in boats, and
| people are wading up to their arm pits
in an effort to save goods 1t is re-
garded by all as the worst storm that
has ever visited Mobile.
| The southern part of the city pre-
sents such scene of wreckage that it
looks as if it had been bombarded
| The towers on the courthouse and
Christian 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 Capt. 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.
Further Particulars.
| MOBILE, Ala, Oct. 3.-The storm
reached it's height IL midnight, when
the wind reach a velocity of seventy-five
miles an hour. From that hour the
fury Of the gale began to decrease and
the wind gradually changed from
southeast to west. The rain had fallen
in torrents the entire day. Tonight
the city is in darkness, and there is no
electric light of any kind burning.
The bay steamer Crescent City
dragged her anchor seven miles and
went ashore on the beach between
| Arlington and Monroe park, about
three miles below this city. Capt Frank
Lumsden and his solitary passenger, a
coal broker named Lewis Donnell, put
| on life-preservers and swan safely
ashore through the angry waves.
Nearly every bath house along the
! western shore is blown down, and at
Fort Morgan an attendant named Gra-
ham was swept away with five bath
houses and drowned.
The Magnolia and Cooley's ware
houses were blown down, and two un-
known negroes were drowned in the
cotton yard. Magnificent oaks all over
the city are blown down. Houses all
over the city have been unroofed and
fences blown down.
Nothing has been heard from the
eastern shore nor the market garden
ers in the mars hes, where it is expected
great damage to property and proba-
bly loss of life has occurred.
The storm at this writing Il a. m. J
has abated, and the waters have re-
ceded There is not wire in the
Western Union Office affording inter
course with the outside world, and this
is written to be sent several miles out
of town, where it is hoped communica-
tion may be established.
Practically Acquitted.