St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-09-01
one THOUSAND DEAD.
Startling Reports From South
Carolina Sea Points.
APPALLING PICTURES OF DEATH.
Most Disastrous Storm Ever
Known in the Country.
MANY MILLIONS REPORTED LOST.
Desolation Reigns Where
Towns Once Existed.
APPALLING PICTURES OF DEATH.
MANY MILLIONS REPORTED LOST.
STORIES TOLD BY WITNESSES.

YEMEsEE, S. c., Aug. 31.-The Port
Royal Il Augusta road is complete
wreck beyond Coosaw, and the country
there is well nigh impossible. In addi-
tion to the terrible wreckage of Sun
days storm, the evidences of which are
everywhere glaringly apparent, the
heaviest kind of a rain has
been telling, adding to the hor-
rOr of it all, and preventing
railroad and telegraph hands from max
ing the repairs so badly needed and
rendered the transportation across the
country almost impossible. The stories
of the death and destruction at the sea
points have astounded the world. But
the real situation is so far beyond that
heretofore stated that it seems COM
pletely beyond belief.
The list of dead and missing, as esti-
mated at Beaufort, foots up to the as
tonIshing number of $40. How much
greater it may be no human being can
know. 1t was on the islands that the
storms greatest destructive force
was felt. and it was on them that the
great loss of life occurred. There are
a dozen OF more of these islands,
and the Indications are that there is
scarcely hamlet, in which there is not
house of mourning. Certain it is that
i'll a lumber OF instances q number of
families have been wiped out of ex-
istence lit seems 10 grea! to believe, and
yet the facts are
EsOrc Appalling
than anything that yet has been told.
1t Is perfectly safe to say that the loss
of life on all the islands will reach
1000. There are many left, of course,
and the suffering among those people is
dire. Never has this country known
storm so disastrous. never has the old
Palmetto state known such deSOlation.
In the town of Beaufort and
Port Royal the loss of life is not
particularly great, however, though
the destruction of property there will
amount to several million dollars. The
stories of the storm told by the poor
people of Beaufort are thrilling. Sun
day morning the storm began, but it
was not until o'clock Monday morning
that the full force was felt. A sea cap
tain says the wind must have been
blowing 125 miles an hour at
the time its greatest velocity was
reached. The sea was blown
fifteen miles inland, and nothing
could Withstand the force of the wind
Il
deSOlation that presented itself to the
people Monday mornlngwas appalling.
Every house was either wholly or par
TALLY demolished. Steamships were
resting upon dry land, trees were
twisted and scattered at intervals, dead
bodies were found, while ever and anon
the waves would cast one or more
LifeIess Forms,
swollen, distorted and bruised. During
the day the bodies continued to multiply
so rapidly that Coroner Wills was COM
PEELED to swear in a half-dozen dep
uties. one for each of the islands where
death was reported. 1t is said that one
of these deputies held an inquest over
seventy-eight people. While the
inquest was being held seventy
eight graves were being dug, and
seventy-eight bodies. swollen and
fast decOmpOsing; were waiting inter-
ment at the hands OF the white and col
Ored friends who had escaped death so
narrowly. Some of the islands have
not yet been heard from at all, while of
those heard from there vas not a single
one which did not increase the death
roll. On each of these the death
rate was large, but in MANY in
stances the names of them cannot
be ascertained. Many of them we've
beyond recognition when found, while
others were buried as unknown. There
are only two boats at Beaufort now and
both are chartered by the Port Royal
Il Augusta railroad. This prevents
passage between the islands. The
coroner, however, and collector of
the port, eX-Congressman Small,
are compiling the information as
fast as it can be obtained, and are max
ing record of the dead as rapidly as
possible. There has not been an hour
of any day since the early hours of Mon
day morning that dead body has not
been found al 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 Pictures
are uncovered. So frequent are the
discoveries that the finding of a single
body attracts no attention at all. 1t
takes the discovery OF at least a half
dozen or more to induce the people 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. Around the two towns there is a
complete chain of islands, and it was
upon this that the death angel lowered
for hours Sunday night, leaving in it's
path sorrow and dissolution greater than
has ever visited the state before, even
in the bloody days of reconstruction.
This section of the Atlantic coast has
been prolific in storms that scattered
death and destruction of property in
their wake. but the weather wise, the
oldest citizens, the pilot cannot recall
anything like it.