Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1893-10-05
THE GULF STORM.
News Slowly Coming in of It's Ter.
rible Effects,
TWO HUNDRED FISHERMEN DROWNED
All at One Piace-Aimost Certain That the
Loss of Life Elsewhere VIII he
Appalling when
Known.

New ORLEANS, Oct 4.-The great
storm of Monday has passed, and, al
though the wires are still down, bits
of intelligence continue to come from
various parts which impart the infor-
nation that the loss of life, to say
nothing of the destruction of property,
Is tremendous. From Bayou Cook, the
great oyster field which leads to the
gulf, IL is reported that the settlements
of the fishermen have been completely
demolished, and that the loss of life
has reached the appalling figure of
goo
Grand Isle, a summer resort lying in
the gulf directly in the path of the
storm, is said to have been utterly de-
stroyed, and II is known that the loss
Of life is large Many people were here
spending the delightful early autumn
season. and numbers of those who had
spent the late summer month in their
cottages here had not yet started for
their homes. The hotel and the two
long rows of cottages which constituted
the resort is no more, and IL is feared
the loss Of life ut this point will be very
great
In the parish OF Plaquemine the viii
lagos of Bohemia and Shell Beach were
wiped out, and at least four lives lost
In each place. On both sides of the
river the sugar, rice and orange crops
suffered a great deal of damage, and
on the west side the loss of life is re-
ported to have been very great. IL
will be some days before the full ex-
tent of the damage wrought will be
known, but II is feared here that the
grand total will pale into insignificance
the number of deaths reported from
the storm which recently devastated
the Atlantic coast
The upper limit of the storm was not
more than a dozen miles above the city.
In the city the storm was not as severe
as that OF 1888. Here this year the
principal sufferers were the shipping
interests. The losses include the ferry
boat Jerome Hadley, the steam launch
Shannon, Grace Pitt, steamboat, and
half dozen loaded coal barges be-
longing to Pittsburgh firms all went
down. Electric wire poles were top
pied over.
Owing to the fact that all wire COM
mu nication is temporarily interrupted,
and that no vessels OF any description
have arrived from the remote sections,
the information is necessarily meager.
a lone and ragged fisherman, who had
been a member of the fishing colony at
Bayou Cook, where all the oysters
bearing that name are fished, and
which is located about seven miles
back of the Buras settlement, reported
TO the keeper of the locks of the canal
that OF the 300 people who composed
the colony, but thirty had succeeded
In escaping the fury Of the elements.
The fishermen had all retired Sunday
night as usual, and though the wind
was blowing pretty hard there was no
forerunner of the terrible catastrophe
that followed. As the night grew
apace the wind increased in velocity
until the timbers in the houses began
10 crack in an alarming manner, and
the roar of the waves grew louder and
louder. The water rose with startling
rapidity and before the unfortunates,
who had no possible means OF escape,
had time to grasp some floating object
they were overwhelmed with the awful
might, and found their fate Id watery
graves He had chung to tree through
out the night and when morning
dawned the scene of wreckage that
spread before his view was simply ter
rible.
OF the many little cabins which had
sheltered the prosperous colony the
night before, barely one was standing,
OF the 800 or more human beings who
inhabited them about tenth of the
number lived 10 tell of the nights of
experiences filed with horrors which
they will never forget He describes
the visitation as in the nature of a
tidal wave, which swept everything be-
fore IT,
The loss of life, as far as a diligent
kearch could ascertain, foots up as fol-
lows; between Point-a-la-Hache and
Bohemia, four, Mrs. Leonce La France
and two babies and Charlotte BrinlSle,
a colored woman; at Grand Prairie,
four, Wiley Anderson, the son OF man
named Perot the daughter OF a man
named johnson and an unknown, all
colored.
At the old quarantine station two,
the children of Mr.. Hingle; at the
jettios one, James Carey. Total, IL.
The destruction OF tho orange crop Is
almost complete. The new fruit Is
esaly ininrvd Tia sugar oans ives