The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1893-10-10
MOBILES MISFORTUNE.
Later Reports Increase the Amount Of
Damage from the Storm.

/ uIESro1GIONlt.
Later REPORTS Increase the Amount OF
] Damage from the Storm.
MOBILE, Aa., Oct. 4.-The tale OF
the storm has not been half told not
only daily but hourly reports reach
here of additional disasters, and with
them come the said tidings of more
| lives sacrificed upon the altar of the
| storm king. From Baldwin County,
which skirts the eastern shore OF
Mobile Bay, to Mullet Point, distance
| OF forty miles, and the shores of Bon
secour Bay to Fort Morgan, a distance
OF twenty miles, come reports of great
destruction to property, but thus far,
there has been no news OF other human
sacrifice from this direction.
AT Blakely, the destruction wrought
among the forests and turpentine
orchards is reported to have been very
great and many fences were swept
away and gardens damaged. All re-
ports are unanimous that forty miles
along this shore forests have been de-
vastated to an extent unknown in the
history of this section.
Every steamboat wharf, private
wharf and bath house along this entire
stretch of coast, which are numerous
summer resorts, to which the citizens
OF Mobile flock to spend the heated
term, have succumbed, partially or
wholly, to the devastating powers of
the winds and the waves. Parties who
witnessed the storm from some of the
summer resorts give graphic descrip-
tions of how the waves ripped the
planks up from the wharves with much
more ease than a lady rips thread from
o seam, and when the waves had done
their part in the work of destruction,
the wind took up the broken debris and
dashed it away as if to give vent to its
fury.
Some idea of the devastation wro, .ght
in the forests Of Baldwin County may
be cleaned from the fact that there
are 1900 trees across the public road
from Daphne, the county seat, to the
Loxley logging camp, a distance of
fifteen miles. In a distance of two
the logging road of the LoXleys, who
also had their boom and warehouse at
Spanish Fort swept away.
AT Howard's the hotel pavilion and
magnificent grove of oaks and hickory
escaped injury, but the entire wharf
is swept away, while water was six
feet deep at the foot of the bluffs, and
when it subsidized it was discovered
that a new beach had been made.
a quarter OF a mile below Howard's,
at Daphne, the county seat, about half
of the fine wharf which extends from
the high bluffs fully half mile into
the bay has been swept away. The pier
head and several spans of the seaward
feet or more OF the shore end. The
wharf at Montrose is also gone, as are
all the fine private wharves and bath
houses, while many of the summer
homes have been damaged, and the
little Catholic Church that stood on
the summit of the bluffs 200 yards
from the water was completely
wrecked. This is said to be the highest
point on the Atlantic coast from Tam
pico, Mexico, to Montrose. Further
South at Battles the wharf was demo-
lished and some thirty or forty yards of
the bluff and roadway were washed
away. A half mile further South
Point Clear, the Long Branch of the
South, extends Westward into the bay.
On this point stands grand hotel
facing South, while in the rear of the
hotel the North wharf extends into
the bay nearly half a mile. The storm
seems to have taken special delight in
demolishing this wharf, for the waves
even dashed away the strong pieces
and cross-beams, leaving nothing but
the gaunt pilings to stand sentinel over
the ruins.
Around in front of the hotel was the
short wharf, which wascalso demolish-
ed, and the wreckage deposited on the
sandy beach and grassy lawn in front
of the hotel with its broad galleries,
presented a splendid target for the
demon of the storm, and the wonder is
that q plank of the structure stands to
tell the story. AS it was, the waves
which usually lave the beach in quiet
ripples, one hundred yards away from
the front of the hotel, dashed with
surly roar over the verandas and beat
against the doors like howling mob,
at the barred entry to some Jail, de-
manding the life of some prisoner with
in. Ever and anon, huge timbers and
pieces of wreckage would be dashed up
to be used as battering ram by the
waves.
The wreckage and debris is piled
high in front of the hotel, and the
West end of the front has been washed
away. Some of the galleries of the
outbuildings were swept away, and,
according to some, the dining hall has
been completely turned around. The
summer residences owned by prominent
and wealthy Mobilians and located
along the curve of the shore South of
the hotel, are said not to have suffered
any damage further than tho loss of
all of the small crafts, wharves and
bath houses.
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