The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-01
THE LIGHT oFAPEACErU1, DAY.


the night before. But scattered through
the streets Of Beaufort, Port
Royal and the other towns along the
coast and along the banks of the
rivers were evidences of the great fury
of the storm Sunday night Houses were
found, whole and in pieces, miles away
from their foundations. Steamships
were resting upon dry lands Trees were
twisted, plated and scattered about,
while at intervals dead bodieesgere found,
and ever and anon the waves would cast
up one or more ifeless forms, swollen,
distorted and bruised
AT first no one thought of giving atten-
tlon to anything or anybody outside of
his own needs, but as the dead bodies
multiplied the Good Samaritan feeling
grew, and by noon every one on the chain
of islands had become grave digger.
1t was the pick and shovel only which
were in demand, and the number of dead
prevented any unstinted use Of
these tools. All day Monday
the bodies began to multiply
so rapidly that the coroner was com
PEELED to swear in a half dozen deputies,
one for each of the islands where deaths
were reported. One of these deputies
held an inquest over seventy-eight people,
and while the inquest was being held
seventy eight graves were being dug and
fast decompOsing, were awaiting inter
ment at the hands of their white and
colored friends who escaped death so mar
rowly.
THE AWFUL TALE NOT YET ALL TOLD.
A glance at the map will show that
around this place are some twenty
islands. Some of these are very small,
with only one or two families living
thereon, while Others are larger and ac-
commodate as many inhabitants as 4,500
Some of these have not been heard from
at all, while on those which have been
spoken there was not single
one which did not increase
the dead roll. On some of these
the death rate was large, but in many in
stances the names of the dead cannot be
ascertained, many Of them being beyond
recognition when found, while others
were unknown because no one was pres
ent who could identify them. There are
only two boats here now, and both
are chartered by the Port Royal
and Augusta railroad. This prevents
passage between the islands; and that,
too, Is an obstacle TO the Identification of
the dead, as many Of the bodies are
picked up on an island where they did
not liye and therefore are unknown.
However, the collector of the port, ex-
Congressman Small is compiling the in
formation as fast as it can be obtained
and making a record of the dead as rap
idly as possible. The book win show
that st. Helena has a population of 4.5OO,
Ladies' Island has 800 Wawthas Island
IS, Coosaw Island 600, Beaufort town
has 3,600 Port Royal Island, embracing
the towns Of Beaufort and Port Royal
has 5000.
THE DEATH ROLL THUS FAR.
Now, as far as reliable information has
reached here, the dead viii reach 400,
| and they are located in this way: At the
Pacific works 20 dead bodies have been
found and buried. 1t was here that the
deputy coroner held the one big inquest.
On Ladies Island % bodies were buried
on Tuesday, and others have been found
since On Paris Island, 10 bodies
had been recovered and buriD
up to Tuesday afternoon On
Beaufort Island 12 bodies have
been buried. At Coosaw mines bodies
have been buried At Gaines neck %
bodies have been recovered and buried
and reports are that 10 lives were lost
| here On Eustis place, one of the
richest plantations on Ladies Island, 40
new-made graves were filled yesterday
morning At the other end of Ladies'
Island z dead bodies were found. At
Dawtha Island, place of about l, 200
acres, so lives are reported lost, and
nearly half that many have been recov-
cred.
MEETING OF CITIZENS HELD.
A citizens meeting was held this morn
ing, at which a committee was appointed
to hurry the work of cleaning up the
town, and another committee, with the
collector of customs, Robert Small, as
chairman, was authorized tie issue a pub
lie appeal to the country. Collector
Small confirmed the sad story of death
and devastation He said: This ad-
dress embodies what / would say to you,
and if you will send it to the country at
large, by means Of the Associated Press,
you viii greatly facilitate US in securing
the aid that is imperatively needed.
THE ADDRESS Is AS FOLLOWS:
Beaufort s. G., Aug. 3l.--It becomes my
painful duty to appeal through you TO the
friends of humanity for aid for the sufferers
from the cyclone which passed over this sec
tion on Sunday night Every wharf and
warehouse has been demolished, windows
shattered houses unroofed and trees thrown
down. While full accounts have not yet come
in yet enough have come to say that the
loss OF life and property has been truly ap-
palling. Within a radius of twenty miles be-
tween 100 and 800 lives have been lost. On the
island of ST. Helena proverbial for thrift and
enterprise, already over $50 have been re-
ported drowned From everywhere comes
news OF houses having been swept away ana
crops totally destroyed. These sea islands
are the homes chiefly Of negroes, who,
by thrift and industry, have made themselves
homes with none TO mOlest or make them
afraid. In one night all have been swept
away They are now homeless and almost
naked Their bedding, furniture and clothes
have been carried OF by the angry waves
While writing. in this town the rain is de-
stroying what has been snatched from the
sea We earnestly ask for aid in feeding and
clothing the hungry and naked. Yours truly,
ROBERT SMALL
Collector and Chairman Of Citizens Com
mittee.
FIVE MILLION DOLLARS N LOSSES.
The damage to the phosphate industry,
to shipping, warehouses. commerce, mer-
chandise, dwellings and crops
around Beaufort and Port
ROYAL will go TO two million dollars
Add a million for Charleston, another
for Savannah, and the damage to
the railroad and steamship compa-
nies, and there is grand total
Of something like five million dollars and
six hundred dead bodies, as the fruit Of
Sunday nights blow in a stretch of a
hundred miles on the Georgia and South
Carolina coast. 1t is equal to the devas-
tation of war, and these are the figures
given by conservative man.
PROCLAMATION.
Gov. Tillman Appeals for Aid for the
Unfortunates of the Storm.