The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1896-10-08
THE DISASTER All CIIDAI, KEYS.
Seven Hundred Persons Swallowed
up by tho Tidal Wave

JACKSONVILLE, Fla, October L.
Cedar Keys is place OF desoiation and
death. Forty eight hours ago it was
thriving town OF l,5OO inhabitants
Today many Of the people arc corpscs,
scores OF others are in jured and there
arc but few houses left standing.
Twenty bodies havo been recovered
aud 1t is known that many others arc
dead. or those recovered but few have
been identified, so mutilatcd were they
by falling timbcrs. Many Of the corpses
were dug out Of the mud iE which
they were buried by tho mighty wave
that swept over Jhc town Tuesday
| morning.
The town is situated at the mouth OF
the Suwancc river on q number nf
small keys connected by bridges. 1t
had no protection and went to pieces
when the West India hurricane, with
a velocity Of eighty miles an hour,
came roaring from tho gulf. The
storm struck tho place about 800
o'clock Tuesday morning and continued
for several hours, though warning had
been given, nothing Indicated blow
Of unusual severity. Up to II o'clock
tho night was calm and quiet. At
that hour q moderate breeze sprang
up from the eastward, increasing
| gradually until u thirty wind was
| blowing. About 1 O'Clock u. m. il
blew q perfect tornado, and suddenly
changed to the southeast, bringing in
Il perfect dclugc OF water, the tide
rising two feet higher than in the
memorable gale Of 1891, which was ut
| the said time said to be the scvcrcst
| storm on record.
At o'clock an immense tidal wave
came in from tho south, carrying de-
struction with it. Boats, wharvcs and
| small houses were hun led upon the
shore, and breaking into fragments,
covered the streets with wrec1age and
rendered them almost impassablo,
while tho torrents Of water rushing
through every open space would takc
the strongest man OF Of his feet. 1t
principal loss OF life, many houses
being swept from their foundations
and the inmates drowned. OF the
| twenty bodies recovered. twelve are
white and eight cOlOred. OF the whites,
six belonged to the Whitson familya
mother, four children and Il young lady
visitor. Tho other four white victims
arc men, and have not yet been identili-
cd. OF the eight negroes only one,
Peter Woodson, has been identified.
| The difficulty in recovering the dead
arises from the fact that the town was
built on several small keys, the bridges
connecting the keys were swept away
and the only communication is by
means Of boats, OF which there arc but
few left. Then, too, most of the
victims were buried deep in the mud
by the tidal wave and many OF the
bodies will probably never be recover
| ed.
But dcplorablc as is the loss Of life
in Cedar Keys proper, it Is as nothing
in comparison with the number Of
spongcrs and fishermen who were
drowned. The Mary Eliza a sponging
schooner. reached Cedar Keys at 10
o'clock this mo"ning jury rugged, hav-
ing had to cut both masts away to pre-
vent capsizing. She reports that at
dark Monday night nearly ono hundred
vessels were anchored on tho sponge
bar, just below Cedar Keys, and that
nearly cvcry one OF thcm was sunk by
the hurricane. AT daylight Tuesday
morning tho captain Of the Mary Eliza
says be saw only about twenty OF tho
one hundred spUnging and fishing YES
SCls allOat. the others having gone to
the bottom during the early hours OF
the storm. Twelve Of the twonty yes
sells that rode out the hurricane during
the hours OF darkness won't down about
s O'clock Tuesday morning. Beyond
the bar the tops of scores OF masts are
visible Just above the water, and each
sponging schooner and its crow. AS
these vessels carried from four to ten
men, the loss Of life is hardly less than
700.
1t Is possible that many Of the ves-
sells were blown into tho gulf and rode
out the hurricane, but the Mary Eliza's
captain thinks by far the greater num-
Der are beneath the water with their
crews. Ho says that there was not one
chance in Thousand for such frail
crafts to live in such u hurricane. Two
gentlemen who went down the coast q
few miles this morning returned to
Cedar Keys this afternoon and reported
} finding tho corpses of eight men wash
, ed ashore. These men were the crew
7 OF sponging vessel, and the crows OF
most OF tho other vessels have nn-
: doubtedly mot n similar fate. 1T Is
3 expected that for days to come corpses
9 OF the spongers will be found along the
coast. " %@