The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1896-10-03

Scores of SpongerS and Fisher
men Went Down With
Their Boats.
Death List Outside Of Cedar Keys
Will Probably Reach a
Hundred.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla, Oct. 3.-Cedar
Keys is a place of desolation and death.
Forty eight hours ago it was thriving
town of / 800 inhabitants. Today many
of the people are corpses, scores Of 9TH
ers are injured and there are but few
houses left standing. Twenty corpses
have been recovered, but few have been
identified, so mutilated were they by
falling timbers Many corpses were
dug out of the mud in which they were
buried by the mighty tidal wave that
swept over the town Tuesday morning.
The town is situated at the mouth of
the Sewanee river ON q number Of small
keys, connected by number Of bridges.
1t had no protection and went to pieces
when the West India hurricane, with a
velocity of 80 miles an hour, came roar
ing from the gulf.
How the Storm Came On.
The storm struck the place about 3 80
o'clock Tuesday morning. and con-
tinued for several hours. Though
warning had been given, nothing in
dicated blow of unusual severity. Up
to II o'clock the night was calm and
quiet. At that hour a moderate breeze
sprang up from the eastward, increas-
ing gradually until 30 mile wind was
blowing. About a. m. it blew per-
feet tornado and suddenly changed to
the southeast, bringing in perfect
deluge of water, the tide rising two
feet higher than the memorable gale Of
1894, which was at the time said to be
the worst storm ON record. At z
o'clock, an immense tidal wave came
in from the South, carrying destruction
with it. Boats and wharves were
hurled upon the shore and breaking
into fragments covered the streets with
wreckage and rendered them almost
impossible. While the torrents of
water were rushing through every
open space, it would take the strongest
man off his feet. It was this tidal
wave that caused the principal loss of
life, many houses being swept from
their foundations and the inmates
drowned.
spohgers and Fishermen Drowned.
OF the 70 bodies recovered IL are
whites and colored. OF the whites, 9
belonged to the Whitson family, q
mother, A children and a young lady.
The other 4 white victims are men and
have not vet been identified. OF the 8
negroes, only l, Peter Woodson, has
been identified.
The loss of life at Cedar Keys proper,
was nothing in comparison with the
number Of spongers and fishermen who
were drowned. The Mary Eliza has
just arrived dismasted. She reports
that at dark Monday night, nearly lO(
vessels were anchored ON the sponge
bar below Cedar Keys, and that all o1
them but about 20 were lost. These
boats carried from 4 to 10 men each
and the loss of life was great. Eight
corpses have already been washed
ashore
Hundreds Are Destitute.
The handsome Methodist Episcopal
church, south, the Cedar Keys high
school building, the Christian church
and three colored churchs, the Sewanet
ice factory, Wolf g Cedar mill and thu
Eagle Pencil Company's mill, also the
large lumber mill of v. J. Herlong ant
the planning mill of George w. Meyer 6
Sons, and scores of private residence
were wrecked by the wind and waves
Some Of the handsomest and apparentl.
most substantial buildings are damaged
beyond repair.
Reliable news of the storm from th
western of Levy and Alachua countie
have Just reached Jacksonville. No
less than 200 families are left destitute
all their houses, fencing and crops ar
totally destroyed and what they ha'
gathered was blown away with tn
buildings.
Many VIII Never He Recovered.
The difficulty in recovering the dea
arises from the fact that the town wa
built on several small keys. TIL
bridges connecting these keys wer
swept away and the only communics
ton is by means of boats, Of whic
there are but few left. Then, too. mos
of the victims were buried deep in mu
by the tidal wave and many Of th