San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-10-02
HURRICANE SWEPT.
WHOLE TOWN OF CEDAR KEYS
SWEPT AWAY.
One Vast Tidal Wave Rolls Oyer the
City Carrying Death and De-
struction Along,

jacksonville. Fla, Oct. Cedar
Key is a place of desOlatiOn and death.
FOrty-eight hours ago il was a thriv-
ing town of 1,500 inhabitants. Today
many of the people are corpSes, scores
of others are injured and there are
but few houses left standing. Tween
ty cOrpses have been recovered and it
is known that many others are dead.
OF those recovered, but few have been
identified, so mutilated were they by
falling timbers. Many of the corpses
were dug out of the mud in which
they were buried by the mighty tidal
wave that swept over the town Tues.
day morning.
The town is situated at the mouth
of the Sewanee river on q number of
small keys connected by bridges. 1t
had no protection and went to pieces
when the West India hurricane, with
velocity of so miles an hour, came
roaring from the gulf.
The storm struck the place about
$3.50 o'clock Tuesday morning and con-
tinued for several hours. The warn
ing had been given, but nothing indi-
Gated a blow of unusual severity. Up
to IL o'clock the night was calm and
quiet. At that hour a moderate
breeze sprung up from the eastward,
increasing gradually until a thirty
mile wind was blowing.
About A o'clock 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 in the memorable
gale of 1894, which was at the time
said to be the severest storm on rec
I'd.
At 7 o'clock an immense tidal wave
came in from the south carrying de-
struction with it. Boats, wharves and
small houses were hurled upon the
shore, and breaking into fragments,
covered the streets with wreckage, and
rendered them almost impossible.
While the torrent Of water was
rushing through every open space, it
would take the strongest off his feet.
1t was this tidal wave that caused
the principal loss Of life, many houses
being swept from their foundations
and the inmates drowned.
OF the twenty bodies recovered,
twelve are whites and eight colored.
OF the whites six belonged to the Whit
son family, a mother and four chill
dren and young lady visitor. The
other four white victims are men, and
have not yet been identified. OF the
eight negros only one, Peter Woodson,
has been identified
The loss Of life at Cedar Keys prop
er, is as nothing in comparison with
the number Of spongers and fishermen
who were drowned on the bay.
The Mary Eliza came in this morn
dark Monday night, nearly 100 vessels
We're anchored on the sponge bar be-
low Cedar Keys and that all of them
but about twenty were lost. These
boats carried from four to ten men
each, and therefore the loss of life
was great. Eight corpses have al
ready been washed ashore. The schoo-
ner Rosalie was sunk and eight of her
crew drowned.
The handsome Methodist Episcopal
Church South, the Cedar Key High
school building, the Christian church
and three colored churches, the Sewa
nee ice factory, VOLTS cedar mill, the
Eagle Pencil company's mill, the
large lumber mill of V. ]. Herlong and
the planning mill of Geo. w. Meyer &
Sons were also completely wrecked.
Scores of private residences were also
wrecked by the wind and waves.
Some Of the handsomest and apparent
ly most substantial buildings are DAM
aged beyond repair.
Reliable news from the storm, from
the west part Of Levee and Lachua
counties, have just reached Jackson
vile. Not less than 200 families are
left destitute, all their houses, fencings
and crops are totally destroyed and
what they had gathered was blown
away with the buildings.