The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-10-02
la IES t !
A TIDAL WAVE
Swept the Town
OF Cedar Keys.
II Is Now a Place of DeS-
OlatiOn and Death.
Wharves, Houses and Boats
Were Swept Away.
SO Far Bodies Of Twenty Victims
Have Been Recovered.
Eighty Sponge and Fishing Vessels
Thought 10 Have Gone to Bottom.
Wharves, Houses and Boats
Were Swept Away.
SO Far Bodies Of Twenty Victims
Have Been Recovered.
Eighty Sponge and Fishing Vessels
Thought 10 Have Gone to Bottom.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla, Oct. 2.--Cedar
+. Keys is place of desolation and death.
Forty-eight hours ago it was thriving
town OF 1900 inha bitants. Today many
of the people are corpses, scores of others
are injured and there are but few houses
left standing. Twenty corpses have been
recovered, but few have been identified,
SO NSutilated were they by falling tim
bers. Many of the corpses were dug out
OF the mud In which they were bruied
by the mighty tidal wave that swept
over the town Tuesday.
The town is situated at the mouth OF
the Sewanee River, on q number of small
keys conn ected by number of bridges.
1t had no protection ana went to pieces
when the West India hurricane with a
velocity of so miles an hour came roaring
from the gulf. The storm struck tho
place about 80 O'Clock Tuesday morn.
ing and continued for several hours.
Though warning had been given, moth
ing indicated q blow of unusual se-
verify. Up to II O'Clock the
night was calm and quiet. At that hour
moderate breezes sprang up from the east
ward, increasing gradually until 80 mile
wind was blowing. About a. m. 1t blew
a perfect tornado and suddenly changed
to the southeast, bringing In q perfect
deluge of water, the tide rising two feet
higher than 1t the memorable gale:of 1894,
which was, at the time sa Id to be the
worst storm on record. Att o'clock an
immense tidal wave came In from the
south, carrying destruction with 1t.
Boats, wharves and small houses were
hurled upon the shore and breaking into
fragments it covered the streets with
wreckage and rendered them almost inn;
passable. While the torrents Of water
were rushing though every open space, 1t
would take the strongest man OF his feet.
1t was this tidal wave that caused the
principal loss of life, many houses being
swept from their foundations and the In
mates drowned.
OF 20 bodies recovered II were white
and colored. OF the whites six belonged
to the Whitson fsmily,s mother, four chill
dren and a young lady visitor. The other
four white victims are men and have
not yet Seen identified. OF the eight
negroes only one, Peter woodson, has been
identified.
The loss OF life ct Cedar Keys proper IL
as nothing in comparison with the num-
Der of spongers and fishermen who were
drowned. The Mary Eliza came in yes
terday morning dismasted. Sne reports
that at dark Monday night nearly 100
vessels were anchored on the sponge bar
below Cedar Keys, and that all OF them
but about 20 were lost. These boats
carry from four TO ten men each and the
loss of life was great. Eight corpses
have already been washed ashore. The
schooner Rosalia was sunk and eight of
her crew drowned.
The handsome Methodist Episcopai
church, south, the Cedar Keys high
school building, the Christian Church
and three colored churches, the sewance
ics factory, VOLTS cedar mill ana the
Eagle Pencil Company's mi !. also the
large lumber mill OF V. j. Heilong and
the planing mill OF George W. Moore &
Sons and scores Of private residences were
also wrecked by the wind and waves.
Some OF the handsomest and the most
substantial buildings are wrecked
beyond repair.
Reliable news from the storm In tho
western part Of Levy and Alachua coun-
ties have just reached Jacksonvilie. Not 4
less than 200 families are left destitute,
all their houses, fencings and crops are
totally destroyed, and what they bad
gathered was blown away with the build
ings. - ----
The difficulty In recovering tee dead
arises from the fact that the town was
built on seversl small keys. The bridges
connecting these keys we're swept away
and the only communication 10 by means
OF ooats, OF which therc are but few
left. Then, too, most OF me Victims
were buried deep ~ mud by the ticsI
wave and many of. tue bodies Will prob
ably p~~sy bs recovered.
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