Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1896-10-06
APPALLING.
Results OF the Florida Cyclone
Woeftll in the Extreme.
TOWNS ARE COMPLETELY WIPED OUT.
The Death List Numbers Over 100
Crops Ruined and Turpentine stills
Observation-Disclosures Paralyzei-
People Homeless

received from Cedar Keys tell a story Of
great damage to property and loss Of
life there from fire and flood.
Entire towns in the interior OF the
state were demolished.
Early rumors spoke of Cedar Keys
having been wiped out but, fortunate
ly, later and more authentic reports
show this was an exaggeration. AS it
is, however, Is persons are reported
drowned. In Mrs. Weidley's house
alone five persons persisted by the flood,
including three of Mrs. Weidley's chill
hren and her niece and the latter's
child.
Bodies are being from along
the coast, and many fishermen who
went out Monday night have not been
heard from since they left.
It Is feared that fatalities will exceed
the number already reported. The
Florida Central & Peninsular RAILWAY
will be compelled to build an entire
new track for distance of four miles.
All the wharves at Cedar Keys were
washed away. Several houses were
blown down and six were destroyed by
fire.
This is the result of Tuesdays storm
and tidal wave. Particulars Of the dis
aster are only just beginning to come
in, and they show the calamity was
worse than first supposed.
sponger Mary Eliza reports that at
dark Monday night nearly 100 vessels
were anchored on the sponge bar below
Cedar Keys and that all but about 20
were lost. These boats carried from
four to ten men each; the loss Of life
was great. Eight corpses have already
been washed ashore. The schooner
Rosalia was sunk and eight Of her crew
drowned.
Hundreds Left Destitute.
Reliable news from the western part
OF Levy and Alachua counties has
just reached Jacksonville. Not less
than 200 families are left destitute.
Scores of injured have been reported
with over 80 fatalities in Levy county.
Columbia county Jared very badly.
All the country south of Lake City is dew
astated. In the Caleb Marcum neigh
borhood scarcely a residence or house is
left standing. In the vicinity of Payne
and Mount Tabor post Offices the de-
struction was great.
Appalling Loss of Life.
Exclusive of the hundreds of spongers
supposed to have been drowned of
Ceda, Keys, the death list in the state
proper bids fair to reach 100 and the
property loss will run into the millions.
The people seem to be paralyzed by
the calamity that has overcome them,
and this is reflected in the accounts
sent in Of the storms work. In the
majority Of cases nothing like detailed
description is attempted, and in but
few instances are the names of the dead
given.
It is inferred from this that ma
jority of those killed outside of Cedar
Keys and the points at which school
children were victims were negroes
employed on the turpentine farms
Crops Ruined.
The sotton crop, Or that portion Of it
still in the field, is greatly damaged and
in many places almost entirely de-
etroyed. Sugar cane is everywhere
Frustrated and damage of every kind
has resulted on every hand. Much stock
and cattle We're killed. It is said that
there are % turpentine stills, with their
equipments, camps and teams, between
Lake City and Cedar Keys, and not one
of these will ever run another charge,
all the timber being destroyed. This
throws out Of employment many peo-
pie, leaves the mules idle, the camps
deserted, operators ruined and factors
hit hard.
Damage to Trees.
Washington, Oct. 3.-The storm did
great damage at the national cemeteries
In the vicinity Of Washington. The SEX
ton at Arlington National cemetery re-
ports that the trunks of fallen trees lie
across the tombs all over the grounds.
The soldiers monument was not dam
aged, but there are hundreds of mounds
which must be rebuilt and again sodded.
In Oak Hill cemetery two trees on each
side of the monument erected by the late
w. w. Corcoran to the memory of John
Howard Payne, author Of "Home, Sweet
Home" were torn up by the roots, but
fell in such way as not to injure the
monument. At the soldiers home Gem
etery 30 beautiful trees, most of them
oak which have withstood the storms of
more than so years, have been laid low.
Three hundred trees have been count
ed fallen in the soldiers home grounds,
and Gen. Stanley states that with the
present force at work upon the grounds
it will take three years to clear up the
brush. In some instances in the ceme-
teries the upturned roots of the trees
brought with them portions of caskets
and their contents which had been in
tered in this vicinity.
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CANADA'S STRIKE. =
Railway Men Intercede for the str,k,n o