Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1896-10-09
HUNDREDS persisted
In Florida During Recent Storms
Cedar Keys Inundated by n Tidal Wave
---Many Sponge Fishermen Went
Down in Their Roats.

Cedar Keys Inundated by n Tidal Wave
---Many Sponge Fishermen Went
Down in Their Boats.
Hundreds of lives were lost in the Flor
ida Keys during the storms Of last week,
The town of Cedar Keys, with a popula-
ton of 1900, was entirely destroyed by a
tidal wave, and many people were drown
ed or injured. Twenty bodies were re-
covered before Friday, and several persons
were missing. The tidal wave swept two
feet higher than the memorable one OF
1884. Boats, wharves, and small houses
were dashed to fragments. Nearly all OF
the houses were swept from their founda-
tions, and the streets were impossible be-
cause of the wreckage. There was a ter
rife gale after the tidal wave had subsidized,
and two churches, school house and 9TH
er buildings were blown down. The Flor
ida Central and Peninsula railroad is a
heavy loser. In one place near Cedar
Keys three and one-half miles of track
were completely destroyed. Some of the
people drowned at Cedar Keys were buried
under great masses of mud and the bodies
will never be recovered. Deplorable as is
the loss of life in Cedar Keys, it is nothing
in comparison with the number of spongers
and fishermen who were drowned. The
Mary Eliza, a sponging schooner, has
reached Cedar Keys and reports that at
dark Monday night nearly 100 vessels were
anchored on the sponge bar just below
Cedar Keys. Nearly every one of them
was sunk by the hurricane Each vessel
carried from four to ten men.
Two men who went down the coast a
few miles have returned to Cedar Keys.
They report finding the bodies of eight
men washed ashore These men were the
crew of a sponging vessel. In Cedar Keys
those who escaped death had terrible ex-
perience when the tidal wave came and
overwhelmed the houses. Many people
fioated in the water clinging to pieces of
timber; others chung to tree tops for hours,
until the water receded. They were buff
feted by wind and wave, and many are
still unaccounted for
A later despatch from Jacksonville, Fla,
says: Reports from the remoter sections,
where the storm of last week visited,
increase the number of dead. At
Double Sink, in Levy county,
a large settlement, nearly every house was
swept away. Nearly every house in La
Fayette county has been destroyed. Moth
ing is left of Mayo, the county seat. Near
Cedar Keys the rescuers are picking up
dead bodies along the coast. AT She'll
mound great pleasure resorts party of IL,
five men, three children and three wo-
men, were camped on the Suwanee River.
A party of surveyors who were making
their way home after the storm found the
dead bodies on the shore under logs and
bushes. They were close together, which
would indicate that they were drowned at
once by the tidal wave. Some of those
who went down to Cedar Keys say that in
addition to the IL bodies, eight others
have been found on the beach. Scores of
spongers and fishermen are still missing,
and the probability is they have been
drowned. Thousands of people are with
out food or shelter. The condition is one
of actual suffering that has never before
been experienced in this state. From all
parts of the stricken district come appeals
for aid.
Many buildings in Washington and vicin-
ity were damaged by the wind, and at the
national cemetery monuments were dam
aged and trees blown down. at the sol
diers' home grounds 500 trees were leveled.
There were many fatalities on the sea
islands on the coast of Georgia and South
Carolina. The report has reached Savan-
nah that 20 negroes on the rice plantations
were killed by falling timbers.
At Staunton, Va, there was a Johns
town flood disaster on a small scale, lake
breaking away and its waters emptying in
to stream already swollen by the rains.
The business section of the town was
flooded and many buildings undermined
and destroyed. The loss will amount &c
several hundred thousand dollars, There
were at first reports of large loss of life,
but it is now thought that there were only
a few fatalities