The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-10-03
IN A HURRICANE.
Georgia Coast Visited by West
Indian Storm.
Seventy Miles an Hour Gale is
Maintained
FOR FIFTEEN HOURS.
Rice Crop is Almost Totally
Destroyed.
Communication by Rail or Wire
Almost Cut Off.
FOR FIFTEEN HOURS.

Savannah, Ga, Oct. 3.-For fifteen
hours, from o'clock yesterday morn
ing until o'clock last night, Savannah
was in the grasp of West Indian hur-
ricane. During that time the wind blew
steadily from fifty to seventy-five miles
an hour While the city escaped with
comparatively little damage, the loss
of property among the sea islands of
the Georgia and South Carolina coasts
is believed to be heavy. For miles in
every direction around Savannah, the
lOwlands along the rivers are sub
merged.
Only one fatality has so far been re-
ported-the drowning of a negro while
attempting to reach the land from a
small island, near ThunderboIt-but
heavy loss Of life is feared on the
South Carolina sea islands, where such
fearful loss of life occurred during the
great tidal storm of 1898. The conditions
now are similar to those during that
storm. Owing to the submerged coun-
try and the isolated location of the is
lands, no news can be had from them
until the water subsidies
For eight miles north of Savannah
the entire country is a lake, with only
the hummocks visible. At noon the
water was eight feet above the high
est tide. Driven on shore by the north
east storm, it filled up on the islands,
swept over banks and dams. carving
away the remnant Of the rice crop that
was left by the August storm and had
not been gathered, and wiping out farm
crops. The loss to rice growers alone
Will be from $50 900 to $4,000 OF the
entire rice crop along the Savannah
river, valued at $3.50 900, all but about
10 per cent was lost in this and the
preceding storm.
The damage to shipping is consider
able The schooner Governor Ames
which was on her way to sea with a
cargo of /, 100000 feet of lumber went
adrift in the harbor, but was secured
safely. The Wharves at the quarantine
station at the entrance of the river here
were partially carried away. The quar-
antine officer and his family and ser
wants were rescued by a tug.
-Four vessels which were at anchor at
the station were torn from their moor
angs and driven into the marshes.
Three of these were the British
schooner Syanara, bound for St Johns;
the American schooner MilleviIle for
Milleville, N. J.. and the Fannie Child
for Boston, all lumber laden, and the
Italian bark Franklin. How badly
these vessels are damaged is unknown
No news has been received from TyEee
since early in the morning and nothing
is known of the damage there.
At Thunderbolt, Isle of Hope suburbs
of Savannah, all the boat houses on the
banks and hundreds of small boats
We're carried away.
The extent to which the railroads suf-
fered is not fully known. The naval
stores and cotton and lumber yards of
the Plant system are submerged and
the tracks of the Central railroad of
Georgia and Georgia & Louisiana rail-
road around the city are covered. The
northbOund express on the F., c. & P
railroad, due here from Florida at noon
yesterday, has not yet arrived. Tele-
graph wires, except one wire over the
Western Union lines, are down and the
condition of the railroad tracks is un-
known. A special train viii be sent out
at daylight over the F, c. & P. road
south. All other roads are operating
and the F., c. & P is running north of
Atlanta. The telephone, police light
and fire alarm wires are down and the
city is in darkness.
On Hutchinson's Island, opposite Sa-
vannah and separating the city from
the South Carolina shore there were
many negro families rescued by boats
from the revenue steamers Tybee and
Boutwell,. One man with a child in his
arms, holding the little child above his
shoulders, started to cross the dams
with the water up to his body. His
wife and another child stood in the win
dow of their house, the floor of which
was already flooded by the rising water.
and watched her husband feel his way
step by step along the top of the treach-
erOus dam, one false step from which,
or a caving bank would throw him into
ElnallX
was sighted from across the river on
the city side. A boat was put off and
after half an hours effort the man was
rescued Upwards of a hundred people
were brought from the island to the !
city in boats.
All day rescuing parties were at work |
Last night the wind SubSided but the /
water, which receded with the ebb of |
the tide during the afternoon, again |
rose ConSiderabl anxiety is felt for
shipping at sea. The o. s. S. company's |
steamer Nacoochee, for New York, and |
the Merchants Miners steamer D. H.
Miller, for Baltimore, vert to sea Sat
due this morning from New York but /
has not yet arrived, and the Citv of i
Augusta sailed from New York Friday
and was due here last night
The extent of the storm is unknown
and until telegraphic communication is |
restored or news is received from the
country between Savannah and Jack
sOnyille, over which the heaviest part |
of the storm passed, the full extent of /
ats damage can not be told.
Strikes Atlanta.
Atlanta, Ga, Oct. "a severe rain
and wind storm, presumably a branch |
OF the great blow of last night on the /
Atlantic coast, passed over Atlanta |
early today. The wind from the east
has reached a velocity of 40 miles an
hour No damage was done in the city
put the wind served to make commune |
cation with the coast almost impos- |
Superintendent Stevens of the West
ern Cnlon said today that Jacksonville |
was again entirely cut off from the rest |
of the world There is but one wire /
freIn charleston to Savannah and that /
Is unreliable. Interruptions occur fire.
Gusntly in different places sbOz7-i,7er |