The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-10-03
HEAVY LOSS OF LIFE FEARED
COUNTRY SUBMERGED AROUND
SAVANNAH.
It Is Probable That Many Persons
Perished in Small Islands
Adjacent to the Main
and.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

SAVANNAH, Ga, Oct. 2.-For four
teen hours, from o'clock this morning
until o'clock tonight, Savannah has
been in the grasp of a West Indian tor
nado During that time the wind blew
steadily from fifty to seventy 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 coast
is believed to be very heavy.
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 Thunderbolt-but
heavy loss of life is feared on the South
Carolina sea islands, where such fear
full loss of life occurred during the great
tidal storm of 1893. the conditions now
are similar to those during that storm
Owing TO the submerged country and
the isolated location of the islands no
news can be had from them until the
water subsidies.
For miles north of Savannah the en-
tire country is submerged. At noon the
water was eight feet above the high
est tide. Driven on shore by the north
east storm, it filed up on the islands.
swept over banks and dams, carrying
away the remnant of the rice crop that
was left by the August storm and had
not been gathered and will destroy
crops.
The loss to rice growers alone will be
from $50, 900 to s75, 200. The rice crops
along the Savannah River, valued at
100000. were lost in this storm.
The damage to shipping is consider
able The schooner Governor Ames,
which was on her way to sea with a
cargo of 1,500, 900 feet of lumber, went
adrift in the harbor, but was secured
safely. The wharves at the quarantine
station at the entrance to the river har-
Dor were partially carried away.
Four vessels which were at anchor at
| the station were torn from their moor
| ings and driven into the marshes.
! Three Of these were the British
schooner Syanara, bound for St. John,
N. B.; the American schooner Milleville,
for Milleville, N. j.; the Fanny L.
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
Tybee since early in the morning and
nothing is known of the damage there.
In some suburbs of Savannah all the
boat houses on the banks and hundreds
of small boats were carried away.
The extent to which the railways
suffered 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 the Georgia and Alabama
Railroad around the city are covered.
| The north bound express on the f. c.
and P r. r., due here from Florida at
noon, has not yet arrived. Telegraph
wires are down and the condition of the
railroad tracks is unknown. The tele-
phone, 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, started to cross the dam with the
water up to his body. His wife, with
another child, stood in the window OF
their house, the floor of which was al
ready flooded by the rising water, and
watched her husband feel his way, step
by step along the top of the treacher-
GUS dam one false step from Whlch,
or a caving bank, would throw him into
a swiftly moving current. Finally he
was sighted from across the river on
the city side. boat was put in and
after a half hours effort the man was
/ rescued.
Upward of a hundred people were
brought from the island to the city
in boats. Tonight the wind has sub
sided, but the water, which receded
with the ebb of the tide during the aft
ernoon, has again risen.
Considerable anxiety is felt for ship
ping at sea- The steamer Nacoochee,
for New York. and the steamer D. II.
Miller, for Baltimore, went to sea Sat
urday night. The City of Macon was
due this morning from New York, but
has not yet arrived, and the City OF Au-
gusta sailed from New York on Friday
and was due here tonight.
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 fuIl extent OF the
damage cannot be told.
CHARLESTON S. c., Oct Much
alarm was occasioned here to-day by
the hoisting Of cyclone flags by the
weather bureau. 1t was feared at one
time that much damage would be done.
but such was not the case During the
day the wind reached a velocity of six
tv-tWo miles and over. Streets in the
city were submerged. All the ships in
the harbor sought safe anchorage 1t
is feared that much damage to rice has
been done. No casualties have been re-
ported here
; SANDY HOOK, N. J., Oct. q 11:S0 p.
m.-The life-saving station reports a
schooner ashore near that point. The
; vessel is the Stephen Bennett from
, Philadelphia for Portsmouth.
GEORGETOWN, S. c.. Oct "A
brisk northeaster since last night has
caused the swell to break over the
; docks here and caused a loss to the rice