The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-03
WEST INDIAN HURRICANE
SOUTH ATLANTIC COAST PROBABLY
sTREWN WITH WRECKS.
The Ocean Driven i'm Over the Low
Ffve-MiIe-an-HOur Wind.

| SAVANNAH, Ga. Oct. 2-For eighteen
hours. till tonight. Savannah has been In
| the grasp of West Indian hurricane. Dur
ing that time the wind blew steadily from
! fifty to seventy miles an hour. While the
city escaped with comparatively little dam
age, the loss of property among the sea ISL
ands of the Georgia and South Carolina
coasts is believed to be heavy For miles
in every direction around Savannah the low
lands along the rivers are submerged. Only
| one fatality has so far been reported-the
| drowning of a negro while attempting to
reach the main land from a small island
| near Thunderbolt, but heavy loss is feared
| on the South Carolina islands, where
| such fearful 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 eight miles north of Savannah the en-
| tire country is a lake, with only the hem
| locks visible At noon the water was eight
| feet above the highest tide Driven on shore
| by the northeast storm, it filled up on the
| islands, swept over banks and DAMS carry
| ing 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 SIS, 900. OF the entire crop along
the Savannah river, valued at $3.50 900, all but
about Is per cent. was lost in this and the
perceding storm.
The damage to shipping is considerable.
The schooner Governor Ames, which
on her way to sea with cargo of 100000
feet of lumber, went adrift in the harbor,
but was secured safely. The wharves at
| the quarantine station, at the entrance to
the river here, were partially carried away.
| The quarantine officer and his family and
servants were rescued early in the day by
a tug. Four vessels which were at anchor
at the station were torn from their moorings
and driven into the marshes. Three of
these were the British schooner Syanara,
bound for st. john N. B.; the American
schooner Millevile for Milleville, N. j.; the
| Fannie 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. At Thunderbolt and
Isle of Hope. suburbs of Savannah, all the
lighthouses on the banks and hundreds of
| small boats were carried away.
| The extent to which the railroads suf-
-
| and cotton and lumber yards of the Plant
| system are submerged and the tracks of
| the Central of Georgia and Georgia & Ala
bama roads around the city are powered.
| The north-bound express on the F. c. & p.
I Railroad, due here from Florida at noon,
| has not yet arrived. Telegraph wires, ex-
| cept one wire over the Western Union lines,
| are down and the condition of the railroad
| tracks is unknown. A special train will be
sent out at daylight over the F. c. & P.
| road south. All other roads operating
| and the F. c. & p. is running north of At
! lanta. The telephone, police, light and fire
| alarm wires are down and the city is in
| darkness.
| On Hutchinson's island opposite Savan-
| nah, and separating the city from the South
| Carolina shore, there were many negro
families rescued by boats from the revenue
stear ers Tybee and Boutwell, One man
with 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, with another child, stood in the
| window 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 treacherous
dam One false step or a caving bank would
Finally he was sighted from across the
| river on the city side. A boat was put off
| and after half an hours effort the family
was rescued. Upwards of hundred peo-
| pie were brought from the island to the
| city in boats.
| All day rescuing parties were at work.
| Tonight the wind has subsidized, but the
water, which receded with the ebb of the
| tide during the afternoon, has again risen.
! Considerable anxiety is felt for shipping at
| sea. The o. S. S. Companys steamer Ma
| cooche, for New York, and the Merchants
| & Miners steamer D. H. -ailler for Balti-
more, went to sea Saturday night. The
| City of Macon, of the o. S. S.. was due
| this morning from New York, but has not
arrived, and the City of Augusta, of the
| same line, sailed from New York Friday
and was due here tonight.
The extent of the storm is unknown; un-
| til Geographic communication is restored or
news is received from the country between
| Savannah and Jacksonville, over which the
heaviest part of the storm passed, the full
extent of it's damage cannot be told.
/