Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1899-08-29
PORTORCO'S BICSTORM
An Eyewitness Tells Of the Is
lands Plight.
EXPERIENCES OF DR. F. Z. sIDLEY.

Wa Caught Himself In the Flood
That Followed the Cycione and
Was Nearly Observation-Disclosures a
Well a. Famine Now Threatens the
stricken People
On the Red Star liner Philadelphia
from Ponce, Porto Rico. which reached
New York recently. were many pas
perience with the hurricane which
devastated the island a short time ago.
Among them was DIR. +. h Sadley, a
young Chicago physician. who went
to Porto Rico about a year ago, after
the American occupation, and estab-
lished himself in Ponce. DIR. Sidley
was In Ponce on the day and the night
of the great storm aud barely escaped
with his life. says the New York Sun.
THE Monday Aug. . before the
storm" he says, was a most beauti-
full day. The sunset and the coolness
of the air We're the topics OF CONVERSE
ton everywhere on Monday night.
Everybody said that it was just such
days that showed how beautiful Porto
Rico could be- At about half past eight
O'clock Tuesday morning the wind be-
gan TO blow and the rain to fall. The
winds velocity Increased steadily and
for two hours the city was swept with
terrific power. The rainfall was very
heavy. The tin roofs and sometimes
the entire upper frame work of the
houses were torn away, and the streets
wer. filed with flying fragments.
Many people We're struck by them.
little before noon the storm decreased
In violence. Half an hour later it ap-
preached again 1--WE thought at the
time ii was new storm. but we know
now 1t was merely the old one coming
back along its cyclone path and IL was
fiercer than before At o'clock in the
afternoon the second visitation had
passed away and the sun shone
through the clouds at more and more
frequent intervals. By 5 O'Clock the
sky was clear. Had Ii not been for
the wrecked houses, their contents
soaked by the rain, the 1ittering up
of the streets with debris and the
lamentations of the poorer people
whose shanties had been mashed fiat
by the wind and rain. the evening
might perhaps have seemed as beauti-
full as was that OF Monday.
AT about 6 O'Clock a fireman Dom
bares we call them down there came
to the house with a warning that the
Portuguese river was rising and would
probably overflow its banks and that
we had better get out. The bombares
and the soldiers had been sent to ev
cry house to give this warning. l went
to the owner of my house. and he told
me not to be bothered. the house had
stood through the food Of 1885 with
out the slightest injury and would
doubtless stand this one. Everybody
thought that the heavy rain of the aft
ernoon would cause the river to rise
some, and. while duly appreciating the
vigilance and thoughtfulness of the
authorities In sending out the
we none of us believed that
the river would rise to such an extent
that 1t would reach the main business
part of the city. But we did not know
that back in the mountains the rain
had been falling without the slightest
let up all day long in even heavier
torrents than had come upon the city.
Very roughly speaking. the upper part
of the business district of Ponce be-
which is about a mile north of the
plaza, or central park. The Portu
guese river crosses this military road
about the same distance east of the
plaza. The river sweeps down along
the foot of the hills to the south and
then turns to the west and circles the
lower part of the city until it Is direct
ly south of the plaza. whence it runs
Into the sea. The city itself is prac-
ticaIly on a fiat. although there Is a
slight slope toward the sea.
about o'clock. water began COM
ing down across the military road
past my house and running down Sal
I'D street Its depth grew steadily
greater until 10 o'clock. when 1t became
three feet deep and Salud street was
the bed of a torrent. | hal perfect
confidence In what the owner of my
house had told me, that 1t would stand
the storm. and lay down at Z O'Clock
to get some sleep. The house had been
unroofed with the others and things
were pretty well soaked. At $50
o'clock | was walked by the sound OF
water gurgling against the founda-
lions. The house was trembling. That
IS q sensation never care 10 IeeI
again; II Is worse than an earth
quake. In an earthquake you can get
away from the house before Ii falls
and find place OF safety. but no one
knew what would happen to him If he
went out in that raging torrent from a
house that was likely to fall about his
head. l took all my clothes and was
packing them into trunk when the
house swung around several feet /