The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-08-15

distress among the survivors, beside
property losses.
AT SAN JUAN.
San Juan, Porto Rico, August 10.-A
hurricane broke over the south coast
at O'Clock Tuesday morning and swept
n~otheast. There was no abatement for
zine hours, the greatest damage being
cone between S and 10 O'Clock in the
morning. The wires were down and
communication with the interior was for
a time impossible. It is now chiefly
carried on by couriers.
At San Juan four natives were drown
ed in the harbor; eighty houses were
demolished and hundreds were unroof-
ed. The damage to property is esti-
mated at $500, 900, commissary stores to
the value of $4,000 were destroyed.
A dispatch by cable from Ponce
sent at 10 o'clock this morning
"a the town was almost destroyed.
Almost all the frame buildings are
, down, the bridge is swept away, n
there is no communication between the
port and the city proper. The damage
TO the port is at $3.50, 900. Two
natives are known 20 have been drown
ed. The records and property If the
custom house are ruined and all the ves-
sells are ashore.
AT Aibonito very little remains stand
irg except the cathedral and the bar
racks. -Four natives persisted and three
United States soldiers were badly in
jureG. As the town is without food.
| government relief has been dispatched
thither.
FL Cayey was leveled to the ground,
200 houses being demolished. Two Unit
ed States oldiers were injured there and
many cavalry horses killed.
At Catano. the entire plant of the
Standard Oil Company was ruined. The
loss on the property is 5000 600.
Al Raw mon A majority of the hnlSpS
were destroyed and the rest were flood
ed. Two hundred cattle were killed mo
| the railway was seriously damaged.
| The village of Carolina vas literally
RACED.
At Caguas four persons were killed.
A courier who has just arrived from
Humacao. capital of the province of
hat name, on the eastern coast Of the
island, reports awful destruction there.
The loss to property is estimated at
$500, 600, but this is the least item in the
: disaster. The courier brought an Of
fetal eport from Captain Eben Swift,
Of the Fifth United States cavalry, who
. says: "Humacao was totally destroyed
by the hurricane. FOrty-siX bodies
have been recovered n there are
many more in the debris. Eight pri-
Yates of Troop c were injured, two ia
tally. Sergeant King, of the Eleventh
Infantry, was injured. North, a dis
charged private, is missing. At the port
of Humacao eighteen bodies have been
recovered. Eight hundred people are
starving here"
Three persons were killed at Las Pied
raS and five at JuncO.
Couriers from the other districts are
anXiously expected at the palace. The
steamer Slocum, Captain Thomas, en-
route from Mayaguez to San Juan, was
caught in the storm, but her passengers
and crew were saved through the hero
ism of Mr.. Single, the first officer.
The coffee crop is ruined and the loss
will reach millions.
Very great injury has been done also
to the Orange crop.
No definite returns have yet been re-
ceived from the southern section of
the island, apart from Ponce. 1t is GER
tain, however, that the food supplies in
the stricken districts have been de-
stroyed, and in these quarters the guam
tity of government stores on hand is
small. Relief wagons will be sent out
tomorrow in various directions.
General George w. Davis, the gov
ernor general, has cabled to the war
department an appeal for assistance.
DESTRUCTION OF MONTSERRAT.
ST. Thomas, August 1O.-As later ad-
vices come in from Montserrat, it is
seen that the first reports only
a faint idea of the sufferings of the
people and their deplorable condition.
The administration appeals for help.
At la Pointe-a-Pitre, island of Guada-
loupe, immense damage vas wrought,
and according to a report not yet con-
firmed, 102 persons were killed.
In the island of st. Croix, the largest
of the Virgin islands, the destruction
was appalling. 1t was chiefly wrought
at the west end, where the smaller
houses are a tangled mass of wreck
age. Thirty persons were killed and
the inhabitants are in great distress.
TO REACH THE BAHAMAS TODAY.
Washington, August 10.-The West
India hurricane, which has been raging
since early in the week, has been lost
for the time being in the waters to the
north Of the eastern extremity of Cuba
where the weather bureau officials re-
ported it this morning.
If 1t keeps in its present course the
storm will reach Nassau, in the Ba-
kamas, tomorrow morning. Its prog
ress has been very SLOW, averaging
about five miles an hour, with a diam
eter approXimating probably 500 miles.
Warnings have been sent to cities on
the south Atlantic coast, on the north
ern coast of Cuba and the Bahamas ad.
vIsing that all shipping remain in their
harbors until the storm has passed.