The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-01-04
IN A BAD FIX.
A Distressing State Of Affairs in
Beaufort County.
CROPS RUINED BY STORMS.
At the Request Of Prominent
Citizens Governor Ellerbe
Asks for Aid for the
Sufferers.


cei7ed information of suffering on the
sea islands Of Beaufort county. From
information received Wednesday he
has been apprised that storms have
ruined the crops inland and that there
is much distress and suffering in por
tions of Beaufort county.
He has decided to ask Cor contribu-
tions for the relief Of these worthy and
unfortunate people, and those who de-
sire to aid them may send their contri-
buttons to Gov. Ellerbe or to the gen
tlemen who apprised the governor of the
situation Their communication is ap-
pended:
Bluffton, Dec. 2, 1898.
To His Excellency Governor ". H. FL
lerbe, Columbia.
Dear Sir: In the face of the dire and
general distress low depressing and op-
pressing the people throughout the
township of Blufton, Yemassee aud
Hilton Head, in Beaufort county,
caused by two cyclonic storms within
month of each other, the first on the
2oth of August and the second on the
second Of October past, We deem ii
proper to submit to the executive
statement of their present condition
and solicit such assistance as the ne
cessities Of the case indicate and re-
oulre.
Previous to the first cyclone the cr'ps
promised an ample, prosperous harvest.
but swept by the tempest and unprece-
dented food the larger portion was de-
stroyed, houses blown down, all the
bridges swept away and forests wrecked
roads blockaded by fallen trees and
the entire township named. devasta-
ted.
The second storm couSulunated the
desolation and the destruction is so pre-
dominant and general as to be the rule
and not the exception.
The other townships in the county
suffered to limited extent, but the
three townships about which we write
are ent rely wrecked.
The rice and pea crops are destroyed;
q one. half corn crop, one-half Of 1t rot
ten, has been gathered aud minimum
of storm cotton. valued at scarce one
cent per pound in the seed, while the
potato crop has been almost failure
from the food, fresh and salt water that
submerged the townships.
On the Savannah and New rivers in
Yemassee and Bluffton townships there
has been planted this year between
5000 and 5000 acres of rice with the
promised yield of about 250, 900 bush
els, worth $3.50, 900, and the cyclones
have left only about 1900 or Is, 900
bushels Of damaged rice, while the rice
mills themselves, trunks, banks, fats
and boats have been to lar exten,
destroyed.
The rice harvest had commenced and
up co that time at least 100, OOU in cash
had been expended on the production
Of the crop, all Of which has been en-
gulfed by the cyclonic food.
The people are disheartened BY the
desolation around them, their houses,
fences and fields presenting deplora-
Bile picture and discouraging prospects,
with the want of necessities of life
staring them in the face, while there is
no work or enterprise offering to give
them employment.
In addition to this general calamity
every family has suffered and are still
suffering with malarial fever, the Sc
quence of the food and exposure.
The people need subsistence, cloth
ing, medicine and indulgence in the
payment of their taxes.
They, tn, people, have no money,
and unless the payment Of taxes is ex-
tended for them in Blufton, Yemassee
and Hilton Head townships, the little
that is left by the storms will have to
be sold and sacrificed, thereby disa
blying them to cultivate crop the en-
suing year.
The real condition o. the people in
these townships is such as to demand in
our humble opinion your official atten-
tion and interposition, and we feel con-
1dent II one with authority IS c0mmlS-
stoned to investigate the matter his re-
port will prove of such character as to
render imperative, and justify the peo-
pie in the appeals to the public as well
as to the State for needed consideration
and assistance. In the village Of Bluff
ton many houses were blown down with
number of the best dwellings unroofed
and fences prostrated.
These townships have been laid waste
by four terrific cyclones within the past
five years, and the people, while con-
fronting the inevitable and bTavely
struggling to surmount their troubles.
feel reluctantly constrained by their
present necessitous condition to solicit
public aid and assistance.
Respectfully submitted by
J. G. Eerdier,
NJ