Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1899-09-23
A LETTER FROM PORTO RICO.
Cayey, Porto Rico,

Cayey, Porto Rico,
Sept. /, 1899.
| DEAR HERALD: After lapse OF sew
eral months | will try and let the good
people back in old Berkeley know that !
am still among the living. although we
| have had tGssle with the elements and
might have been numbered with the mis-
| sing. | have often read in books of the
terrible effects of storm in tropical
country and tried to depict in my mind
the havoc wrought by the wind and rain.
Man is not able to describe Storm of the
kind that swept over this beautiful isle on
the 9Th of August, leaving restitution and
starvation in its wake. 1t was simply
awful in its sublImity Houses blown
down and carried away; trees that have
stood for centuries torn out by their
roots and carried through the air.and vast
cane fields leveled as with roller. In a
distance of seventeen mics not a single
house was left and the timber was scat
tered over the country.
At this town of Cayey, located in the
mountains, and where one would natural
" suppose would be protected, fifty-three
people lost their lives, caught by the wind
and hurled through the air to be drowned
in the rushing torrent, or to have their
brains dashed out against the ground.
The barracks located here, building
over three hundred feet long. built of
stone and occupied by Troop M. Of the
Fifth Cavalry, was completely leveled.
Fortunately the boys escaped, there being
only one accident amongst the entire
troop, the arm of one of the boys being
broken by piece of flying timber. The
buildings here are mostly covered with
sheet iron and those huge pieces Of iron
were carried through the air like feathers
and several instances people were killed
by being struck by them. One man, after
an act of mercy, when returning to shell
ter,,had his head completely severed from
his body. The hospital, where the sick
soldiers were quartered, was leveled, and
they were brought to the Post-Oiflce, sup
posed to be the strongest building in the
town. 1t is located in the center of the
town and is about one hundred feet long,
IF v feet wide, and occupied by the Post
Office, tel graph offices and a general
store. 1t suffered nearly as badly as the
other buildings. The wind got under the
roof and it has not been seen since. Pos
sibly it was landed in the sea. The cell
ing was blown away and only the bare
walls were left. Fortunately, no one was
hurt BY the protection OF Divine provi-
dence, there was not an American Seri-
ously injured during the storm and the
many acts of mercy done by the brave
bows in blue will be credited to them in
the great beyond, if not in this world.
There were many acts OF heroisn-savIng
drowning people, pulling them from un
der the falling timbers OF their miserable
huts, and hustling them to places OF safe
tv. Terror stricken the natives were not
able to take care of themselves, budding
together in their huts like sheep. That
accounts in many instances for the alarm
ing death rate, the huts being located
near several ravines and the waters rails
ing and carrying them away In one
house over forty were drowned wall OF
water said 10 have been at least sixty feet
high engulfing them. and many bodies
were swept out to sea. The distress that
prevailed after the storm was appalling.
Men, women and children huddled to-
eether where there once was a house,
others sitting mournfully by contemplate
ing a ruined coffee crop or banana planta-
ton. They lack the stamina of the North
ern man and one thanks God when he
sees these unfortunate people, that he
was born in a Christian land where the
Bible and the school go hand in hand.
Some of the most superstltious say the
Americans are the cause of the storm,
but the most of them are now thanking
God that the Americans have charge OF
the affairs of the island and are feeding
them out of bountiful hand. In this town
today twentv-seven hundred people were
given rations,a and to guard against the I'M
/ scrupulous. Governor DAVIS has wisely
said: "Those who are able to work and
don't work won't be fed. He has the
reins of government of the island well in
hand and is the right man in the right
place. There was not a single house III
this town that escaped damage and the
same report comes from all over the
island. The business is paralyzed, people
having no money to repair their houses,
the necessary roofing having to be brought
/ forty miles by ox-carts. have been
lodging cyclones and washouts since
Saturday. There isn't three feet Of dry
space in my office tonight, and 1t is still
raining. This is running a Post-Oftice
under difficulties. / believe would like
to trade with uncle Alex.
The one advantage thatthis terrible ca
] lamity will have is that the people here