The age-herald., 1901-08-17
Wind Blew at Rate of Seventy Miles an Hour, Causing
 Great Damage INFORMATION IS MEAGRE
No Communication Can Be Had With Any of Islands in Mississippi Sound-Estimate as to Dam-
 age Yet Impossible.

Mobile. August 16-The tropical storm which came up out of the south Wednes- day and increased in force during the day following, is believed to have been se- verest in the vicinity of Mobile Here the wind blew at the rate of seventy miles an hour for some time. Various reports of the drowning of men in the bay have reached here. but it is impos- sible to confirm them, owing to the com pletc demolition of all means of commu- nication.
 The pleasure yacht Ariel, bound for Fish river with a party of Mobile people on board is reported to have pounded to pieces on the wharf at Battles. on the eastern shore of the bay. Nothing has been heard of the crew.
 The pleasure yacht Mayfiower, of thts city. with party of prominent people on board, reported lost this morning, has been heard from. All of those on board found refuge on Cat Island, but the boat was wrecked.
 Nothing has been heard from Fort Nor gan tonight. Two companies of coast artillery are stationed there. The bar racks undoubtedly received the full force of the blow.
 No communication can be had with any of the islands in Mississippi Sound, just outside the bar, forty miles below here. Any news concerning the fate of the islanders must come by boat and this is anxiously awaited.
 The fruit steamer Herald from Puerto Cortez, arrived Tn the harbor late to- night. She reports speaking to a two maste6 schooner sixty-five miles south east of this port, totally dismantled. The captain of the schooner declined assist ance. Logging camps and mill manu- lecturers have suffered considerable loss by the breaking of booms. Saw logs and squared timber drifted into Mobile all day, much of it coming up on Royal street, three blocks from the water front. The Dixie sawmill and the mill of Hei- ronimous brothers located at Magazine Point, were badly damaged, parts of the plants being blown away. ;>o estimate of the damage in Mobile IS possible at this time.
 Began Wednesday,
 The storm began with wind and rain Wednesday. and reached its severest force about o'cock Thursday, the maximum velocity being 62 miles an flour. Consider able damage was done in Mobile in the way of uprooting trees. unroofing houses and toppling chimneys. A falling wall de- moIfshed the rear end of Charles Mohr and Sons drugstore, 161 Daughin street, badly damaging his stock. The flood Wa ter was backed by the soueseast gale over the cotton wharf and Front, Com- merce Water and part of Royal street for several blocks north of St. Anthony were covered The water was IS inches deep In the Cotton Exchange and both the Western Union and Postal offices were flooded The power house of the elctric railway was flooded and electric car serv- ice was shut down after o'clock. All oI1 1@ N~ta suspended. Care had been taken to ele- vate lower floor goods upon temporary platforms and the grocers suffered little loss. The grain men were caught to some extent Owners of cement lost 1900 bar rels The tracks o fthe Louisville and Nashville. Southern and Mobile and Ohio pass through Commerce street and were under water. traffic of course being en- tirely stopped The Mobile and Ohio Is operating trains from Whistler. ten miles out and the Louisville and Nashville re- ceived one train during the afternoon at Magazins Point from the north. No aft ernoon and night trains came over that road from the south, and none Is expected tonight The bay boats made their morn- ing trips from the eastern shore of the bay to Mobile but afternoon trips were made to the other side They went up the riven when the storm came and took refuge behind Twelve Mile Island. The schooner George F. Bently, Captain Edwards, left few days ago for Cienfue- Ros but meeting the storm put back. ar living here yesterday The schooners Mary E. Morse and Mary F. Judge sailed Monday and have, it Is feared. been in- volved in. the storm. The steamer Es- pana from Puerto Cortez. with General Cabel on board. was due yesterday but waited outside and came in today. report. ing very heavy weather The schooner f,-o, Pass cagaugla. was outside on Thursday morning and when caught in the storm put in this port Her anchors would not hold and she drifted all the way up the bay and lies upright in the flats of Little Island. opposite the city.
 small schooner laden with 800 barrels of rosin for New Orleans overturned al the rosin wharf. The tugboat Venture sunk at this wharf.
 Pleasure Party Rescued.
 The pleasure yacht Mayfiower. with Jo- seph McPhillips, MT. and Mrs. Wm. Pat tison, Miss Retta Heustis and Miss Marie Davis on board, was blown upon Cat isl- and, Missh tppi sound, Thursday. The party took refuge in a small hut and were rescued today by searching party.
 Several yachts and naphtha launches owned here and at Portersville are re- ported wrecked and the canning factory at Bayou La Batre on the southern shore, Is damaged. All the wharves and bath houses at Point Clear, on the eastern shore of the Bay, were washed away. The hay shellroad, the noted drive on the western shore of the bay, was washed out for A distance of half a mile and the en- tire road is covered with logs and drift wood.
 Superintendent Charles Marshall Of the Nsw orleans division of the Louisville and Nashville road, reached Mobile on a handcar at a. m. reporting the road washed away in many places A work train from the Montgomery division had by that time repaired the damage above the city and was sent up on the New or leans division. The superintendent was