The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1902-1905, 1903-09-18

" lftb is b6Ellleu n w tSb IuuldIl
hurricane struck the lower east coast
Of Florida last Friday and before the
wind storm ceased on Saturday it
had passed clear across the state and
into the gulf, doing damage which
will run into the hundred of thous-
ands of dollars-perhaps more than II
million.
For several days the telegraph
lines have been down, and until
these are repaired the full extent of
devastation Will not be known.
At times the wind reached the We
toclty of 80 miles an hour and all the
towns on the lower east coast have
heen damaged to such an extent that
the streets are strewn with the
wreckage of buildings and uprooted
trees.
At Miami the East Coast Railway
is perhaps the heaviest loser by the
storm. The freight shed at the river
dock is q complete ruin, and the long
car shed on Seventh street is COM
pletely demolished. The entire roof
If the Belchcr block, Thirteenth
Street and Avenue d, was carried
away and landed on top of Hon. J.
w. Watson's brick block. The front
and south walls OF this building col
lapsed. Payson Hicks is mourning
6he loss of the roof from his new
building on Avenue D. The west
wall of the new building being
arected for the Miami Printing Com
pany was lrveled with the ground.
rhe Florida East Coast Hotel Sys-
ems electric wires were badly
damaged. The Miami Telephone
Company also lost heavily. Metal
and wooden awnings collapsed,
smokestacks were blown down and a
large number of shade trees were up
'ooted. The streets were strewn
With branches of trees, signs and a
general collection of debris.
At Lemon City several houses We're
blown from their foundations. The
people of Miami have a great deal to
be thankful for, as the loss entailed
is not very great. Through the
country the farmers have suffered
considerably. Some have lost a
lumber of fruit trees and all fruit
has been stripped from the trees.
The Florida East Coast Railway
Company's shed, under which the
,ars are kept, was blown from Its
'oundation, and lifted in the air over
he cars, which were not even
scratched.
The tin roofing on one of the larg-
est buildings there was taken of
md blown across the street into the
front of another store and wrecked
he entire front. The plate-glasses
If several stores were wrecked by
lying tin, and great damage was
lone to the business part of town.
Great trees were uprooted and
,lown several feet away and several
mall houses were blown to the
ground. In the bay small boats
we're sunk and capsized, and some
ire missing entirely.
At Palm Beach the disasters are
simply q repetition of those at Mi
ann. The Masonic Temple was in
iured considerably; Doster's crock
ry store and Miller & Cos. grocery
tocks were injured by falling walls
md by water; the Dade County Saw
ngs bank and the new Jefferson
blocks were badly damaged, and
large part of the latter unroofed,
while plate glass windows were
smashed in; Gruber's opera house,
Dimick & Riegel's drug store, Fen
on's undertaking store, Southern
express building, Palms block and
Seminole block were all greatly
damaged. The Tropical Sun news
)aper) building was nearly wrecked.
At Boynton the hurricane blew at
IN 80 mile pace and houses were
blown off their foundations, out
buildings were blown over, trees
blown down and even the sand torn
dp and blown along by the wind
with cutting force. About Z p. m.
the wind changed to the southeast
but with no diminution of its vio-
lence and most of the inhabitants
began to think that it would not be
long before Boynton would be liter
ally wiped from the map. Next
morning it was found that a dozen
residences had been blown from
their foundations and badly dam
aged. Several packing houses were
blown to pieces. Lemon and lime
trees were stripped of their foliage
and fruit The pineapple fields were
nearly leveled to the ground and
those of recent planting literally
buried in the sand.
About a mile north of the Boynton
Hotel, and directly opposite the foot
of Lake Worth, the Standard Oil
Company's barge No. 50 lay pound
ing on the reef where the storm had
driven it the night before. About
five miles south, aud nearly opposite
Delray, the British steamship Iuchu-
Ina was on the reef, aud broken in