Albuquerque morning journal., 1906-09-29
PENSACOLA SWEPT BY
GALE: LOSS OF LIFE HEAVY

Pensacola, Fla, Sept. 2S.--(Nia
Flomaton, Ala.)-The worst hurricane
to visit this country in its history
ragged here furiously all last night and
this morning and today with a gale
! still blowing.
The city presents a wrecked appear
ance and the damage is estimated at
S5,OOO,OOO The loss of life will be
! heavy among the mariners, but thus
J far only one body has been recov-
cred.
Commencing at o'clock last
night the wind blew at the rate OK
| fifty miles an hour for three hours,
! then it increased to sixty-five miles
an hour. From that time until
o'clock this morning it remained at
about eighty and ninety miles an
/ hour The tides from the bay backed
| into the city for blocks, destroying
| homes and making rivers out of the
streets.
When the gale was at its highest
and women and children were run
ming frantically about the streets in
the darkness, an alarm of fire added
| to the confusion.
The fire started i'm the Pitt mill
near the business district and the
horses of the fire department refused
to go out in the weather. With tin
roofs, trees and wires falling about
them, the flremen dragged their hose
wagons by hand to the blaze and At
! ter hours of work controlled it.
This afternoon the water rose un-
til the business districts presented
an almost indescrlbabe scene. OF
the fifty or sixty big steamers and
sailing vessels in the harbor only
| five or six remain. They have been
| driven ashore, and along the water
front there Is a mass of wreckage
| from steamers, towboats, launches
and sailing craft. Thirty fishing ves-
sells have been destroyed or damaged
and the tree top fish houses with
! their warves are gone. Muscogee
wharf and the Commandment and
| Tarragona wharves of the Louisville
& Nashville railroad are badly dam
aged.
Great iron ships of two and three
| thousand tons have been driven not
only ashore, but have gone through
| houses a block from the water front
Every house along the water front
for ten miles has been destroyed and
! the wonder Is that the loss of life Is
not greater.
The tracks of the terminal railroad
to the navy yard and Barrancas have
| been destroyed as have also the tres
ties and bridges. No communication
can be had with the navy yard but II
is believed that 1t has been badly
damaged.
The war vessels at the Pensacola
navy yard undergoing repairs were
the gunboats Vixen. Machias Isle ID
Luzon and Gloucester beside several
smaller craft and the quartermasters S
steamer Poe. They were in aneXposed
position, and 1t Is feared they may
have been beached.
Every business house from thu
wharf on Lalafox street to the unior
station has been unroofed, many
plate glass windows being broken
stock badly damaged and wires anC
poles all mixed up together. There
are no electric lights or cars or tele
graphic or telephone service. TIL,
track OF the Louisville & Nashville
railroad on the PensacOle and Al.
lantic division has been destroyed fol
thirty miles and two engines sent ou
to the quarantine station have been
lost.
Acting Mayor Maura ordered every
saloon closed this morning and fifty
extra policemen have been sworn I'm
The homeless families are housed II
all portions of the city. but man,
will walk the streets without foot
or n place to sleep until some order
can be brought out OF the choas
Thieves are breaking open trunks
along the beach. entering unoccupiet
houses and stealing everything II
sight.