Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1906-10-04
RUIN IN THE SOUTH.
WIND AND FLOOD KILL AND
DEVASTATE.
Havoc Over Whole Gulf Coast-Hur-
ricane and Immense Waves Inun-
date Towns, Wreck Buildings and
Sink Ships.

Sink Ships.
Death and devastation mark the
shores of the Mexican Gulf, from Mo
bile to Pensacola. How many are dead
it is impossible to estimate. The loss
in property is almost beyond computa-
ton.
Mobile is a wreck. Pensacola is in
ruins, Biloxi is partially destroyed.
The water rose six feet along the rail
road tracks in Mobile. Bodies here
and there We're seen floating out to sea
The shrieks of the drowning were
hushed by the walls of the winds. The
waters from Mobile Bay were being
swept high up the Mobile River. Tide
water was running at Skaters landing.
200 miles from the gulf.
Ghouls broke in upon the dead and
wounded. Some were shot without
mercy. Martial law reigns. The Mo
bile Rifles and the Mobile Grays patrol
the business districts. Thousands Of
bales of cotton have been swept TO the
fragments and their cargoes sent to the
bottom. In some localities fires have
added to the terror and destruction.
Women half dressed, children with no
clothing, and strong men stood helpless.
Ruin is everywhere and death has been
swimming in CHASTITY eddies, through
streets that were supposed to be i'm
mune from flood
Entire Coast Swept.
The wind reached ninety-siX miles an
hour. 1t swept all the coast country.
1t leveled thousands of homes. Coming
with softness at first, it gradually in
creased in violence until the great
heart Of the coast was torn from its
body. The waters dashed high into
places where hundreds ran for safety.
The wharves Of Pensacola, the greatest
harbor in the world, and heretofore
supposed to be the securest, were torn
by wind and wave and sent crashing
with the timbers of the forests far out
into the sea.
1t is estimated that property worth
$12,O00,000 has been destroyed there.
The Louisville and Nashville Railroad,
the only line entering Pensacola. is deep
under water. Few of the $4,000 inhab-
itantS escaped without some loss. The
small houses lining the beach, to the
east and west of the city proper, are in
ruins. Entire families have been lost.
Huge business blocks are torn from
their fastenings.
What information has been received |
came by way of Flomaton Junction. |
F'lomaton is forty miles from Pensa- |
cola. Between the two cities is a wild |
stretch of scrubby oak. The heavy |
pine trees long since have been sawed |
into lumber. The country is fat The !
gulf is thirty-fve miles away, but the |
hurricane has thrown the waters far |
to the north, making an inland sea |
that is impossible to navigate.
Two Revenue Cutters Sink.
Two revenue cutters have gone to the
bottom in Mobile Bay with their crews.
Heavy lumber vessels have disappeared. |
Steamships were torn from their moor
ings and wrecked. Hundreds of sailors
have persisted. The river boats-those
plying the Alabama and Tombigbee
streams-that happened to be at their
wharfs have disappeared All along the
coast innumerable fishing boats have
sunk The bathing pavilions are no
more
BienvilIe Square, one of the most pic
turesque of Mobiles little parks, is de-
stroyed. The buildings surrounding it
were dashed into splinters. Five of the
handsomest blocks in the business sec
ton were leveled. At Government and
Royal streets-the heart of the city
the water stood five feet deep. The Fed
eral building, constructed of heavy
granite, is badly damaged. The great
wholesale houses that stand nearer the
river are damaged UNNECESSARILY.
Christ Church Cathedral is a mass of
ruins. The storm struck the great ed-
fee and swept it away in five minutes.
The waves beat high and furiously
severe upon the mass G" wreckage. In
the winds wake the rains beat heavily
upon the unhoused Trunks, cotton
bales. roofs of homes, broken fragments
of vessels, floating timbers from hun
dreds of saw mills and lumber yards.
make a scene fearful in its horror. In
the pine tree country the huge timbers
lap over each other in woeful waste.
Fort Morgan. a few miles up the
river from Mobile. high on the bluffs
of the Tombigbee River is destroyed
Likewise are most of the little towns
between Fort Morgan and Mobile on
the Mobile and Jackson Railroad. in
ruins. Chronicle, the great resort for
is partially gone The
fruit orchards are Ieveled. Between
and Mobile is a vast truck
garden owned by Illinois and Michigan
people who have recently emigrated
there. These are under water. Ladd's
immense lumber mill is swept into the
river. 1t was the second largest in the
world.