The Washington herald., 1907-01-20
RESTORING KINGSTON
Authorities Slowly Bringing
Order out of Chaos.
TOTAL DEAD NOT YET FIXED
OhiciaI Estimates Place Loss of Life
Thus Far at About 5OO-ImpOssibIe
10 Attempt Identification of Bodies,
Which Are Immediately Cremated
a Safeguard to Public Health.

/ ST. Thomas Danish West Indies, Jan.
I 19.-Order is slowly coming out Of chaos
in the stricken city Of Kingston, and the
work of the officials there is having its
effect although there is still distressing
shortage Of both water and food supplies.
/ The former is the great immediate dan
ger. so far as the survivors are concerned.
as il Is very difficult task for the OIL
cial 10 keep the is krant negroes from
drinking the wat.- chat lies in the stag
nant pools and Fuuted wells on the out
skirts. However. as rapidly as possible
/ the governor is driving the survivors
away from the city to the temporary
/ camps that have been prepared. and they
will be kept there until the debris can
/ be cleared away in the city and the
/ houses that still stand made fit again for
+ habitation.
! According to the advices received here
/ this afternoon there is still a wide dif-
/ ference of opinion as 20 the actual num-
/ Der of the dead. The official estimates are
/ still in the neighborhood of 500. but some
sources declare that the list VIII total
/ twice that figure as soon as it can be
/ accurately made The governor. how
ever. believes that many of the missing
Will yet turn up, as ne thinks they fled
/ in. terror az the initial disaster, and are
still in the country, afraid to venture
back to the town
Cremation Absolutely Necessary.
/ 1t was extremely sultry in the city.
which had the effect of compelling the
workers OF the ruins to proceed very gin
gerly in searching for the dead 1t is i'm
possible now even to attempt the identif-
cation Of bodies taken from the debris.
and all are cremated as fast as found
/ While this seems an extreme measure. II
/ is absolutely necessary 10 preserve the
/ health Of the workers.
A cruiser arrived off Jamaica this after
noon from Bermuda and at once landed
a force Of marines. These latter. with
the Americans now on duty in the city
and the troops Of the local garrison. are
enough to absolutely police the CITY and
control the frightened natives Now that
| he has sufficient guards available. the
governor has decided that ali abIe-bodied
natives must work for their rations. or
those who do not will be arrested and;
confined without food until they agree 10
do as they are told. TWO vessels left to-
day for Santiago. carrying survivors.
the United States, one for PHILADELPHIA
and the other for New York
In order that an adequate water suppIy
may be obtained, officers of the engineers
are planning a pipe line from the hills
q nd Es4r r.~H
needed appliances.
Lady Swettenham Leads Nurses,
The governor has placed the big tenn
porary hospital under the direct charge
of his wife Lady Swettenham, who has
a large force of volunteer nurses to aid
her. The English steamer Kingston, # IS
stated. will go direct TO Bermuda. Sir
Alfred Jones. who has done fine work in
aiding the survivors, went with them. but
he and Lord Dudley viii return at once.
The primary object OF, their mission is to
secure medical supplies and make ar
rangements through an untrammeled ca
bic line for the immediate shipment To
the island of all needed supplies for the
rebuilding of the demolished city.
The rivers Of mud" that are reported
to have filed the streets OF the city ad
jacent to the harbor entrance are de
clared to be due to the action of the
waves Of the ocean. which worked up
through the crevasses made by the earth
quake. and whether or not they will com
pei the refillins in of part of the city ana
the driving OF pile work all along the har-
Dor front viii not be known until compe-
tent engineers have an opportunity to
examine conditions and report The for
tiiications are, OF course. a total loss.
and only few Of the guns are likely to
be recovered. A peculiar phenomenon is