Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1915-10-01
GALE ON GULF COAST
Pifty-two Persons. Mostly ColOred,
Lose Their Lives.

New Orleans, Oct. lin the gale
/ which swept this section of the Gull
| coast Wednesday afternoon and night
+! ~ nersons. mostly colored, were kill
ed Seven lost their lives IN this city
two children and two men at Mobile
at Premier. La, eight white and seven,
teen colored workmen or the railroad
! were drowned and sixteen at Man
! shae, La.
n addition to this scores OF persons
were injured in New Orleans and hun
lreds more in the country surrounding
Shipping has been seriously GRIP
| pled. Several vessels were washed
| ashore and at Gulfport two schooners
were driven up over the docks into
the streets, where they are now high
and dry.
For several hours it was believed
that the "Sunset Limited" of the
Southern Pacific Railroad. had been
Taught by the storm, but later it was
learned that the train did not leave
New Orleans.
Mobile escaped the worst OF the
storm, although the water was backed
ID in the business part of the city.
The downtown streets were under two
feet of water for time, but 1t soon
receded.
In many places steam and electric
railway tracks are torn up, and it will
1e day or more before they are re-
paired
Unofficial statements placed the
property damage at nearly S2,0OO,OOO.
According to reports available at day
light, seven persons lost their lives
md it was estimated that at least $50
persons were more or less injured by
he collapse of buildings. falling signs
or flying glass.
In the Cumberland Telephone Com
,any's exchange, fifteen persons
mostly girls, were injured when all
The windows in the east front on the
roor where they were working crash
I'd in
The maximum velocity of the wind
was reported by the weather bureau
Is between 120 and 130 miles an hour.
The wind blew at this rate for one
minute between $50 and 6 o'clock
Wednesday right. Thr highest sus-
tanned velocity was SG miles. about
$40 p. M.
For more than seven hours the hur-
ricane swept over the city at rate of
more than 60 miles an hour The low
est mark registered by the barometer
was 1911, at $50 p m.. which, ac-
cording to local. weather bureau Off
cials, is the lowest mark ever regist-
ered in the United States.
: The police and fire departments
we're kept busy responding to calls
for assistance and investigating re-
; oorts of collapsed buildings.
Two. hundred young women were
removed by the police in automobiles
md police vehicles from cigar fac
tory threatened with destruction just
before nightfall. They were housed in
the criminal courts building until the
storm abated
Officials of railroad and telegraph
companies stated it will be several
lays before the normal service be-
:ween New Orleans and the outside
world will be restored. With the eX-
ception Of the wireless plant aboard
the Southern Pacific steamship Excel
'ior, in port here, all the radio stations
llso went out of commission.
Memphis, Oct. / Seven or eight
white persons and II negroes were
drowned and a score more injured at
Premier, La, in Wednesdays storm.
according to reports, to the office of
the general superintendent OF the va
zoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad
here yesterday.
The news came from Supt. 7. Z.
Hill, at McComb City, Miss, who also
stated that 30 or 60 persons, some of
them injured, were marooned on box
! cars and immediate help was needed
Miles of roadway had been washed
away by the wind-driven waves from
Lake Pontchartrain. the message stat,
ed.