Evening star., 1916-08-19
Plays Havoc With Tents and
Equipment in Browns
vile, Tex, District.
CORPUS CHRISTI. IS ALSO
AMONG THE SUFFERERS
Town Cut OFF From Communication
by Wind Blowing Seventy
Miles an Hour.

SAN ANTONIO. Tex, August 1s.-
With army wireless reports stating
there had been comparatively little
damage and no known loss of life in
the Brownsville district, chief anxiety
centered early today on the situation
at Corpus Christi and that vicinity as
result of the tropical storm which
struck the Texas gulf coast yesterday
morning. The only loss Of life so far
reported was in the sinking in the Gulf
Of Mexico of tho small steamer Pilot
Boy, plying between Galveston and
Corpus Christi.
The vessel carried a crew of thirteen.
only three Of whom have as yet been
reported saved. These three were
washd ashore alive at Port Arkansas,
Tex.
The last telegraph wire into Corpus
Christi failed at 2:30 o'colck yesterday
afternoon, and the last telephone line
went out shortly before o'clock last
night. Last reports from Corpus
Christi placed the velocity of the wind
at seventy miles an hour, and it was
stated the storm was expected to in
crease in intensity until midnight,
when the crest would be reached.
Nothing later has been heard.
Train Leaves for Corpus Christi.
Telephone communication was estab-
lished today between Sinton and San An
tonic. A train left Sinton at 6 o'clock for
Corpus Christi, thirty miles distant. The
local telephone company would give no
promise Of early communication with
Corpus Christi.
The Methodist church at Skidmore.
many barns and all of the windmills in
the surrounding country were blown
down, according to long-distance tele-
phone report.
Sinton reported the electric light
plant crippled, the hotel badly damaged
and the cotton crop in that section
ruined by the gale and heavy downpour
of rain.
The storm had abated somewhat at
Brownsville at IL o'clock last night
according to wireless reports to army
headquarters at Fort Sam Houston, the
only means of communicating with that
city. The message stated, however
another storm was reported approach
ing from an easterly direction.
+ Army Camps Suffer.
The storm played havoc among the
army camps in the Brownsville dis
trict, practically half OF the tents hav-
ing been blown down by the storm and
loss of considerable army equipment
was reported. Fully 10000 National
Guardsmen and regular soldiers, it was
stated, were sleeping in public build
ings in Brownsville last night. The
guardsmen principally affected were
those from Illinois, Iowa and Virginia.
Their camps were either destroyed by
fr>w
four land -one -half-inch rain. Fear was
entertained that immense quantities OF
army stores and supplies would be
ruined.
Last reports from Corpus Christi
stated the storm had carried almost
everything movable before it, leaving
in its wake dozens of demolished sum-
mer cottages and thousands OF dollars
of damage in the business section.
Many small craft in Corpus Christi bay
were thrown high on the beach, it was
said Railroad property, however. was
said to have not been greatly damaged.
and reopening of communication oy ran
at least was expected early today.
other important places isolated by
the hurricane included Kingsville. Sim
ton, Beeville, Harlingen and Alice.
Six-Foot Rise in Tide.
Fort Lavaca reported a sixty-mile
wind with a six-foot rise in the tide.
but did no damage. One small boat
was reported swamped in the bay
there.
The roof of hotel was blown of
and a motion picture theater destroyed
at Port O'Connor. but the inhabitants
had ample warning and had reached
places of safety before the storm
struck there.
heard from late last night reported
high winds, heavy rains and some
damage to property.
The maximum velocity of the wind
and while the tide rose four feet there
no damage was done.
Gov. e. F. Dunno of Illinois. who had
been inspecting the Illinois guards
mems camps in the Brownsville dis
trict left Brownsville for his home and
apparently is marooned on train
somewhere between Brownsville and
Houston. His train left Brownsville
Yesterday afternoon, and so far as
known has not been heard from since.
soid the train was somewhere in the
Rio Grande valley. They could not
give the exact location at which the
train had been marooned. but it was ap-
parent that the party was held up in
storm territory.
Private Killed by Lightning.
Ell PAso. Tex. August 1s.-One sol
dter was killed and thousands of others
encamped in and near Ell Paso suffered
great discomfort as a result of heavy
rains which fell throughout Thursday
night. During the storm Private
nany 7th United States Infantry, of
Chouteau, Mont. was killed by light
ming in his tent at Fort Bliss. Other
soldiers nearby were stunned.
Fears Felt for Steamer.
GALVESTON. Tex. August 1s.-Fears
were felt here, today for the safety Of
the Cuff Coast Fruit and Steamship
Company's steamer. Fort Morgan.
which was due yesterday from, Puerto
MEXICO with a cargo of bananas. The
Fort Morgan carries a crew Of twenty
three men. She is not equipped with
wireless. It is feared the vessel was
caught in the tropical storm.