Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-09-17
Financial Aid Is Needed by
Corpus Christi; Several
Thousand Destitute.
WRECKAGE THROUGHOUT
CITY MAY COVER BODIES
Camp Commander Drowned and
His Wife Missing-No Trace
Found of Score of Soldiers.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
SAN ANTONIO. Tex, September IL
Probably 200 persons dead in Corpus
Christi and immediate surrounding
territory was the estimate made early
this morning by Roy Miller, former
mayor and chairman of the Corpus
Christi relief committee, in a state
ment to the Associated Press over the
telephone.
Financial aid in the rehabilitation
of Corpus Christi is needed, Mr.. Miller
said, in pointing out that while the
greatest area affected was the North
Beach residential section, the none
tary loss in the business district would
be greater. The South Bluff portion
of the city was virtually unframed.
From 5000 to 1000 persons here
are absolutely destitute" Mr.. Miller
declared. They have lost everything
they had except the clothes they were
wearing when the storm struck, and
their need of financial aid is pressing"
Reports brought to Corpus Christi
late Tuesday by q man from Rock
Port, according to Miller, were that
twelve persons had lost their lives
there and extensive property damage
had been DONE
Final Estimates in a Week.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Tex, Septem-
Der 17.-Today, more than seventy
hours after the tropical hurricane and
tidal wave that tore huge rents in this
Texas coast city and environs, it was
still impossible to estimate with any
degree of accuracy the loss of life
or damage to property
Each report from searchers, how
ever, revealed the increasing magni-
tude of the disaster. 1t was believed
that it might be week or more be-
fore it's true extent was known.
The great piles of wreckage strewn
from one end of the city to the other
may conceal numerous bodies, it is
believed, and today hundreds Of men
were at work exploring them.
Officials generally were agreed the
death list would be in excess of 100
and some unofficial estimates placed
it as between 200 and 800, with hun
ing from exposure.
Estimates of the property loss
varied from $10,000,000 to $4,000, 900.
The best available information here
early today placed the known dead
in Corpus Christi at forty-seven.
Seventy-seven bodies. all blackened
and bruised. were reported to have
been washed ashore last night on the
northern side of Nueces bay. upon
which Corpus Christi is situated. OF
the seventy-seven bodies, the report
said, thirty-eight were taken from
West Portland, twenty-nine from
White Point. nine from Sinton and
reported the washing ashore of bodies
during the night.
Party of Soldiers Lost.
Military officials were exerting every
resource today to ascertain the fate
of twenty or more soldiers who were
washed out into the bay while the
storm was at it's height and of whom
there had been found no trace. The
Infantry, and other regiments on
border duty. were at the government
rest camp here for a week end fur
Tough, when the camp was washed
away.
Capt. B. NJ Egeland. of Webster.
S. D.. camp commander, was drowned
during the storm, and his wife also
is believed to have lost her life.
Attempts were being made today
to rig out several sailboats to cross
sons who are reported in desperate
straits at White Point.
A message from Judge P. A. Hunt of
Rocita, Tex, was brought to Corpus
at White Point and twenty-five refu-
gees there were starving.
All bodies recovered at White Point
will be buried there by military
here and because no boats are avail
able with which to transport them
seven miles across the bay.
Reports from other smaller towns in
authorities were burying bodies, some
unidentified, as rapidly as possible for
sanitary reasons.
Get Food and Supplies.
Although business here was at a
standstill and wire communication
more cheerful spirit
seemed to pervade the city today, due
largely, officials thought, to the ar
supplies for the thousands made des-
titute by the storm.
Many strange incidents are coming
to light as the story of the storm un-
folds.
Floating on the open bay more than
two days, ten-month-oid baby was
hauled to shore late yesterday, fast
ened to a raft. The bay was alive and
in fairly good condition.
Eli Rollins of this city, reported
missing. was brought in on a relief
train from Robstown. having been
picked up three miles from Oden.
where he was carried by the tidal
wave on wreckage. He was severely
bruised about the face and body and
was suffering from exposure.
Four bodies have been found on the
coastal plains. three miles from Oden.
Fight With Rattlesnakes.
A fisherman of Rock Port named
Higgins was carried across Puerto
bay and more than half way to Sim
ton over the plain. Higgins said he
left Rock Port in a skif Sunday, but
CONTINUED on Twentieth Pa=A4