New Britain herald., 1919-09-17
DEATH TOLL GROWS
 AT CORPUS CHRISTI Fatalities May Total 300 and
 Property Loss S15,000,000 NARROWED WITH RATTLERS
One M;ul, Isolated On Floating House. top, Has to Fight Several Hours With Poisonous Reptiles-Bodies Being Washed Ashore Constantly.

Being Washed Ashore Constantly.
 Corpus Christi, Texas, Sept. IT, Today more than 70 hours after the tropical hurricane and tidal wave that tore huge rents in this Texas coast city and environs, it was still impos- sible to estimate accurately the loss of life or damage to property. Each report from searchers however, re- vealed the increasing magnitude of the disaster
 Loss May Reach $15, 5,OGO,O
 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. Off cials generally were agreed the death list would exceed 100 and some unoffi- cial estimates placed it as between 200 and 300, with hundreds of persons injured or suffering from exposure. Estimates of the property loss varied from $10, 0,000,000 to. $15,O0O,0OO
 The best available information here early today placed the known dead in Corpus Christi at AZ. 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. Other points also reported the washing ashore of bodies during the night.
 Fate of Soldiers Unknown.
 Military officials were exerting tN fate of 20 or more soldiers who were washed out into the bay while the storm was at it's height and of whom there has been found no trace. The men, members of Go. I and other companies on border duty were at the rest camp here for a week and fur tough when the camp was washed away.
 Captain B. M. Egeland, of Webster, s. D., camp com mander, was drowned during the storm and his wife also is believed to have lost her life
 Attempts were being made today to get ready sailbOats to cross Nueces Bay to rescue 25 persons who are reported in desperate straits at White Point.
 A message was brought into Corpus Christi today saying 25 bodies were at White Point and that 25 refugees there were starving.
 Surrounded By Snakes.
 Many strange incidents are coming to light as the story of the storm unfolds
 After floating on the open bay more than two days, a ten months old baby was hauled to shore late yesterday, fastened to a raft. The baby was alive and in a fairly good condition.
 A fisherman of Rockport, named Higgins, was carried across Puerto Bay and more than half way to Sinton over the plain Higgins said he left Rockport in a skiff Sunday, but was soon adrift with nothing but life belt which carried him until he was en- abled to climb up on house top which came in his path, escaping from the chilly waters with little re- lief however, for sharing his raft were number of large rattlesnakes. A tree top wit several additional reptiles drifted against the house top and Higgins fought for hours before he dislodged them with a piece of tim Der.
 Fifteen additional storm victims were brought to the temporary | morgue here early this afternoon, bringing the known death list in this city up 10 S2 as a result of the trOpi- cal hurricane which swept this section last Sunday. The total known dead 1 now exceeds 160, including 50 at Portland. 30 at White Point, and fl at Rockport, according to reports here.
 The most reliable estimates here today place the loss of life at Corpus 1 Christi, Port Aransas and Aransas s l Pass at about 250. The bodies being | recovered today are in such condition 1 that identification will be almost inn 1 possible. A drenching rain began 1 falling this forenoon, handicapping re- 1 lief workers and adding to the suffer | ing of the homeless.