The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-09-17
FEARED DEBRIS
COVERS BODIES
OF MANY MORE
Every Report Adds to Toll of
Gulf Tragedy.
Relief Work Well Under Way in
Stricken Areas.
BEGIN BURIAL OF VICTIMS
Photograph Unidentified Dead,
of Which There Are Many.
COffins Washed AWay-Plain
Wooden Boxes Used.
TWENTY SOLDIERS DROWNED?
Commander and Wife Believed
Lost With Men.
Corpus Christi Assumes More
Cheerful Aspect.
Photograph Unidentified Dead,
of Which There Are Many.
COffins Washed Away-Plain
Wooden Boxes Used.
TWENTY SOLDIERS DROWNED?
Commander and Wife Believed
Lost With Men.
Corpus Christi Assumes More
Cheerful Aspect.

Sinton, Texas, Sept. 17.-More
than $50 persons are dead from
Mondays Gulf storm and tidal
wave, Mayor Sparks of Sinton
estimated today.
The mayors figures included
the dead at Corpus Christi, the
north shore of Nueces bay and
Aransas Pass and vicinity.
Corpus Christi, Texas, Sept.
1.-THE death list from Sun
days hurricane and tidal wave
stood at 208, according to re-
ports at 7 o'clock this morning,
Property damage is estimated
at from $10,OOO.OOO to $15,0OO,-
600 in the five devastated coun-
ties.
Find Is More Bodies.
Fifteen additional storm vic
tins were brought to the tenn
porary morgue here early today,
bringing the known death list in
this city up to sixty-two as a re-
suit of the tropical hurricane
which swept this section last
Sunday. Forty-seven bodies had
been recovered here up to last
night.
The most reliable estimates today
place the loss Of life at Corpus Christi.
Port Aransas and Aransas Pass at
about 250. The bodies being recov-
cred today are in such condition that
Identification will be almost impossi-
BILE. A drenching rain began falling
this afternoon, handicapping relief
workers and adding to the suffering
of the homeless.
Each report from searchers point
ed steadily toward the Increasing mag
nitude Of the disaster. It was be-
lieved that II might he a week or more
before its true extent was known.
Wrcckagc ConceaIs More Dead.
The great piles of wreckage strewn
from one end OF the city to the other
may conceal numerous bodies it is be-
lieved, and today hundreds of men
were at work exploring them.
Some unofficial estimates placed
the total fatalities at between 200 and
800. with hundreds of persons injured
or suffering from exposure incident Ia
being buffeted about in chilly waters
for hours after the storm struck the
city early Sunday morning.
Bodies have been recovered at the
following points;
Corpus Christi. 81: Portland, SO;
Aransas Pass, 6; Rockport. z: White
Point 27: Rosita and vicinity. 80;
odem and vicinity. Q: Port Aransas
6. and Taft and vicinity, 22.
Report 81 More Bodies.
Bodies OF twenty-seven additional
dead are reported held at two ranch
houses in the vicinity. but this report
had not been confirmed.
Former Mayor Roy Miller. chair.
man OF the relief committee which
was organized soon as the storm wa.
over, estimated the total dead in Cor.
pus Christi and vicinity will number
bort 200.
Work Of relief among the 5000
homeless was well under way today
The first relief trains arrived las
night and physicians Immediately be
gan work among the injured and sick
Refugees Housed I'm Tents.
Refugees were being housed in tent,
rendered them almost unrecoEnizahle
In many cases it was impossible to de
termine even the race OF the victims
so badly mutilated were the bodfe,
from being pounded against trees.
Most OF Tourists safe.
Nearly all the dead lived in tn,
. towns near where their bodies wer,
recovered. The tourists were general
" in hotels on the bluffs and escaped
Injury.
The southern section of the citv
protected by high bluff, was oni,
slightly damaged.
Nearly all the city's undertaken.
establishments were destroyed anC
coffins washed away. Bodies las
night were hastily buried in wooder
boxes. Undertakers who came from