Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-30
D. c. WOMAN GIVES
HURRICANE PICTURE
Wife of Capt. P. L. Baldwin
Tells of Heroism Among
Porto Rico People.

| of the great hurricane that cut wild,
Swath of death and destruction in it:
sweep through Porto Rico is contained
in letters received here from Mrs. Merle
Baldwin, wife of Capt. Perry L. Bald
win. stationed with their family of foul
small children at Henry Barracks il
the leveled Cayey district
UnconSciously revealing tale Of
heroism and fortitude. in the face o.
the stunning disaster that befell then
the night of october Is. Mrs. Baldwin
| wrote five days later to assure her par
ents, Mr.. and Mrs. w. H. Gilbert OF
3717 South Dakota avenue, of theil
safety and plight. Let's all offer up 9
prayer of thanksgiving that we are
alive" she prefaced her first message.
Capt. Baldwin, who is the son of Mr.
and Mrs. William Baldwin of 1886 Po-
tomac avenue, has been stationed two
wears and two months at Cayey, in the
interior of Porto Rico with the 65tf
Infantry. Their four children, who
passed unscathed through the nights
/ of terror, are Perry, jr., IA: Mary Lee
IL: Betty Ann, 4, and Rita Merle
nearly years old.
Crawlea to Station.
With other women and children OF
the stricken post. Mrs. Baldwin ano
her little ones. aided by soldiers tiee
to them by ropes. crawled on the
ground to the safety of the MAYA.
Radio Station, sheltered at the foot OF
a hill. in the teeth of a 162-mlle nur-
ricane that showered roofs and debris
in every direction.
At the Naval Station. Mrs. Baldwin,
wrote. they gave us black coffee ano
drv bread, and it tasted SO good. That
night each one in the Navy took one OF
two Army families, and we slept three
and four in a bed and six in room
The children were angels, all OF them
and not one became panicky.
Our whole post of Cayey was nav,
terr,d," she wrote, like pltcures OF
houses piled on. top OF beds, etc: WE
/ have saved practically nothing.
But Mrs Baldwin was writing OF ma
terial destruction for, in another letter
she told how she bent over the .peoS
of her Youngest babies to comfort them
while roofs and flying misses we iS
sIamming against their house, ana saIo
TO them. well, babies, have you al
least" sos
A night of torrential rain preceoeo
the breaking of the hurricane.
ION Wednesday, September IL, a.
about IL pm.," she wrote, tine ran,
storm was growing in intensity, bu'
we went to bed oblivious OF what Inc
next day held in store for us. with
DAYLIGHT of the 18th, the hurrl.
cane set in, and for "a hours Wlno
at a velocity of 1872 miles per hour lana
greater. ali the machine gauge broke
them and a deluge of rain swept the
island.
Roofs Are Destroyed.
Gan that morning we worked putting
clothing and all loose articles IN draw
ers. thinking to save them, but at noon
Perry cher husband) came In 10 say
the company roof was giving way. WE
looked out only to see it caving IN, ano
the roof of the post exchange nelns
torn off, too.
"By that time our quarters were nc
longer safe, and we just looked as las,
oood-bye to our accumulation OF ~
wears and soldiers helped us to the SCI
of quarters, next door, which seemed
to be holding up better. There were
six children and eight grown-ups mud
died in one room, while all about u'
tin roofs were being hurled against the
building. BY that time our own quar-
tiers had gone, all in heap. Inc one:
in which we we're huddled were apou
to go, and our next move hao 10 p'
| made at once--a dash for our !lVes' a.
the roof above US was just aoou' u
! fall" -
Can't. Baldwin had rushed into thu
| frail house few minutes before.
Have each child ready to dash wher
our quarters CO." he had shouted ABOVE
/ the noise of the hurricane.
THE company quarters hao peer
swept away. and the soldiers, Waltlns
| to carry the women and children u
| safety. were roped together on tn
porch of Mrs. Baldwins temporar'
| shelter.
Soon the bedroom tore away" sh
wrote, "and we dashed out into Tn
! blowing mass of tin. wood and iron
| fairly crawling, soldier for each. wom
an and child. After what seemed hours
we made our way to the Naval Rad1
! Station which is sheltered at the 700
, OF the hill"
| Complete Destruction.
While San Juan itself apparently na
| been little damaged, the hurricane ha
swept the Army post at Cayey. !,
"One man saw woman cut right i
two. in his back yard, by piece Q
flying roof" she continued. MANY sue
cases were reported, but he actually say
this
"All along the plaza, bodies are pile
up waiting 70 be buried" she wrote i
an earlier letter "On other parts c
the plaza, families are cooking rice @
what little they have. The churche
are filled with refugees. The hospltf
is gone San Juan. while badly hit, ha
only few homeless, but the rest Of u
from Cayey are completely wiped out.
Mrs Baldwin described the hurrican
!, as being like a boomerang. always !
two parts and the second part wa
worst than the first"
For two days during the worse part
of the storm, every one was poWerleS
to do anything but look on at the de
structiOn about them. AS soon AS tn
storm cleared bit. they rushed to thei
quarters to see what could be salvage
from the wreckage.
Feared PestiIence.
Next to the storm itself, Mrs. Bald
win wrote, the sufferers feared pesti
lence most.
I'VE were afraid of our lives to sta
!; in Cayey any longer" she added, "a
the water we drank had washed owe
dead animals and Lord knows what
Flies and mosquitoes just Toasted al
; of US. So, you see, there is no wonde
! that disease is spreading over tn
! island"
Mrs. Baldwin could get no reliabl
report of the number of dead in til
island, though she described watchin
, collins pass 4dayMfter day.
When she wrote last, she said, Sil
was sending her oldest boy, Perry, j.