The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-09-05
GALE-STR|CKEN
FLORIDA KEYS
HORROR Scene
Bodies Floating in Sea and
Buried in Mud. Chief
Executive Told.
DEBRIS BLOCKS ROADS
Hurricane Wrecked Area Is
Searched for Additional
Victims.
BV ! Hifcd Press

By Unitcd Press
MIAMI, Sept. 5. - Relief
workers picked their way
this afternoon through high
ways piled with debris into
the hurricane-stricken Florida
keys in an attempt to provide
an accurate check of casual
ties and property damage.
Fifty bodies had been re-
covered but rescue parties
were unable to penetrate be-
You'd Snake Creek.
w. P. Mooty, Dade County GRIM
inal court clerk, who surveyed the
Keys by boat, telegrsphed Gov.
Dave Sholtz that fatalities may
reach 10OO'
The Red Cross, however. stood on
its earlier estimat ethat total loss
Of life would approximate 300.
Private estimates were that death
toll might be between 500 and $50.
Bodies Floating in Sea.
Il found dead scattered all up and
down the Keys" Mr. Mooty related.
Some of the areas were completely
wiped out. When l saw bodies float
ing a good way out in the ocean
and other bodies tangled in matted
and unrOoted underbrush, ] knew
the loss would be terrific
1T will be weeks before bodies
buried in the mud and forced into
underbrush can be dug out. And
winds and tides that forced houses
out into the water must have been
so terrific that they tossed many
persons out past shore to drown.
Gov. Sholtz, at Tallahassee, an
nounced he was leaving Immediate
ly by automobile for Miami to take
personal charge of the storm relief
workf1 He will be accompanied by
w r. Smith assistant secretary,
and they will be joined at st.
Augustine by Adj. Gen. Vivian B.
Collins.
Governor to Take Charge
Il find there has been little or
ganization of relief work and 1 am
going there to take personal charge
myself the Governor said.
Work of bringing bodies from the
Keys moved ahead, meanwhile as
the emergency machinery estab-
lished in the wake of the death
dealing tropic storm began to func-
ton more efficiently.
Evacuation of the desolated area
by airplane, boat and foot pro-
crossed to such a stage that relief
authorities were considering a
thorough study OF Cape Sable, on
the mainland which was imme-
diately in the path of the swirling
hurricane.
Survivors being taken to various s
emergency hospitals continued to
tell of the stark horrors of the
storm.
Asks U. S. Permission
At Homestead. one of the relief
center, T. S. Kennedy, director OF
sanitation of the State Board of
Health, announced he was seeking
permission to cremate bodies left in
storm debris
1T is essential to sanitation" he
said. but 1 would hesitate to do
this without permission of the Fed
eral government. I have wired DR..
N. A. Baltzell. president of the
United States Board of Health, for
such permission"
Storm Crosses Into Georgia
When the last of the approxi-
mate 500 injured, the survivors and
the recovered bodies were being
brought to Miami and Homestead,
26 miles south of here, the hurri-
cane that cut path of deeth across
the keys and one of destruction up
western Florida crossed into Geor-
gia and minished in velocity The
weather bureau at Jacksonville To-
Gated its center today as three miles
east of Thomasville, Ga, and an
nounced it no longer was of hurri-
cane velocity.
A United Press survey, including
many reports based on the stories Of
rescuers and not otherwise con-
flrmed, indicated the eventual death
toll would exceed 500 and that the
number of injured, including those
not seriously hurt, would approxi-
mate 500
The Miami Beach Daily Tribune,
in a copyrighted article. estimated
the dead at TAG, the injured at 429,
the missing at 300
A Coast Guard cutter arrived at
Snake Greek, separating Key Largo
and upper Metacombe Key, with A
bodies of war veterans killed in the
FERA Camp No /, one of four such
camps in which unofficial estimates
said at least 300 died.
200 More Collins Ready
These bodies were brought here.
but approximately so more re-
manned there, awaiting tranSporta-
ton. There still remained 200
empty coffins piled up on the bank
OF the creek. awaiting occupants.
Leonard K. Thompson. Red Cross
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