The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-09-05
HURRICANE TOLL
MAY HIT 1000,
RESCUERS FEAR
Scenes OF Understandable
Horror Found by
Workers.
Continued From Page One

hoped 70 have all injured and all
survivors IN Homestead and Miami
today All through the night am
balances and private cars carried
the injured over the ruined high
WAYS Of the keys 70 the mainland
Some survivors walked others rode
on trucks loaded with caskets con-
tanning the bodies Of the dead.
Mr.. Thompson ordered CCC
workers 10 begin digging graves for
the dead today. Most were ,-ar
veterans employed on FERA road
building projects. killed in their
camps on the AIetacombe KEYS.
Some bodies could not be identified
Finger prints were taken Of all and
VIII be compared with prints IN
veterans bureau files to establish
identity.
Four of Il Inhabitants Saved.
Veteran Red Cross officials. &C
custOmed to disasters. compared the
hurricane 10 that Of 1926 that killed
2OO0 persons. Dr.. Joe Stewart, one
Of them. working deep in the dew
astated district placed the num-
Der OF dead at slightly less than 300.
Approximately 100 bodies had been
checked and removed from the Keys
at a. m. today.
The destruction defed all descrip-
ton Capt Ed Buffers said:
OF the "A persons that lived in
our little village Of IslamOrada, only
four escaped alive. A l5-fOOt wall
of water swept over our village"
Five hundred collins were sent to
Snake Creek. which separates Key
Largo and Upper MetacOmbe Key.
Three bodies were taken placed in
collins and sent on TO Miami.
Pitch Tents for Survivors
National Guard tents we're
pitched at Homestead for survivors
The school. the church and the hos
pital there were crowded with men.
women and children suffering from
a variety Of injuries. and from ex-
pOsure and hunger. Though rescue
work was being conducted with
manifestIy efficiency so far as re-
lieving suffering was concerned,
there was the tO-be-eXpected con-
fusion and working at cross pur-
poses
Authorities. using all needed re-
sources of Florida and the Army
and Navy. undertook to establish
the number of persons in the string
of KEYS extending IN a line from the
southeastern tip Of the Florida
peninsula in a sOuthWesterly direc-
ton 10 Key West, when the storm
hit Monday night.
Until this count is completed no
accurate estimate of the missing
and believed dead" can be made
Approximately so war veterans were
established in four FERA camps
along the Metacombe keys. APP
proximatelv 200 persons lived in the
fishing village of Tavernier on Key
Largo. Approximately 40 persons
lived on Plantation Key. The popu-
lation on the other KEYS was not
known. but probably totaled APP
proximately 1000.
Many Blown Into Sea
Assuming these first tentative
figures accurate. and assuming 300
to be the final figure on the known
dead and 500 on the injured, ap-
proximately 1850 persons either are
among the survivors or are I'M
accounted for.
The survivors had not been
counted. but 1t was not believed they
would total that many by at least
200. which would give Credulence to
private estimates that placed the
dead at 500
The keys population was shifting
II included many Negro agricultural
workers and many fishermen
accustomed to pull up stakes and
move TO points along the coast Of
the mainland War veteran FERA
workers were accustomed to taking
French leave" from their camps
for holidays at Homestead and
Miami
Therefore. the task of establish
ing how many persons were in the
KEYS when the storm hit was made
so difficult that the answer prob
ably never Will be known. 1t is be-
lieved many of the victims were
blown into the sea.
Many sections Of the keys re-
manned untouched by rescue workers
SO hours after the rescue work got
under way. They had been viewed
only from airplaneS and revealed
the same scenes Of waste and death
rs in the sections already searched.
These viii contribute TO the toll Of
dead and injured today.