The Winds Wipe out Bohemia – The Little Plaquemines Town Ceases to Exist submitted by Larie Tedesco Daily Picayune 10-03-1893 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ The Winds Wipe Out Bohemia The Little Plaquemines Town Ceases to Exist. Falling Houses Crush Out the Lives of Tree Persons. Two Wounded Men Lie Pinioned in the Floods Fifteen Hours. Cane All Down, but Only Slightly Damaged – Rice and Orange Crops Almost a Complete Lost. Train No. 7 of the New Orleans and Southern Railroad came in about 10 o’clock last night, bringing the story of the disasters on the lower coast. Conductor Wyman and Brakeman B. Barclay gave some of the details of the terrible work of the wind and the waters. Pointe-a-la-Hache has been severely stricken. Not one half of the houses there are still whole. Roofs were torn off, houses blown down and dozens of families rendered homeless. The steeple of the Catholic Church was blown off with a section of the roof, together with the windows and one of the doors, almost wrecking the holy ediflee? The parish courthouse was struck with even greater force. Surrounding the structure is a four-sided cupola, each side containing a clock. This was torn away completely. The greater part of the dwelling houses in that village are rather of an unstable order, and the storm played havoc among them. Hardly a building escaped and fully one-half of them were wholly or partially wrecked. No fatalities are reported from Pointe-a-la-Hache itself, but three deaths were caused by the storm at Empire Mill, a place one mile below the Pointe, and about forty-six miles below the city. The saddest of these were the killing of Mrs. Paul Lafrance and her infant child. The home of the family was blown down over their heads, a falling armoir struck Mrs. Lafrance on the head, killing her almost instantly. The child was caught under the same fatal piece of furniture. The accident is given an additionally sorrowful tinge by the fact that Mrs. Lafrance was about to become a mother, and the calamity that has befallen the unhappy husband in virtually the death of his wife and two children. The other fatality occurred at Empire Mill. The victim was a bright mulatto woman named Charlotte. She was standing beneath a shed, whose rafters crushed out her life when they were loosened by the storm. The train brought to the city for treatment at the hospital two men with broken arms. They were Bob Ferro, a fireman on the New Orleans and Southern; and a fisherman named Pinter. They were sleeping near the Manilla fishing camp Sunday night when the storm arose. The wind caused a huge timber to fall across their bodies, and the right arm of each man was broken. The weighty wood kept them prisoners, and their pain made their position one of terrible torture. The floods approached the camp, and almost covered their bodies, and they lay thus for nearly fifteen hours before being rescued. They were brought to the train on stretchers and every care given them, but by the time they reached the city their injured arms were swollen to the size of a man’s body. The men were taken to the charity hospital in an ambulance. At Shell Beach great damage was done. The commodious structure of the fishing club was totally destroyed. At Oliver plantation, owned by Mr. Maspero, the chimney and a piece of the roof of the sugarhouse were blown off. The smokestack of the stationary engine and the windmill at Poydras plantation were blown down. At Pointe-a-Hache two passenger coaches of the New Orleans and Southern were blown doff the tracks and overturned. The news from Bohemia is more dire that that from any other place on the lower coast. Mr. Wyman states that the place has been completely wiped out. It was a small town of about 100 population of which the family of Dr. Herbert were said to be the only white people. Every building in the town has been destroyed, together with the contents. All stock belonging to the residents was lost. There was no loss of life at Bohemia, but the suffering and privation is reported to be terrible. There are a few small towns still further down than Bohemia, but no news was received from them. The storm was severest in the lower part of the parish and seemed to have abated its fury, to a slight extent, as it traveled toward the city. The crops around Point-a-la-Hache are ruined. The orange trees are stripped of their fruit, and while few or none were uprooted, not one retained it yellow burden. All the cane along the road is reported as lying down, except in the immediate neighborhood of the Pointe. The cane will not suffer much, as it is now almost ready to be cut. Mr. Wyman states that the rice suffered more severely and the damage will be very great. The story related by Manuel Peno and Robert Parrolo last night of their experience on Lake Borgne during the recent storm, and how they had a narrow escape from a watery grave, was somewhat thrilling. The former resides at the corner of Claiborne and Bagatelle streets and follows the life of a fisherman for a livelihood, while the latter is employed as a fireman on the Shell Beach Railroad, and resides at Algiers. The men were at Manuel’s camp which stands on the wharf. They had been fishing, and not withstanding the gale that was blowing at the time they paid no attention to it, but finally the gale began blowing somewhat stronger, and as Manuel’s camp was deemed not strong enough to stand the wind, he concluded to go to another camp, conducted by a man named Toney. This camp, having weathered numerous storms, it was considered secure, no matter how strong the storm might blow, and besides, the two men who sought shelter in the little structure that stood on the wharf was Nick Jensen and some Manilla fishermen who have camps of their own at Lake Borgne. Not wishing to trust to the safety of their camps, they entered Tony’s place. This was in the early part of the evening, but the lake began to show its fury with a vengeance, and the fishermen now knew that a severe storm was coming. The wind began to increase in its velocity, the rain was pouring in torrents, but this the fisherman paid no attention to as they were accustomed to squalls and those within the camp concluded to make a night of it the best way they could. The men had already gone to sleep, when about 3:30 o’clock in the morning the entire village was aroused by what seemed to be a hurricane, and while the lake was rolling at its heights the cracking of timber could be heard from every direction. It was a signal of warning that something wrong had taken place. The men in Tony’s cabin had barely chance to realize that a terrible storm was raging, when a terrible burst of wind struck their cabin, cruching in the timbers of the frail structure as if it were a match box. The timbers fell on the men within, and in a moment after the structure was carried into the lake and the pieces that had become separated were carried wherever the wind desired. It was now a scramble for life, and while those who had not been injured secured a plank or two to keep them afloat, others managed to reach the top of the clubhouse and clung there. It was not long after before it was discovered that Manuel and Robert were pinioned beneath some wreckage in the room. After considerable trouble Jensen managed to pull them out. It was then learned that both men had their right arms broken above the elbows and were perfectly helpless. A portion of the roof finally yielded to the terrible storm, and Robert grappled with this, while Jensen assisted Manuel to the other part, to which he clung the best he could. The broken structure with its human freight was tossed about by the merciless waves, and it was with difficulty that the men could retain sufficient strength to hold on. The fragments were blown by the gale some three or four miles into the swamp, where the unfortunate men remained for several hours in the rain before succor came to them. It was then that they were found by a fisherman named Jake, who had been searching for game and by accident came across the parties who were more dead than alive. He placed them in his skiff and rowed them up stream to a place of safety and had them attended to until the arrival of the evening train, when they could be sent to the city for medical attention. The storm came up with such velocity that nearly every fishing camp at Lake Borgne was wrecked and when the train arrived nearly seven feet of water was on the gourd. The men saw some of the Manilla men who were in the camp with them after they were rescued, but they could not say if any of them were drowned, as each one was compelled to look out for himself when the storm came up. The men reached the city on the 8:30 o’clock train last night, and were conveyed to the hospital in the ambulance. Minor Mention. The police patrol boxes at the corner of St. Claude and Washington streets, corner of Marais and Annette streets and at the Claiborne Street car station were blown down. The wall in front of the Northeastern Railroad yard, on Dauphine, between Press and Montegut streets, was also blown down. During the storm several large pieces of the zinc roofing on the French market were blown to the ground. About 2 o’clock yesterday morning the Algiers pontoon broke loose from its moorings, and at the head of Patterson Street, and went adrift with the ferry-boat Thomas Pickles. After drifting some distance down it was hauled into shore and made fast. The telegraph pole at the corner of Patterson and Pacific streets was broke in two by the wind and is now hanging by the wires, endangering the lives of pedestrians. The large swinging sign at Chris Aragan’s saloon, corner of Melpomene and Dryades streets, was blown down at 3:30 o’clock yesterday morning. About 7 o’clock Monday evening, on Rampart, between Toulouse and St. Louis Street, an electric light wire was blown down. Shortly after a horse attached to one of the Southern Brewery wagons stepped on the wire and was severely shocked. The electric light post at the corner of Basin and Conti streets was blown down at 3 o’clock yesterday morning. The large cistern in the yard of Mrs. Mill’s residence, corner of Julia and St. Charles streets, was unable to stand the heavy rainfall and burst, damaging the iron fence and premises to the extent about $25.00. It was stated that considerable damage had been done at the new Cosmopolitan Hotel building on Bourbon Street, but investigation proved that no damage was done, but there was some delay caused by the water. Last evening, about 4:15 o’clock, at the corner of Water and Notre Dame Streets, W. E. Hall, a clerk in the Illinois Central Railroad once stepped on a live Louisiana electric light wire and received a severe shock. The wire was removed. Last Sunday night, during the storm, engine No. 80, of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, while passing the corner of Miro and Elysian Fields streets, ran over and killed one mule and fatally injured another. Both mules are owned by Mr. John Hines, residing corner of Miro and Burgundy Streets. During the storm Sunday night the gate of the yard in which Mr. John Hynes keeps his stock was blown open and three of his mules escaped. At 5 o’clock Monday morning they were run over by a train on the Pontchartrain Road near Stern’s factory. One was killed and one so badly hurt that it was kill upon the orders of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Mr. Wm. McCormick, the well-known keeper of the black bridge, has once more shown that he is one of the state’s reliable employees. During the storm of Sunday he caught six skiffs, three log rafts and other stuff too numerous to mention. McCormick showed his bravery during the last storm by rescuing four men and saving the dredgeboat of Contractor Keegan leaving his own property at the mercy of the storm. The citizens around the black bridge intent to prevent Mr. McCormick with a handsome souvenir. Fears are entertained by a great many people interested in the sugar crops that the cane will be damaged by the storm. A prominent planter said yesterday that the storm could not damage the crop very much, as the cane is stout and tough. He thought that it might do the crop good at this stage of the maturity in the stalk, and that the cane will look brighter and will be better in every respect on account of the rain that soaked and washed it so completely. In all parts of the city trees were blown down, and in a great many cases had fallen in the street and across the fences. The residents at the places where the timber had been blown down by the storm and the winds had employed help during the day to have the trees removed. The sash was blown from the window in the observatory of the custom-house night before last, and it fell upon the roof and was smashed to pieces. Yesterday forenoon, at the corner of White and Clio streets, a beer wagon of the Jackson Brewery collided with a wagon belonging to the Standard Planing Mills, and injured one of the horses attached to the latter so severely that the animal was shot and killed.