19th Century

1943 – Oct 2, Hauser Creek wildfire, servicemen killed, Barrett Lake area, Southern CA-10

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 4-25-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–11  National Park Service. Timeline: Large Fires and Fatalities. 

–10  Hinds, Jim. When death stalked the mountains – the tragic Hauser Canyon brushfire.

— 8   Corona Daily Independent, CA. “Forest Fire, Which Takes Eight Lives…” 10-5-1943, p. 2.

— 7   Report on Casualties and Injuries of [USMC] Men on Hauser Creek Fire…Oct 2, 1943.

 Blanchard note: In that Jim Hinds notes 10 fatalities by name, two several months later from injuries, we choose to use his death toll rather than the National Park Service which does not name fatalities.

Narrative Information

Hinds, Jim. When death stalked the mountains – the tragic Hauser Canyon brushfire:

“Saturday, October 2, 1943. A brush fire in Hauser Canyon was detected at approximately 10:30 in the morning burning along Cottonwood Creek in the Cleveland National Forest. Cottonwood Creek flows westward through the canyon from Morena Lake to Barrett Lake, both part of San Diego’s water system.

 

“Hauser Canyon is narrow, with steep, high hills on both sides, and thick brush growing all the way down to the rocks along the creek. A narrow roadway extends through the canyon….

 

“So far military forces in this region of southeastern San Diego County had been kept busy fighting fires throughout the summer. The largest military facility in the region was Camp Lockett where the Army’s, 2nd Cavalry Division’s 4th Cavalry Brigade was stationed. Both of its two regiments had been busy fighting wildfires that somehow always seemed to break out on the weekends.

 

“While smaller in size, the Marine Corps training camp at Pine Valley was the other military facility in the region helping to fight fires. Started at a former Civilian Conservation Corps camp in 1942, the Marine Corps had a signal company and transportation company stationed there, and trained 110 men at the camp every eight weeks.

 

“Personnel from both camps received firefighting training from United States Forestry Service personnel. An officer and non-commissioned officer from each-troop within the 10th and 28th cavalry regiments at Camp Lockett had attended this training. The knowledge they gained from this one-day course they were to impart to the men in their units. Their training included lecture and practical experience in fighting small brushfires. These fires were deliberately started for them to practice firefighting skills.

 

“When the Forest Service requested military assistance in fighting this fire the Marines at Pine Valley were given the mission. Because of limited documentation on this facility there is no way to determine how extensive the Marines firefighting experience was during the summer of 1943 prior to this fire. Nonetheless, a force of 80 men was assembled and loaded onto trucks.

 

“The fire was burning approximately 10 miles south of Pine Valley…

 

“Accompanying the Marines that afternoon was Buel B. Hunt, the Cleveland National Forest’s training officer, and Jack Hemdon, a Forest Service guard. Hunt had been in charge of training the Marines and other servicemen in how to fight brush fires in this area.

 

“After nearly two hours on the fire line Hunt and the Marines found themselves forced into Hauser Canyon and were trapped between the steep slopes of the canyon at 2:15. What occurred next in Hauser Canyon could only be described as hell in a very small place….

 

Fatalities noted by name in this article.

 

  1. Private First Class Ismael W. Wesson, USMC
  2. Private Norman L. Shook Jr., USMC
  3. Private Ralph C. Peters, USMC
  4. Private Wilbur B. Rossen, USMC
  5. Corporal Elmer C. Winkleman, USMC.
  6. Private First Class Lowell R. Whetsel, USMC
  7. Private Roger D. Kirkpatrick, USMC
  8. Private Frank C. Rogers, USMC, died December 1 in San Diego hospital.
  9. Private First Class George F. Lehamn, USMC, died March 3, 1944
  10. Corporal Leroy Carter, US Army, Service Troop, 10th

 

National Park Service: “The fire burns 10,000 acres, kills 11 U.S. Marines and injures 72 others. Fire started by gunnery practice.”  (NPS.  Timeline:  Large Fires and Fatalities.)

 

Wildfiretoday.com: “….Below are listed the casualties of the forest fire in the vicinity of Cottonwood and Hauser Creeks, approximately 16 miles south of Camp Pine Valley…

 

Shook, Norman L. Jr. Pvt. …USMCR – died 2 October, 1943…Indianapolis, Indiana.

Wesson, Ishmael W. PFC…USMC – died 2 October, 1943…Route 1, Milan, Tenn.

Peters, Ralph C. Pvt. …USMCR – died 2 October 1943. Tulsa, Oklahoma

Winkelman, Elmer C. Corp. USMCR – died 3 October 1943…Route #3, Red Bluff, CA.

Kirkpatrick, Roger D. Pvt. …USMCR – died 3  October, 1943…Seattle, Washington.

Whetsel, Lowell R. PFC. …USMCR – died 3 October, 1943…Anderson, Indiana.

Rossen, Wilbur V. Pvt. …USMCR – died 3 October 1943…Rt. 1, So. St. Paul, Minn.

 

Newspaper

 

Oct 4, AP: “San Diego, Oct. 4 – (AP) – Identity of five marines burned fatally while battling a timber and brush fire in a mountainous area near Barrett Lake, 45 miles southeast of here, was disclosed by 11th Naval District headquarters today. The victims were:

 

Pfc. Lowell Rexford Whetsel, Anderson, Ind.

Pvt. Norman T. Shook Jr., 19, Indianapolis, Ind.

Pfc. Ishmael Worth Wesson, 20, Milan, Tenn.

Pvt. Ralph Clay Peters, 22, Tulsa, Okla.

Pfc. Wilber Vincent Rossen, 20, South St. Paul, Minn.

 

“The blaze, which has charred more than 6500 acres of valuable watershed since breaking out Saturday morning [Oct 2], was still uncontrolled today and being fought by hundreds of soldiers and marines who have reinforced Federal and State forestry crews.

 

“Those killed were among more than 80 men trapped between a steep slope and advancing flames. The group was forced to battle through the blaze to safety. Seventy-five marines were injured, 12 critically, and two civilians of the Forestry Service suffered minor burns.” (Assoc. Press. “Names of Marine Fire Victims Told by Coast Command.” Oakland Tribune, CA. 10-4-1943, p. 7.)

 

Oct 5, Corona Daily Independent: “The local ranger station of the U.S. Forest Service reported today that the fire, which has been raging since last Saturday about 45 miles east of San Diego, is still not under control Eight U.S. Marines were fatally burned in fighting the fire, while 70 others suffered severe burns, as did two Forestry men. It is under stood the Marines had volunteered their services as fire fighters. The fire already has covered about 17,000 acres. Its origin has not been determined.” (Corona Daily Independent, CA. “Forest Fire, Which Takes Eight Lives, Not Under Control.” 10-5-1943, p. 2.)

 

Sources

 

Associated Press. “Names of Marine Fire Victims Told by Coast Command.” Oakland Tribune, CA. 10-4-1943, p. 7. Accessed 4-25-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/oakland-tribune-oct-04-1943-p-7/

 

Corona Daily Independent, CA. “Forest Fire, Which Takes Eight Lives, Not Under Control.” 10-5-1943, p. 2. Accessed 4-25-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/corona-daily-independent-oct-05-1943-p-2/

 

Hinds, Jim. When death stalked the mountains – the tragic Hauser Canyon brushfire. Cleveland National Forest Heritage Program. Accessed 4-25-2024 at: http://ppolinks.com/forestservicemuseum/M1992_63_1.pdf

 

National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Timeline:  Large Fires and Fatalities.  Accessed 4-26-2009 at:  http://www.nps.gov/fire/utility/uti_tl_largefirestext.cfm

 

Wildfiretoday.com. Report on Casualties and Injuries of U.S. Marine Corps Men on Hauser Creek Fire, Cleveland National Forest, October 2, 1943. W. O. Fire Control Files. Accessed 4-25-2024 at: https://wildfiretoday.com/documents/Hauser_Creek_Report_1943.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1840 — Jan 13, steamship Lexington fire/sinks, Long Isl. Sound off Eatons Neck, NY–146-156

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 7-16-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

146-156  Blanchard estimated death toll range:

We cannot definitively narrow the death toll range to a single number. But, we are of the opinion that there probably were at least 146 deaths. The one book-length source we note below (Bleyer’s 2023 book on the Lexington sinking, states that there were 150 passengers and crew aboard and that only four survive. We show three other sources noting 146 deaths. Thus we do not include in our death toll range the death-tolls noting fewer than 146 deaths. While we include in our estimated range the seven sources noting 150-156 deaths, we are of the opinion that 146 is the correct toll. Nonetheless, we cannot say this with an abundance of confidence, thus include these estimates in our own best guess range.

–150-200  Richmond Enquirer. “Awful Calamity.” 1-21-1840. From N.Y. Journal of Commerce.[1]

—   156  Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 56.

—   156  Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 680.

—   154  National Underwater and Marine Agency (non-profit). Lexington. Accessed 7-16-2024.

—   150  Howland.  Steamboat Disasters and Railroad Accidents in the United States. 1843, 167.

— >150  Sheridan. “‘Appalling Calamity’: Loss of the Steamboat Lexington…Jan. 13, 1840.”[2]

—   150  Snow, Edward Rowe. Storms and Shipwrecks of New England. 1943, p. 120.

—   150  Wiard, Norman. The Cause of Boiler Explosions, etc. 1868, p. 11.

—   146  Bleyer. “Intro.” The Sinking of the Steamboat Lexington on Long Island Sound. 2023.

—   146  Ellms, Charles.  The Tragedy of the Seas…, 1841, p. 423-424.

— ~146  Morrison, John Harrison.  History of American Steam Navigation.  1908, p. 279.

—   146  Stinch’s Shipwrecks of New England.  “Steamboat Lexington.” 

—   141  Simonds. The American Date Book. 1902, p. 97.

—   140  Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac 1905. “Great Fires, 1904. Other Notable Fires,” p. 477. 

—   140  The New-Yorker.  “Events of 1840,” Jan 2, 1841, p. 249.

—   139  Wikipedia. “Lexington (steamship).” 8-5-2023. Accessed 7-16-2024.[3]

—   118  Pelletreau, William S.  A History of Long Island, 1905, p. 24.

Narrative Information

Ellms: “At 4 o’clock in the afternoon of Monday, the 13th of January, 1840, the steamer Lexington left the pier in New York for Ston­ington, in Connecticut. After threading the intricate channels of the East River, and passing the eddying dangers of Hurl [Hell?] Gate, under the guidance of that skillful pilot, Captain Manchester, she reached the open sound before nightfall, and pursued her solitary way towards her destined haven. The weather was mild for the season, but the few vessels which were in sight betokened a wintry navigation….

 

“But amidst this fancied security; the cry of “Fire” re­sounded throughout the fatal bark….A simultaneous rush was made for the deck; upon reaching which, the fire was discovered near the smoke-pipe, and be­gan rapidly to extend aft, increasing in height and volume every moment, fanned, as it was, by the great current of air generated by the rapid motion of the boat. The greatest consternation now prevailed; all was confusion; no system­atic course of action could be adopted: it was attempted to rig the fire-engine, but in vain. And the engineer was driven from his station by the flames which encircled the steam-engine, and to stop it was impossible…The pilot endeavored to head her for the land; but the wheel-ropes gave way, and he was driven from his station almost suffocated, and she was left to plough the waters at random. Nothing could be done…And as the bags of cotton became enveloped in the flames, they would burst with an explosive force, fill­ing the atmosphere with the burning flakes, and descending in showers upon the bosom of the dark waters; which, for a great distance to leeward, appeared an undulating plain of fire. The sea was red, the heavens were red, and the glow reddened with the rest the pallid brows of that doomed and flame-encircled company.

 

“A rush was now made for the quarter-boats, and they were instantly filled, as they were hanging on the davits, by the bewildered passengers. But in lowering them, owing to the quick motion of the boat, they filled, and were rap­idly left behind; the loud shriek of despair, which rose from these drowning wretches, was, for a moment, louder than the roaring of the winds and flames. The life-boat was now resorted to; and to tear the covering off, and launch it, was but the work of a moment.  But, being forward of the wheel, it was drawn under, and torn away from those who held the warp.  The fire had now cut off all com­munication between the bow and stern of the boat….

 

“As all hopes of being saved by the boats were now cut off, the most desperate exertions were made by those on the forecastle to keep back the fire, in hopes that some vessel might come to their rescue. Everything which could hold water was eagerly seized upon; and the boxes containing specie were broken open, the dollars poured out and trodden under foot as worthless, whilst the boxes were used to throw water on the devouring flames. Thus, inch by inch, they were driven forward, fighting the fire, until driven over the bows into the icy bosom of a wintry sea.  The survivors on the forecastle, at this period, were calm and collected, and making every exertion to save their lives, by throwing the baggage crates overboard, and making a raft of the flag-staff and planks.

 

“At 12 o’clock, Captain Manchester left, telling them that everything which man could do had been done. We thus have intelligence from the forecastle four hours later than from the quarter-deck; as what took place there, after 8 o’clock in the evening….

 

“It is painful to contemplate, that out of one hundred and fifty human beings who saw the sun set from that deck, but four should live to see it rise; the rest having passed off like the meteor at night, never to be seen again….” (Ellms 1841, pp. 417-424.)

 

Morrison: “…on January 13th, 1840, occurred the burning of the “Lexington” while on her trip from New York to Stonington, when off Eaton’s Neck, Long Island. The night was very cold, the temperature being below zero, and the ice was making very rapidly in the Sound. They had just begun to make use of coal for fuel in her boiler, and there had been trouble with her blowers on her last trip from Ston­ington, making it necessary to lay up for repairs. The accumu­lation of ice, and she being one of the strongest boats of the line, it was thought best to place her on the route instead of one of the regular boats.

 

“She left New York at 4 P. M., with at least 150 persons on board and a large quantity of freight, of which there was about 150 bales of cotton. About half-past seven o’clock and when off Eaton’s Neck, on the Long Island shore, and some four miles from land, there was an alarm of fire, but where it first started, none of those who were saved — of which there were but four — had any knowledge.[4]

 

“Stephen Manchester, who was the pilot and one of the survivors, relates his experience, in part, as given in a United States Senate docu­ment of the Twenty-sixth Congress:

 

“I was in the wheel­house, at the wheel, when the alarm’ was first given; it was about half-past seven o’clock in the evening. I was first noti­fied of the danger by someone who came to the wheel-house door and told me that the boat was on fire—do not know who that person was. My first movement was to step out of the wheel-house and look aft. I saw the upper deck on fire all around the smoke-pipe and blazing up two or three feet, per­haps, above the promenade deck. The flame seemed to be a thin sheet, and, apparently, but just commenced: the blaze seemed to follow up the smoke-pipe and was all around it. I again went into the wheel-house, caught hold of the wheel, hove it hard aport and steered the boat head to land. I thought from my first view of the fire that it was a doubtful ease whether it could be extinguished. We were, when the fire broke out, about fifty miles from New York, off Eaton’s Neck, and some four miles from the Long Island shore.  As I got the wheel hove over hard aport, Captain Childs came into the wheel-house, he put his hand on a spoke of the wheel and at that moment the rope gave way, At this moment the smoke came into the wheel-house so violently that we were obliged to leave it. I don’t recollect having seen Captain Childs after­wards. I called to those on the forecastle to get out the fire engine and buckets. The engine they succeeded in getting out, but I did not see any of the buckets, except two or three which we found afterward on the forecastle. I believe that the ropes were not parted by the strain, but were burned off.”

 

“After he gave his experience in helping to launch a lifeboat, and the attempts to stay the progress of the flames, and the making of a raft from a spar and flagstaff with a portion of the bul­warks; also throwing overboard four baggage cars after be­ing. emptied of their contents, with a line attached.

 

“Among those who remained to the last was a Mr. Van Cott, Mr. Hoyt, and Mr. Harnden, of the express: they were all confined to the forward deck. At 12 o’clock, I left the wreck and eased myself down upon the stage or raft; from that I got on a bale of cotton, on which there was already one man. After floating around on the bale until daylight, about which time my com­panion fell from the bale and went down without a struggle; his sufferings from the cold were intense. The wreck, I think, sunk about 3 o’clock. A short time after sunrise, I recollect seeing a sloop to the windward. I managed to put a handker­chief upon a piece of board and raised it up. I was picked up by the sloop “Merchant,” Captain Meeker. I was taken to the house of Captain Godfrey, at Southport. In my opinion, the tire originated from the heat of the smoke-pipe, which was communicated to the woodwork. I have frequently seen the smoke-pipe red hot, and saw it so on the last night. I do not know whether the red heat extended to the flange or not. The cotton was piled within perhaps a foot of the steam chimney.”

 

“Capt. Chester Hilliard, who was one of the survivors, says, regarding the launching of the boats:

 

“I left the main deck and went on the promenade deck. Soon after I got up I thought the people on board seemed to be stupidly determined to destroy themselves, and the boats also, their only means of safety. I repaired to the starboard boat, which they were lowering away. They got the boat partly over until she took the water, and then someone cut the forward tackle, when she filled and went astern. I think about twenty persons were in her then. The other boat was lowered and went down in pretty much the same way, being full of passengers. At that time the fire got going so that I made up my mind ‘it was a case.’ “

 

“He also relates taking to the bale of cotton and hav­ing for a companion one of the firemen named Cox, who suc­cumbed to his exposure before daylight.

 

“When I saw the sloop, I waved my hat to excite their attention, and they bore down and picked me up. She was the ‘Merchant’, from South­port, Captain Meeker. I know of no other persons who have done so except the steamer “Statesman.” Captain Meeker had to take out part of his cargo in order to get the sloop over the bar. It was about 31 A. M., when I was picked up. They picked up two men alive and two dead bodies. One was Man­chester, the pilot, the other was Charles Smith; he was on the wheel-house. The pilot was pretty much gone, and I thought the other seemed better. Smith was a fireman on the ‘Lex­ington.’ The second mate, David Crowley, took refuge on a bale of cotton also, and floated about until he struck the ice on Wednesday morning, about eighteen miles east of Old Field Point, and walked to a house of Mrs. Mary Hutchinson, who gave him good care after his exposure. The number of passen­gers and the crew is believed not to have exceeded one hundred and fifty. Fireman, Charles Smith, was living at Providence, R I., a few months ago.

 

“From the testimony given before the court of inquiry it was found that the fire was communicated to the promenade deck by the intense heat of the smoke-pipe and steam chim­ney. That the “Lexington” was a first-rate boat, with an ex­cellent steam engine, and a boiler suitable for burning wood, but not coal with blowers attached, and that the carrying of cotton in any quantity on passenger boats should be con­demned. David Crowley, the mate, died at Providence, R. L, two years ago.

 

“The “Lexington” was built in 1835, by Bishop & Simonson, for Cornelius Vanderbilt, but he had sold her some months previous to her destruction. The hull was 207’x25x11′, with paddle wheels 23 feet diameter by 9 feet face; was fitted with a beam engine built by the West Point Foundry, having a cylinder 48 inches diameter and 11 feet stroke. Charles W. Copeland was Superintending Engineer of the West Point Foundry at the time. The hull of the vessel was heavily built, frames close together and of large size for that class of vessel, and fitted with a “Towne” latticed truss on either side to strengthen the hull proper. This was the first time the truss was made use of for a similar purpose. She had a wide, square stern, and with a very high and short hog frame that, taken all in all, would not be called a handsome steamboat to-day. For the artificial draft to the furnaces of the boiler there were two fan blowers, each 30″ diameter by 26″ face, that were run by belts from a drum on the shaft of the main engine.”  (Morrison 1908, pp. 278-282.)

 

Pelletreau: “”The Sound steamer “Lex­ington” took fire on the evening of January 13, 1840, when off Eaton’s Neck. In a few moments she was enveloped in flames and burned to the `water’s edge. One hundred and eighteen per­sons perished either by the flames or the waters, only four of all those on board surviving.””  (Pelletreau 1905, 24)

 

Stinch: “Daybreak found the Lexington tied up in New York on January 13, 1840.  The morning air was very cold, about zero degrees.  Ice was beginning to form on the surface of the water.  One hundred and fifty bales of cotton were loaded under the promenade deck of the steamship.  Some of these bales were placed within a few feet of the smokestack casing.  A fire had occurred in the casing only a few days earlier, but no one took the problem seriously even after repairs were made…. 

 

“Passengers began arriving in the early afternoon and paid $1.00 for the trip to Stonington.  The fare was 50 cents if passengers stayed on the decks, but the temperatures were too cold for anyone.  For those passengers traveling beyond the Connecticut destination, a train would continue their journey to Boston….The ship took on about 115 passengers and departed her dock for the last time around three o’clock in the afternoon. The twenty-three foot diameter paddlewheels propelled the vessel down the East River and around Throgs Neck into Long Island Sound….

 

“At seven thirty, a fire was reported by the first mate.  Looking out the wheel house, flames could be seen shooting from the aft section of the promenade deck, near the smokestack casing.  Captain Child steered the vessel south toward the north shore of Long Island in an effort to beach her, but soon the steering became unresponsive.  The Lexington then turned to a heading of east, on its own, as if trying to out run the flames. The lines between the rudder and the wheelhouse were burned through.  With her steam engine running at full power, the Lexington was now out of control.  The fire quickly engulfed the entire aft section of the ship.  Crew members in the engine room were forced out by the flames before the engines could be shutdown.  Launching the lifeboats while the Lexington plowed through the water was impossible.  The fire-fighting equipment was not deployed properly and any chance of stopping the fire was lost.  The silver coins were dumped onto the deck so the wooden box could be used in a bucket brigade.  Flames were now as high as the smokestack.  They could be seen from the shoreline of Connecticut and Long Island.  Many boats in the shoreline marinas were blocked by low tide, ice, and rough seas in an attempt to reach the burning steamboat.  Captain Child ordered the launching of the lifeboats.

 

“The scene on the decks were of terror and panic.  As the crew were preparing a boat for launching, passengers stormed the lifeboat, filling it well beyond capacity.  In the wake of a thrashing paddlewheel, the boat and everyone in it was quickly swept away and lost.  The Lexington was slowing down, giving some the chance to throw cotton bales over the side as rafts.  By midnight the steamship was burned from bow to stern.  Its deck had collapsed into the hull.  At three o’clock the next morning, the Lexington slowly sank into Long Island Sound.

 

“Many people who remained in the water succumbed to the freezing cold water.  In the end, only four people would survive…. The Second Mate, David Crowley was able to dig into the center of a cotton bale to stay warm.  He floated for forty-eight hours until he was washed ashore.  He was to keep the bale in his Providence, Rhode Island home for many years until he sold it for the Civil War effort.”  (Stinch’s Shipwrecks of New England, “Steamboat Lexington”)

 

Wiard: “The Lexington was burned on Long Island Sound, on the 13th January, 1840.  One hundred and fifty persons perished.  All the accounts published at the time agreed that the fire originated in the casing surrounding the steam chimney.  Captain Hilliard, in his testimony, said, ‘About an hour after supper I heard the alarm of fire; I was on the point of turning in, and had my coat and boots off; I slipped them on; I then discovered the casing of the steam chimney, and I think part of the promenade deck, on fire.  The after-part of the casing was burning, and the fire was making aft.’  The pilot said, ‘About half-past seven o’clock someone came to the pilot-hours and told me the boat was on fire; my first movement was to step out and look aft; I saw the promenade deck was burning around the chimney.  The Rev. S.K. Lathrop, of Boston, in a sermon on the occasion, said, ‘This same boat has unquestionably been on fire once (rumor says two or three times) within the past few weeks’.” (Wiard, Norman. The Cause of Boiler Explosions, etc. 1868, p. 11.)

Sources

 

Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. Boston: Mariners Press Inc., 1972.

 

Bleyer, Jim. “Introduction.” The Sinking of the Steamboat Lexington on Long Island Sound. History Press 2023. Amazon sample reading. Accessed 7-16-2024 at: https://www.amazon.com/Sinking-Steamboat-Lexington-Island-Disaster/dp/1467150282?

 

Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac 1903. “General Chronology of 1902.” Jan 1902.  Digitized by Google. Accessed 7-15-2024 at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=N8QWAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Ellms, Charles. The Tragedy of the Seas or, Sorrow on the Ocean, Lake, and River, from Shipwreck, Plague, Fire, and Famine.  Philadelphia: Carey & Hart, 1841.  Digitized by Google. Accessed 7-15-2024 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=R6xS3DM_qVAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+tragedy+of+the+seas&cd=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false

 

Howland, Southworth Allen. Steamboat Disasters and Railroad Accidents in the United States (Revised and Improved). Worcester: Warren Lazell. 1843

 

Morrison, John Harrison. History of American Steam Navigation. New York: W. F. Sametz & Co., Inc., 1908, 653 pages.  Digitized by Google. Accessed 7-15-2024 at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=Q5tDAAAAIAAJ&printsec=toc&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

 

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

 

National Underwater and Marine Agency (non-profit). Lexington. Accessed 7-16-2024. Accessed 7-16-2024 at: https://numa.net/expeditions/lexington/

 

Pelletreau, William S. A History of Long Island From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Vol. 2. New York: Lewis Publishing Co., 1905. Digitized by Google. Accessed 7-15-2024 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=Y4c-AAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

 

Richmond Enquirer. “Awful Calamity.” 1-21-1840. From N.Y. Journal of Commerce. Accessed 7-16-2024 at: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024735/1840-01-21/ed-1/seq-3/

 

Sheridan, Kim. “‘Appalling Calamity’: Loss of the Steamboat Lexington – Today in History: January 13, 1840.” ConnecticutHistory.org, 1-23-2023. Accessed 7-16-2024 at: https://connecticuthistory.org/appalling-calamity-loss-of-the-steamboat-lexington-today-in-history-january-13-1840/

 

Simonds, W. E. (Editor). The American Date Book. Kama Publishing Co., 1902, 211 pages. Google digital preview accessed 9-8-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=JuiSjvd5owAC

 

Snow, Edward Rowe. “The Fire on the Steamer Lexington,” pp. 108-121 in Storms and Shipwrecks of New England. Boston Printing Co., 1943.

 

Snow, Edward Rowe (updated by Jeremy D’Entremont). Storms and Shipwrecks of New England. Carlisle, MA: Commonwealth Editions, 2003. Accessed 7-13-2024 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Storms_and_Shipwrecks_of_New_England/GdEDSnredWgC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Storms+and+Shipwrecks+of+New+England&printsec=frontcover

 

Stinch’s Shipwrecks of New England. “Steamboat Lexington.” Accessed 11-15-2008 at:  http://home.att.net/~rstinchcomb/newreck/lexington.html

 

The New-Yorker. “Events of 1840,” Jan 2, 1841, p. 249. Accessed at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=MCfnAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

 

Wiard, Norman.  The Cause of Boiler Explosions, etc. Philadelphia: Stein & Jones, 1868, p. 12.  Digitized by Google. Accessed 7-15-2024 at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=Xj0OAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Wikipedia. “Lexington (steamship).” 8-5-2023. Accessed 7-16-2024. Accessed 7-16-2024 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexington_(steamship)

 

[1] Not using – early newspaper report not supported by later accounts.

[2] Cites Howland and Richmond Enquirer.

[3] Our number “Of the estimated 143 people on board, only four survived.” (No source citation.)

[4] Morrison footnote:  “A marine engineer of prominence, who was in service at this date, stated to the author several years ago, that probably the want of experience in the use of the blower may have had something to do with the primary cause of the fire. Also, that a can of varnish in the freight was placed too close to the smoke chimney.” (p. 279)

 

/

1934 — German measles (Rubella), international code 44b; Mortality Statistics 1934   —     47

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 12-16-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–47  Bureau of the Census, U.S. Dept. of Commerce. Mortality Statistics 1934, Table I, p. 14.                                                                                   

Narrative Information

CDC on German Measles: “Rubella (German Measles, Three-Day Measles): Rubella is a contagious disease caused by a virus. Most people who get rubella usually have a mild illness, with symptoms that can include a low-grade fever, sore throat, and a rash that starts on the face and spreads to the rest of the body. Rubella can cause a miscarriage or serious birth defects in a developing baby if a woman is infected while she is pregnant. The best protection against rubella is MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine.”

 

Transmission: “Rubella spreads when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Also, if a woman is infected with rubella while she is pregnant, she can pass it to her developing baby and cause serious harm…. A person with rubella may spread the disease to others up to one week before the rash appears, and remain contagious up to 7 days after. However, 25% to 50% of people infected with rubella do not develop a rash or have any symptoms.

 

“People infected with rubella should tell friends, family, and people they work with, especially pregnant women, if they have rubella. If your child has rubella, it’s important to tell your child’s school or daycare provider.” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rubella. 9-17-2017 review.)

 

CDC on Measles and Rubella: “Measles is a highly contagious respiratory disease caused by a virus. It can result in serious health complications, such as pneumonia and encephalitis (swelling of the brain), and even cause death.

 

“Rubella is a viral infection that affects unvaccinated children and young adults. If an unvaccinated woman gets rubella while pregnant – especially in her first three months – serious consequences can result, including miscarriages, fetal deaths, still births, and having infants born with congenital rubella syndrome (CRS).

 

“CRS is a group of devastating birth defects that includes blindness, deafness, and heart defects. More than 100,000 children are born every year with CRS, mainly in Africa, South-East Asia, and the Western Pacific.

 

“What do Measles and Rubella have in common? While rubella is sometimes referred to as “German measles,” the rubella and measles viruses are unrelated and are from different virus families. However, they do have some similarities. Both viruses:

 

are spread from person to person by coughing and sneezing,

 

can result in fever and skin rash after infection, and

 

survive only in human hosts.

 

“Measles and rubella can be prevented with vaccines that can be delivered together as a combined measles-rubella (MR) vaccine, or combined with vaccines against mumps (MMR) and varicella (chickenpox) (MMRV).” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Facts about Measles & Rubella. 8-31-2017 review.)

 

Sources

 

Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce. Mortality Statistics 1934. Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1936. Accessed 12-16-2024 at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsushistorical/mortstatsh_1934.pdf

 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Facts about Measles & Rubella. 8-31-2017 review. Accessed 5-5-2019 at: https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/measles/facts.htm

 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rubella. 9-17-2017 review. Accessed 5-5-2019 at: https://www.cdc.gov/rubella/index.html

 

 

 

1927 — Oct 29, fishing sch. Avalon hit by steamer in fog, sinks off Highland Light, Cape Cod MA-11

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 9-16-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–13  Small, Isaac M. “A Terrible Disaster,” pp. 78-79 in Shipwrecks on Cape Cod.[1]

–11  AP. “Blame Crew of Schooner for Collision.” Syracuse Herald, NY. 10-301927, p. 1.

–11  AP. “Stories of Rescue Told By Survivors.” North Adams Transcript, MA. 10-31-1927, p.1.

–11  Sheedy, R. “The Avalon,” Out of Gloucester 9(website). Accessed 9-16-2024.

Narrative Information

Sheedy, R. “The Avalon,” Out of Gloucester 9(website):

“Smashing her way through a blinding fog, the Boston bound liner Presidente Wilson, early this morning rammed and sank the local fishing schooner Avalon owned by the William H. Jordan Vessels Company, taking a toll of 11 lives.  The captain, Edmund Vogler, his father Jabez Vogler and his cousin Clifford Vogler, were among the crew who perished.

 

“A definite crew list is not available at the present time, but it is believed that the craft carried 14 men, being five short on her regular complement.   Three of the crew were saved and two of the bodies of the crew were recovered and taken on board of the liner, and transferred to the destroyer Burroughs which at 11 o’clock this morning, was still standing by the scene of the wreck searching for other bodies.

 

“Only meager information could be obtained up to noon, but from dispatches and radio sent to news services it was stated that the accident occurred this morning at 4 o’clock in latitude 42.09 North longitude 70.02 West.  This would place the sinking approximately off of Peaked Hill bar.

 

“From the information received, it would lead one to believe that the men were trapped below deck, and never had a fighting chance for their lives. this being borne out by the finding of the two bodies, the men having undoubtedly been killed to float on the surface.

 

“The Avalon, after having discharged 9000 pounds of fresh mackerel at the Pier in Boston yesterday afternoon, left early in the evening for fishing.  Most of the seiners have been taking their fish off of Provincetown of late and it is supposed she was bound there to try her luck.

 

“A murky fog over-hung the lowlands of the Cape this morning, and visibility was poor.  On this account, fishermen say that the crew, all except the watch and wheelsman, would have been below decks.  Whether they heard the warning whistles of the giant liner as she hove down toward the and tried to avoid the fatality, or whether it all happened in an instant, cannot be told until the three survivors reach home.

 

“The three men reported safe on the destroyer are Nicholas Walsh, 55, Alvin Fleet, a cousin of Capt. Ambrose Fleet, both of Gloucester, and Frank (Frenchy) Hemeon, 44, of Shelburne, N. S.  The known members of the crew up to noon were:

 

Capt. Edmund F. Vogler, of Port Joli, N. S., married, one daughter in Gloucester
Jabez Vogler, his father, of Port Joli, N. S., also resided in Gloucester
Clifford Vogler, engineer, of Port Joli, N. S.
Harry Anderson, the cook, native of Liverpool, N. S.
Charles White, believed to be from Sandy Point, N. S.
Frank Calder, native of Yarmouth, N. S.
Russell Dahl, believed to be from Sandy Point, N. S.
Manley Peterson, resident of Jordan, Shelburne County, N. S.
William Hemeon of Sandy Point, N. S., leaves a widow and five children
Everett Horton, resident of Gloucester, leaves widow and two children
one man not yet unidentified (tentatively identified as James Jamieson of Truro, N.S. )
(Original article listed only the first seven names.  Other names and personal information were added from an article published on Oct. 31, 1927.)

 

“Following the accident, the Presidente Wilson radioed to the Coast Guard and the Destroyer Burroughs and 125 foot patrol boat Alert, hustled under full steam to the scene of the disaster.  At great risk they plunged through heavy banks of fog, and arrived in a very short time by the liner’s sides.  The three men saved were transferred to the Boroughs and will remain with her until she gives up her search for the bodies.  Cruising around, the Alert found the seiners seine boat and has started to Boston with the boat in tow.

 

“Information from the destroyer gave the location of the accident as a “few miles south east of the Highlands” and that the craft sank immediately after getting rammed.  No wreckage floated on the surface.

 

“The Avalon was built in Essex in 1902 and was 124 tons gross, 100 feet long, and equipped with gasoline engines.  She was valued at $20,000 and was covered by insurance.  Because of a heavy fog which still hangs over the Cape, the Burroughs was unable to do anything more than hang around, hoping that the fog will lift and give an opportunity to search.”

 

Small, Isaac M. “A Terrible Disaster,” pp. 78-79 in Shipwrecks on Cape Cod:

“For several years the Pacific Mail Steamship Company has been operating a fleet of several large ocean liners, each bearing the name of a President of the United States. These ships had been making around the world trips, and in 1927 one of these ships, the Presidente Wilson, was under charter to the Cosulich Line, an Italian company. In the autumn of 1927, the Presidente Wilson was returning from an all around the world trip, with a large passenger list and tons of freight from Europe and the Far East, to Boston. She had left Seattle quite a number of days before, passed through the Panama Canal, touched at New York and on to Boston, which would end the trip….

 

“She left New York on the morning of October 28th, and on the morning of the 29th, at four o’clock in the morning, she had reached a point four miles directly east of Highland Light. Out of the thick mist not a hundred yards away, directly in the ship’s path, loomed the masts and faint outlines of a fishing schooner, which later proved to be the Avalon, a vessel of about a hundred tons, with home port at Gloucester, bound on a fishing trip to the banks. She had left Boston the afternoon before and was jogging along under short sail waiting for the fog to lift. She was under such small amount of sail that she could not have moved had she made the attempt.

 

“The oncoming great ship, towering many feet above her, had no chance to swing clear of the fishing craft and amid the clanging of bells, the blast of steam whistles, and the shouts and screams

of those both on the big ship and on the fishing boat, they came together with a crash. The momentum of the huge craft carried her right on over the Avalon and sent her, broken and wrecked,

to the bottom of the sea, carrying with her nearly all of her crew, who were imprisoned in her cabin.

From the time of the crash until she had disappeared beneath the sea, there had been no time for the crew to escape.

 

“The Avalon had a crew of sixteen men and only three of them escaped with their lives, these three being the deck watch at the time. The other thirteen were in their bunks and had no chance to get to the surface before death overtook them.

 

“Boats from the ship were promptly put over and with those of other vessels which happened to be nearby cruised about the waters for several hours, but no other man of the fishing boat crew was recovered.

 

“An hour after the disaster, the fog which had been responsible for this tragedy cleared all away, the sun shone brightly and the blue waters of the sea rolled smoothly on. The big liner steamed away on her course and thirteen unfortunate sailors lay dead on the bottom of the sea….”

 

Newspaper

 

Oct 30, AP: “Boston, Oct. 29 (AP) – Blame for the collision in which 11 members of the crew of the Gloucester fishing schooner Avalon were lost when the schooner was rammed by the steamship Presidente Wilson off Cape Cod early today was placed upon the schooner’s crew in a statement issued this afternoon by Harold J. Pelstel, agent for the steamship line….’At 4:15 this morning the Presidente Wilson was in collision with the Gloucester fishing schooner Avalon four miles south of Highland Light which at that time was invisible,’ the statement said….” (AP. “Blame Crew of Schooner for Collision.” Syracuse Herald, NY. 10-301927, p. 1.)

 

Oct 31, AP: “….From Boston came details of the rescue of three of the crew of fourteen that had set out from Gloucester for the fishing grounds in the schooner Avalon, which was rammed and sunk by the Italian liner Presidente Wilson. The men on the schooner sighted the liner half mile astern about 15 minutes before the collision, said Eldin Fleet, helmsman of Gloucester, one of the three saved. ‘Captain Vogler, who went down with his vessel, had just hone below and I called him back,’ Fleet said. ‘When he saw the ship over-hauling us and knew a collision was  imminent he ordered the auxiliary engine started and hauled off to port. A few minutes later it seemed to us that the Wilson also followed that direction. We kept our fog horn going and Captain Vogler continually flashed a torch to attract the ships attention. When the liner kept on the same course the Avalon went about to starboard tack and the Presidente Wilson seemed to alter her course. The vessels kept zig zagging. The schooner was overtaken on the starboard tack, the liner striking her on the port bow. The big ship cut deep into the Avalon and pushed her down. Most of the dories were filled with water. Only one boat was lowered with three men in it and it capsized.’ Fleet said he floated about a few minutes and then found an upturned dory to which he clung. Nicholas Walsh, who was also saved, held to the same boat.” (Associated Press. “Stories of Rescue Told By Survivors.” North Adams Transcript, MA. 10-31-1927, p.1.)

 

Sources

 

Associated Press. “Blame Crew of Schooner for Collision…11 Perish in Sea.” Syracuse Herald, NY. 10-301927, p. 1. Accessed 9-16-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/syracuse-herald-oct-30-1927-p-142/

 

Associated Press. “Stories of Rescue Told By Survivors.” North Adams Transcript, MA. 10-31-1927, p.1. Accessed 9-16-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/north-adams-transcript-oct-31-1927-p-1/

 

Sheedy, R. “The Avalon,” Out of Gloucester 9(website). Accessed 9-16-2024 at: https://www.downtosea.com/1926-1950/avalon.htm

 

Small, Isaac M. Shipwrecks on Cape Cod. Accessed 9-16-2024 at:

https://baalroom-static.s3.amazonaws.com/media/files/books/2024/03/Shipwrecks_on_Cape_Cod.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Given that newspaper reporting at the time put the loss of life at eleven and that Sheedy names the eleven victims, we do not use thirteen as the number of fatalities.

1899 — Dec 24, British freighter Ariosto strands, lifeboat deaths, Ocracoke, Outer Banks, NC–21

–21 Boston Post. “Twenty-One Drowned. Nine Rescued…Ariosto Stranded…” 12-25-1899, p6.
–21 Gentile, G. Shipwrecks of North Carolina – from Hatteras Inlet South. 1992, pp. 16-21.
–21 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 692.
–21 US Life-Saving Service. Annual Report…Fiscal year Ending June 30, 1900, p. 39 and 126.

Narrative Information

Nash: “1899…Dec. 24 Ariosto. The 2,920-ton steamship, built in 1887, foundered off the coast of North Carolina.” (Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 692.)

U.S. Life Saving Service: “Wreck of British steamship Ariosto.”

“The most calamitous, because entirely needless, loss of life during the entire year, or indeed for many recent years in the history of the Service, occurred on December 24, 1899, at the wreck of the British steamship Ariosto on the coast of North Carolina about 2 miles to the southward of the Ocracoke Life-Saving Station. Of 30 persons on board the vessel, 21 perished, while there was in the conditions not the slightest necessity that a single one should have been lost.

“The Aristo was a schooner-rigged steel vessel of 2,265 tons, laden with a very valuable cargo of wheat, cotton, lumber, and cotton-seed meal, carrying 30 men, including officers, and commanded by Captain R. R. Baines. When lost she was bound from Galveston, Texas, to Hamburg, Germany, via Norfolk, Virginia, the object of the call at Norfolk being to refill the coal bunkers.

“During the evening of Saturday, December 23, the weather was clear overhead, but hazy around the horizon, and a smart wind was blowing from the southwest, driving before it a very rough sea. At midnight the weather was thick all around, and heavy showers of rain passed over from time to time, while the sea was constantly making. About 3.45 o’clock (Sunday morning) Captain Baines, who was then lying down in the chart room, heard the telegraph bell ring, and instantly sprang up to inquire the reason, when he was met at his door by the second mate, who had come to request his presence on deck. Proceeding at once to the bridge, the captain saw that his ship was entirely surrounded by ‘white water.’ He says he did not know precisely what part of the coast he was on, but that since he could see no land or light he had an idea that he had struck the Diamond Shoals, off Hatteras. As a matter of fact, he was some 15 miles to the south-west. The engines were working hard astern, but were not able to stop the headway of the vessel, which took the bottom, and remained, as the master says, ‘bumping and thumping in such a manner that it seemed probable her masts would come down.’ All hands were at once on deck, and rocket signals of distress were fired, the first having been sent up about 3.50 o’clock, as he thinks. ‘While still firing,’ the captain says, ‘a red flash was seen in the north, which was taken to be from some source whence assistance might come.’ And so in fact it was, being the red Coston signal of the life-saving patrol.

“Believing his ship to be among the Diamond Shoals, the master feared she might work off into one of the numerous deep holes or channels and founder there, and besides he was serious worried by the fact that the heavy seas on the starboard side broke away the three starboard boats, while the ship was constantly heeling over to the starboard, making the destruction of the boats on the port side likely to take place at any moment. He therefore held a consultation with the chief officer, which resulted in a determination to launch the port boats. Here was where the fatal mistake occurred. Signals indicating that assistance would be afforded from the shore had already been seen and correctly interpreted. As subsequent events proved, to a demonstration, if all had simply stood by the ship every soul would have been rescued by the life-saving crews. Nevertheless, it must be remembered that Captain Baines supposed his vessel be stranded on the Diamond Shoals, a place of extreme danger, so far from shore that he might well have doubted the ability of any boat6 to reach er, and of course miles beyond the range of any life-saving gun or rocket. Having in view these facts, it may not be a matter of great surprise that he should deem it the part of wisdom to save his two remaining boats and man them alongside until the dawn of day should make it possible to determine his true position and the proper course of action then to be taken.

“This he asserts to have been his purpose. Accordingly the pinnace was first got out and manned by eleven men, including the chief and second mates, who were placed in charge with instructions to ‘get away clear’ and then lie by until daylight. As soon as the pinnace cleared the ship the lifeboat was successfully put over and manned by fifteen men. Twenty-six persons were now in the boats, while there still remained on the ship four others who were also to go in the lifeboat. These were Captain Baines, Third Officer Reed, Chief Engineer Warren, and Carpenter Peltonen. Fortunately for them the lifeboat got away before they could embark in it. To the providential accident, which probably then seemed to them the worst of ill luck, they owed their lives. It would appear that these entire operations were conducted with such haste that they were completed in less than thirty minutes from the moment the vessel stranded.

“Meantime she was entirely intact (as indeed she remained for several days) and the life-savers were constantly firing signals of assurance that aid would be afforded. It would therefore hardly seem unreasonable to suppose that the officers of the Ariosto should have realized that they were on the shore and not on the Diamond Shoals. However, the boats were now afloat, and the entire crew in them, save four men. In obedience to the master’s instructions they lay to under the lee of the ship, the men at the oars backing and pulling to keep them head to the waves. It was an awful position, the sea constantly growing rougher and rougher, while the suction of the water around the bows and stern of the steamer was getting to be irresistible.

“Captain Baines thinks the pinnace held her position for at least an hour, and the lifeboat for fully half that time (having been launched last), but at all events, from his place on the bridge he saw the former carried by the swift tide to the north into the breakers, and the life-boat overwhelmed and capsized, throwing all its occupants into the sea. As a matter of fact both boats were upset, and all in them were cast adrift. Twenty-six persons were now battling for their lives in one of the worst seas with which desperate men have ever contended. And yet one of them, Seaman Elsing, a man of infinite skill in the water and of brave heart and wonderful physical power, actually swam ashore, absolutely unaided even with so much as the slightest piece of wreckage to help bear him up. Two others who left the ship in the lifeboat – C. Pettersen, a fireman, and C. Saline, a seaman – were hauled back on board the steamer by means of the boat tackle which hung alongside, while Fireman Henroth and Boatswain Andersen, who embarked in the pinnace, were dragged from the surg by the life-savers who were on the beach. By this time daylight was faintly showing, and Keeper Howard of the Ocracoke Station, having gained some ocular information of the status of affairs, at once set the international code signal ‘M K’ (Remain by your ship).

“Knowledge of the wreck was obtained at the station in the following way: About 4 o’clock Surfman Guthrie, while on south patrol, discovered, during a brief interval when the weather lighted, the masthead light of a steamer having such a bearing that he knew she must be ashore, whereupon he immediately fired a red signal and hastened as fast as he could to the station and turned out the crew. David Williams, the north patrolman, having also discovered the wreck, likewise returned to the station, finding his comrades already moving.

“The coast runs about northeast and southwest, and the steamer lay about 2 miles southwest of the station. An accident to one of the shafts of the beach-apparatus cart caused considerable delay soon after the crew started, but as it was yet very dark, and as subsequent events clearly showed, this fact in no way adversely affected the operations. The tide making over the beach was specially deep at a point where the hurricane of August 16-18 had cut an inlet, and the keeper was obliged to secure the aid of five citizens of the vicinity to help his crew get the gear to the wreck, but notwithstanding all the difficulties, the life-savers were on the scene between 5 and 5.30 o’clock. Hardly had they arrived when they made out in the darkness which still prevailed, a shadowy figure staggering along the beach, who proved to be Seaman Elsing, above named as having swum ashore unaided. He seemed only half conscious, but was able to tell them of the capsize of the boats and to suggest that they might yet find men in the surf. None could be seen however, and the life-savers went quickly to work with preparations to set up the beach apparatus.

“On account of the surf running over the beach there was very serious difficulty in finding a place sufficiently high and solid to bury the sand anchor where it would hold and to place the Lyle gun where it would be out of water. Both had to be frequently moved during the operations.

“The first shot was fired at about 5.45 o’clock, but the steamer was at least 600 yards distant, and the line failed to reach her. It was therefore hauled in, and with it came a half-drowned man, who was later found to be Boatswain Andersen. He was unconscious, but was resuscitated by the surfmen, and subsequently told them that the line fell across him as he was struggling in the surf; that he had sufficient consciousness to hitch it around his arm, and was thus drawn ashore – an almost miraculous escape from death.

“About this time other persons were dimly discernible in the water making desperate efforts to reach the beach. The life-saving men strenuously attempted to reach them, boing into the water up to their necks, but the surf was so strong that their utmost exertions resulted in saving only one, Fireman Henroth, was insensible when taken from the water, but happily not past resuscitation, which was finally effected.

“It was immediately after this rescue that Keeper Howard set the signal for those on board the ship to remain there, and then began firing to throw a line across the vessel. While this was going on, and owing to the great distance, the projectiles were falling short, three sailors were dragged from the surg apparently dead, but nevertheless some of the surfmen devoted themselves to every effort to effect their restoration, although without avail. Not until well-nigh 11 o’clock was it possible to put a line over the steamer. By that hour she had worked within 400 or 500 yards of the beach, and a projectile carrying a No. 4 shot line was finally landed on board. To this was attached a No. 7 and to that a No. 9 line (for fear that the smaller one might give way to the intense strain of dragging the tail block and whip line through the powerful longshore current) and when the No. 9 was safe on board, the whip line was attached to it and sent out. The hawser followed, and the actual rescue then began, but the tremendous roll of the ship, which lay broadside to, threatened to part the hawser every time she rolled offshore, and the most critical attention at the relieving tackle was necessary to prevent that disaster. Besides all this the vessel was gradually edging closer in and consequently the gear frequently had to be reset. For these reasons the operations were necessarily so extremely difficult that their completion without mishap affords the best of evidence that they were judiciously and skillfully conducted. Captain Baines was the last to leave the ship, and when he put his feet upon the beach, about 2.30 p.m., a loud cheer was sent up by all the people who had by this time assembled. Every man was saved whom the life-saving crews could by any possibility have rescued under the most unfortunate circumstances following the launching of the boats, and if all had remained patiently on board not one would have been lost.

“Keeper Burrus and his crew, of the Durants Life-Saving Station, located next to Ocracoke on the north, were requested by telephone to join Keeper Howard’s crew after the latter had begun operations to set up the beach apparatus. They started at once, but were obliged to use the station supply boat on account of the rough sea, and to go on the inside of the beach by way of Pamlico Sound, which consumed about two hours. They made, however, the best possible time, arriving just as the shot line was fired over the vessel, and performed their share of the work….

“All the testimony taken by the investigating officer demonstrates the entire efficiency of the life-saving crews, and the nine survivors of the wreck addressed to Keeper Howard a letter written by Captain Baines….[praising their work].” (Annual Report of…for…Fiscal year Ending June 30, 1900, 1900, pp. 38-42.)

Blanchard note: On page 179 of the Life-Saving Service report it is noted that on Dec 27 “A body from the wreck of the British steamer Ariosto having washed ashore S. of station, the surfmen noted that it was 5 feet 7 inches in height, weighed about 175 pounds, and had reddish complexion, and then gave it decent burial.

Newspaper

Dec 24: “Twenty-One Drowned, Nine Rescued.”
“British teamer Ariosto Stranded Near Cape Henry, Va.”
“Heroic Work of Life Savers.”

“Cape Henry, Va., Dec. 24. – The weather bureau official at Hatteras, N.C., reports that the British steamer Ariosto, Captain Barnes, from Galveston to Norfolk for coal, thence to Hamburg, loaded with cotton, corn, wheat and meal, stranded on Ocracoke Beach, six miles south of the Hatteras weather bureau office, at 4 o’clock this morning.

“The steamer carried a crew of thirty men. Twenty-one men abandoned the steamer and took to the boats soon after she stranded. The boats were wrecked in the heavy seas and the entire twenty-one were drowned….” (Boston Post. “Twenty-One Drowned. Nine Rescued…” 12-25-1899, p. 6.)

Sources

Boston Post. “Twenty-One Drowned. Nine Rescued…Ariosto Stranded…” 12-25-1899, p. 6. Accessed 2-12-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/boston-post-dec-25-1899-p-6/

Gentile, Gary. Shipwrecks of North Carolina – from Hatteras Inlet South. Philadelphia: Gary Gentile Productions, 1992.

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

United States Life-Saving Service. Annual Report of the United States Life-Saving Service for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1900. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1901. Accessed 2-11-2021 at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.a0004411781&view=1up&seq=45&q1

1899 –Nov-March 1900 — Bubonic Plague, especially Honolulu, Hawaii — 61

— 61  Kohn. Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence… 2001, p. 137.

— 61  Narr, Isaac. Sep 9, 1902 letter, Honolulu HI, to J. H. Mitchell, Chair, Investigating Com.[1]

 

Narrative Information

Amazon.com description of Mohr’s Plague and Fire:[2] “A little over a century ago, bubonic plague–the same Black Death that decimated medieval Europe–arrived on the shores of Hawaii just as the islands were about to become a U.S. territory. In this absorbing narrative, James Mohr tells the story of that fearful visitation and its fiery climax–a vast conflagration that engulfed Honolulu’s Chinatown.

“Mohr tells this gripping tale largely through the eyes of the people caught up in the disaster, from members of the white elite to Chinese doctors, Japanese businessmen, and Hawaiian reporters. At the heart of the narrative are three American physicians–the Honolulu Board of Health–who became virtual dictators when the government granted them absolute control over the armed forces and the treasury. The doctors soon quarantined Chinatown, where the plague was killing one or two people a day and clearly spreading. They resisted intense pressure from the white community to burn down all of Chinatown at once and instead ordered a careful, controlled burning of buildings where plague victims had died. But a freak wind whipped one of those small fires into a roaring inferno that destroyed everything in its path, consuming roughly thirty-eight acres of densely packed wooden structures in a single afternoon. Some 5000 people lost their homes and all their possessions and were marched in shock to detention camps, where they were confined under armed guard for weeks.

“Next to the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Chinatown fire is the worst civic disaster in Hawaiian history. A dramatic account of people struggling in the face of mounting catastrophe, Plague and Fire is a stimulating and thought-provoking read. (Book description on Amazon.com

Cunningham: “In June 1899…plague arrived in Hawaii aboard the merchant ship the Nippon Miru. Though authorities sent the ship to the local quarantine island, the rodents aboard made their way to land. Beginning in September, massive numbers of dead rats turned up, especially around Honolulu’s Chinatown district. Local health authorities declared a local man dead of plague on December 11. Two days later, the newspapers announced the disease had arrived in Hawaii.

“In 1899, Hawaii was a territory of the United States, and a small National Guard unit handled emergencies. Regulations banned travel in and out of Honolulu, and authorities quarantined Chinatown. Guardsmen set up barricades and lines of men around the part of Chinatown under suspicion of harboring infection. The quarantine held in a population that included Chinese, Japanese, and native Hawaiians. Hardship followed for those quarantined. Food ran short. Businesses suffered. Honolulu’s shipping slowed because workers were not available to unlad cargo.

“When plague seemed to disappear, Hawaii’s health officials faced criticism that they had done too much. Chinese and Japanese called the quarantine racist. Businessmen wanted to get back to making money. Officials, faced with pressure, lifted the quarantine.

“Plague resurfaced by the end of the month. The quarantine went back into effect, and the guardsmen returned to keep it in place. Clifford B. Wood, a physician with the Board of Health, soon went public with a new anti-plague strategy. ‘[A]ll wooden buildings in which a case of plague occurs, and all wooden buildings [nearby]…[would be] burned as soon as possible.’

“Those inside Chinatown resented the policy. Some of those outside, however, pushed for even more extreme measures when plague killed Sarah Boardman, a suburban woman. Health officials fought off demands to burn all of Chinatown.

“Wood and his colleagues stuck to their original policy. On January 20, 1900, firefighters began a controlled burn of shacks suspected of harboring plague. The controlled burn became an inferno and fire blazed through Chinatown. Volunteers outside of Chinatown rushed in to help residents evacuate. But a large group of armed men also set up a line to prevent residents from leaving for fear they would spread plague. Chinese leaders and government officials, however, managed to calm the situation. The fire left 6,000 people homeless.” (pp. 87-89)

HawaiiHistory.org: “By 1900, Chinatown – bustling as ever – was jammed with dilapidated and flimsy wooden structures, plagued by poor sanitation, periodic flooding, dense living conditions and rat infestations. Such conditions practically invited an outbreak of bubonic plague. December 12, 1899 You Chong, a bookkeeper for Wing Wo Tai’s business on Nu`uanau Avenue, died of the plague. By the end of December, nine more cases of plague were reported.

“The Board of Health established a quarantine station in Kaka`ako with military guards enforcing victims’ isolation. To clear contaminated areas, the Board set 41 controlled fires, cleaned and disinfected buildings, burned garbage, filled old cesspools and dug new ones.

“On January 20, 1900, another planned fire cleansing was begun at Beretania between Nu`uanu and the old Kaumakapili Church. This time wind gusts spread the fire to the church and from there flames leapfrogged all the way to the wharf. The huge fire burned 17 days, destroying 38 acres and 4,000 homes (mostly Chinese and Japanese). After the disaster was brought under control, the Board of Health successfully set an additional 31 controlled fires. Four months later, Honolulu was deemed plague-free.

“The 1900 fire had a major impact on Chinatown’s demographics. Many Chinese residents, made homeless by the fire, left and settled elsewhere. Most businesses continued to be owned by Chinese, but many business owners did not return to Chinatown as residents.”  (HawaiiHistory.org. Library. “Chinatown fire of 1900.” 2013.)

Kohn: “Hawaiian Plague of 1899-1900 — Epidemic of plague that killed 61 of 71 people infected, beginning with Hawaiian Asians, between November 1899 and March 1900, as part of the third plague pandemic reaching toward the New World…

“In November 1899, two ships from Hong Kong carried bubonic plague victims into Honolulu. One of the ships, the S.S. Nippon Maru, arrived with two human corpses and rats infected with plague. Hawaii first discovered it had plague when a Dr. George Herbert treated the first fatally ill patient in December; shortly thereafter, four Chinese (three clinically diagnosed) died of the disease. Because the plague first took root among Hawaiian orientals, Honolulu/s Chinatown was quarantined and searched for more plague victims. Despite the lifting of the quarantine and pronouncements that the plague was gone, the disease persisted, killing 36 of 44 patients within the next month….

“The epidemic continued to rage in Hawaii in 1900, despite a major fire in Honolulu that the destroyed the homes and possessions of many Chinese; the fire began when the fire department’s burning of a plague-contaminated house went out of control in Chinatown. More than 5,000 people were left homeless and without possessions. Rats were thought to be plague carriers, which was evidenced in folklore among oriental Hawaiians, and burning houses was thought to kill them. As new cases appeared regularly in Oahu and later in the other Hawaiian islands, Asians were the first victims. Ships brought the plague infection again and again to the islands.”[3] (pp. 137-138)

Naar letter: “During the week ending the 16th day of December, 1899, a case diagnosed as bubonic plague was discovered in this city, and was followed by 70 other cases of a similar character. The last case was received at the detention hospitals in the latter portion of March, 1900, and in all 61 of the unfortunates died….The bubonic plague afflicted only 18 natives and 7 whites, while 46 Mongolians felt its terrific grasp.” (Letter of Isaac Naar to Hon. J. H. Mitchell, Chairman of Senatorial Investigating Committee of Honolulu, Hawaii, September 9, 1902, Honolulu, Hawaii, pp. 188-189 in U.S. Congress, Senate.)

 

Sources

Cunningham, Kevin. The Bubonic Plague. Edina, MN: ABDO Publishing Co., 2011. Google digital preview accessed 9-12-2016 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=qhZ6AgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

HawaiiHistory.org. Library. “Chinatown fire of 1900.” 2013. Accessed 1-19-2013 at: http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&PageID=548&returntoname=year%201900&returntopageid=184

Kohn, George Childs (Ed.). Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence From Ancient Times to the Present (Revised Edition). NY: Checkmark Books, 2001.

United States Congress, Senate Committee on Pacific Islands and Porto Rico. “Bubonic Plague,” Beginning at page 188 in Hawaiian Investigation Part 3: Exhibits, Memorials, Petitions, and Letters Presented to the Subcommittee on Pacific Islands and Porto Rico. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1903. Google digitized. Accessed 9-12-2016 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=DrDvFQD4FqEC&dq=bubonic+plague+hawaii+1899&q=plague#v=onepage&q=plague&f=true

 

[1] Mr. Mitchell was Chairman of Senatorial Investigating Committee of Honolulu Hawaii, in U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Pacific Islands and Porto Rico, GPO, 1903.

[2] Mohr, James C. Plague and Fire: Battling Black Death and the 1900 Burning of Honolulu’s Chinatown. NY: Oxford University Press, 2005.

[3] Suggests further reading: Ackerknecht, History and Geography of the Most Important Diseases; Gregg, Plague: An Ancient Disease in the Twentieth Century.

1899 — Aug 8-19, San Ciriaco Hurricane, esp. Puerto Rico/3433 & NC/73 (Aug 17-18)       –3,507

Compiled by B. Wayne Blanchard, Jan 2010; modified Jan 2020, for website: Deadliest American Disasters and Large-Loss-Of-Life Events. https://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

—  3,507  Blanchard U.S. tally of NC (~73) and Puerto Rico (3433)

—  3,500  Davies. Inside the Hurricane: Face to Face with Nature’s Deadliest Storms. 2000, 247.

–~3,477  Blanchard tally based on FL, NC and PR breakouts below.

—  3,433  Harmswaystormstories.com. San Ciriaco August 16-18, 1899. Accessed 1-3-2020.

North Carolina          (   ~74)

—  74  Blanchard tally of sea-related losses noted by Barnes, Stick, and Garriott.

—  58  Blanchard tally of maritime losses noted by Stick in Graveyard of the Atlantic.

–>50  Stick. Graveyard of Atlantic: Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast. 1952, pp. 163-168.

—  44  Barnes. North Carolina’s Hurricane History (Third Edition). 2001, pp. 52 and 55.

—  14  Swan Island fishermen drowned. (p. 52)

–>30  “…at least thirty lives were lost in…shipwrecks.” (p. 55.)[1]

—  25  Barnes. North Carolina’s Hurricane History (Third Edition). 2001, p. 304.

Breakouts (74):

—  8  Barkentine Albert Schultz, Baltimore for Savannah, lost off NC coast. Stick 1952, p. 168.

—  8  Brig Henry B. Cleaves, Haiti for Stamford CT, lost off NC coast. Stick 1952, p. 168.

—  5  Schooner Aaron Reppard grounds on Cape Hatteras reef Aug 16.[2]

–Captain Osker Wessel; tried to swim to shore and drowned.

–Passenger Cummings; fell from rigging, leg caught in rope, slammed against mast.

–Sailor Tony Nelson; thrown from rigging to deck and washed overboard.

–Two of five crew flung from foremast into the breakers; the others reaching shore.

–1  Gulf Shore. Body of cook from wrecked Aaron Reppard found, Aug 19.[3]

—  8  Schooner Chas. M. Patterson, Philadelphia for Savannah, lost off NC coast. Stick 1952, 168.

—  7  Schooner Elwood H. Smith, NYC for Jacksonville, lost off NC coast. Stick 1952, p. 168.

—  5  Schooner General E. L. F. Hardcastle foundered in Pamlico Sound; all of crew lost.[4]

—  9  Schooner John C. Haynes, Tampa for Baltimore, lost off NC coast. Stick 1952, p. 168.

—  2  Schooner Lydia Willis, sunk near mouth of Ocracoke Inlet; two of six washed overboard.[5]

—  7  Schooner M. B. Millen, New London, CT for Brunswick, GA, lost off NC coast.[6]

—  1  Steamship Agnes, off Hatteras beach; all lost, but no number; body of cook washed ashore.[7]

–14  Swan Island area, drownings. From group of 20 fishermen. Barnes. NC Hurricane History.

 

Notations of lives lost, but the recovered bodies could well have been from one of listed vessels.

—  1  Cape Hatteras. Body of man found on beach, Aug 25. North Carolina Shipwrecks.

—  1  Creeds Hill, Aug 21. Body of man found washed up onto the shore. NC Shipwrecks.

—  1  Durants shore. Body found on shore, Aug 18, with name Agnes on nearby plank.[8]

—  1  Gulf Shore. Body of man found washed on onshore Aug 23. North Carolina Shipwrecks.

–35  “Newspaper accounts concluded that at least 35 lives were lost in…shipwrecks.”[9]

 

Puerto Rico                (3,433)

—  3,433  NOAA, NHC and CPHC. The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1996.

—  3,433  Rappaport and Fernandez-Partagas. The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones…, 1993.

—  3,433  Univ. of Rhode Island. “1899 San Ciriaco Hurricane.” Hurricanes: Science and Society.

–~3,400  Library of Congress. “Hurricane San Ciriaco.” 6-22-2011.

—  3,369  Landsea, Christopher and Jose Fernandez Partagas. Year 1899.

–2,569  Drownings

—   800  Hurricane winds

—  3,369  NOAA. Hurricane No. 59, “1899 Aug. 8-9 San Ciriaco.” Accessed 1-3-2020.

–>3,000  Carolina Country. “Remembering the San Ciriaco Hurricane of 1899.” August 2014.

–>3,000  Schwartz. “The Hurricane of San Ciriaco.” Hispanic Amer. Hist. Rev., 72/3, 1992, 304.

— >500  Ponce, “mostly from drowning.” P. 305.

 

Montserrat                ( ~100)

~100  Daily Gleaner, Kingston, Jamaica. “The Recent Cyclone. US Storm Bulletin.” 8-28-1899, 10.

 

Dominican Republic (       ?)

 

Narrative Information

 

LOC: “On August 8, 1899, Puerto Rico experienced one of the most destructive hurricanes in history. It rained for 28 days straight and the winds reached speeds of 100 miles per hour. The loss of life and property damage were immense. Approximately 3,400 people died in the floods and thousands were left without shelter, food, or work.

 

“The most devastating effect of San Ciriaco was the destruction of the farmlands, especially in the mountains where the coffee plantations were located. San Ciriaco aggravated the social and economic situation of Puerto Rico at the time and had serious repercussions in the years that followed.”  (Library of Congress. “Hurricane San Ciriaco.” 6-22-2011.)

 

Rappaport:  Footnote “m” in Rappaport and Fernandez-Partagas: “Garriott (1900) and Alexander (1902) indicate thousands of additional deaths in Puerto Rico due to subsequent starvation. Stick (1952) and Chapman indicate at least 50 deaths in shipwrecks along coastal Carolina. Barnes (1995) has at least 30 along the coast of North Carolina and 14 inland in that state.”

 

URI: “Hurricane San Ciriaco was an intense, long-lived Cape Verde-type hurricane that appeared east of the island of Martinique on 7 August (the system was first detected on 3 August as a tropical storm by a ship west-southwest of Cape Verde, however it was not identified on US Weather Bureau reports until 7 August). Moving at a speed of 27 km/h (17 mph), the storm crossed directly over the island of Guadeloupe on the afternoon of 7 August and passed 80 to 120 km (50 to 75 mi) to the south of St. Kitts. Here wind speeds of (192 km/h) 120 mph were recorded, making the storm at least a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.

 

“The hurricane strengthened as it passed through the islands, reaching a peak intensity with 240 km/h (150 mph) winds and a central pressure of 930 mb near the island of Montserrat. Continuing on its west-northwest track, the hurricane made landfall on southeastern Puerto Rico early on 8 August with 224 km/h (140 mph) winds. After moving off of Puerto Rico, the hurricane then skimmed the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic on 9 August as a Category 3 hurricane. The hurricane continued to move at a slow forward speed of less than 16 km/h (10 mph), passing through the Bahamas and taking a turn for the north. On 13 August, the hurricane’s center was proximal to Jupiter, Florida. Traveled almost parallel to the U.S. coast over the next few days, before turning west-northwest to come ashore on North Carolina’s lower Outer Banks near Diamond City on 17 August as a Category 3 hurricane with winds gusting to (224 km/h) 140 mph. The storm drifted over this area for two days before turning eastward and exiting the U.S. coast as a weakened Category 1 hurricane on 19 August. After leaving the United States, the hurricane moved eastward over the open Atlantic until it became extratropical on 22 August. The remnants of the storm managed to reorganize over open water and redevelop into a tropical storm on 26 August after turning to the north. As the storm was drifting, it again turned eastward and again strengthened into a hurricane while moving through the Azores on 3 September. The born-again hurricane was short lived, as it dissipated the next day moving northeastward.

 

“The hurricane’s impact in Puerto Rico would prove to be one of the largest losses of life in relation to a hurricane in the history of the Atlantic basin. Overall, the island would be swamped by 28 days of rain. The official death toll from the storm in Puerto Rico was 3,433, with millions of dollars in crop damage. The U.S. mid-Atlantic coast, especially the Outer Banks of North Carolina, was also significantly impacted by this hurricane. Almost all of the houses in Diamond City and Shackleford, NC, were lost to storm surge, which was as high as 3 m (10 ft) in places. The hurricane also destroyed all fishing equipment in these towns, and as a result, the residents abandoned these establishments and searched to start over elsewhere.” (University of Rhode Island. “1899 San Ciriaco Hurricane.” Hurricanes: Science and Society. 2010-2011.)

 

Stick on NC Coast: “….So intense were the winds and so high the tides accompanying San Ciriaco that it was impossible for lifesavers to maintain their patrols, with the result that most of the vessels wrecked on the coast were not reached – were not even discovered – until the morning of the eighteenth, when the winds had begun to subside.” (p. 164.)

(Stick, David. Graveyard of the Atlantic: Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast.)

 

Sources

 

Barnes, Jay. Florida’s Hurricane History. Chapel Hill & London: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.

 

Barnes, Jay. North Carolina’s Hurricane History (Third Edition). Chapel Hill and London:  University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

 

Carolina Country. “Remembering the San Ciriaco Hurricane of 1899.” August 2014. Accessed 1-3-2010 at: https://www.carolinacountry.com/carolina-stories/remembering-the-san-ciriaco-hurricane-of-1899

 

Daily Gleaner, Kingston, Jamaica. “The Recent Cyclone. United States Storm Bulletin.” 8-28-1899, p. 10. Accessed 1-3-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/kingston-daily-gleaner-aug-28-1899-p-10/

 

Daily Press, Newport News, VA. “Worst in Seventy-Five Years.” 8-30-1899, p. 1. Accessed 1-3-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/newport-news-daily-press-aug-30-1899-p-1/

 

Davies, Pete. Inside the Hurricane: Face to Face with Nature’s Deadliest Storms. New York:  Henry Holt and Company, 2000.

 

Garriott, E. B. “Forecasts and Warnings.” Monthly Weather Review, Vol. XXVII, No. 8, August 1899. Accessed 1-3-2020 at: https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/hurdat/mwr_pdf/1899.pdf

 

Harmswaystormstories.com. San Ciriaco August 16-18, 1899. Accessed 1-3-2020 at: https://www.harmswaystormstories.com/san-ciriaco-1899

 

Ho, Francis P. NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS HYDDRO-43: Extreme Hurricanes in the Nineteenth Century. Silver Spring, MD: Office of Hydrology, NOAA, March 1989. Accessed 1-3-2020 at: https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/7224

 

Landsea, Christopher and Jose Fernandez Partagas. Year 1899. Accessed 1-3-2020 at: https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/Landsea/Partagas/1898-1900/1899_1.pdf

 

Library of Congress. “Hurricane San Ciriaco.” 6-22-2011. Accessed 11-24-2012 at: http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/sanciriaco.html

 

New York Times. “Hundreds Dead In Hurricane; Destruction in Path of the West Indian Storm. Ponce A Total Wreck…May Be 300 Killed…” 8-11-1899. Accessed 1-3-2020 at: https://www.nytimes.com/1899/08/11/archives/hundreds-dead-in-hurricane-destruction-in-path-of-the-west-indian.html

 

New York Times. “West Indian Hurricane Carried Death and Destruction to Several Islands. Great Havoc in Puerto Rico.” 8-10-1899. Accessed 1-3-2020 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1899/08/10/100447432.pdf

 

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Hurricane No. 59, “1899 Aug. 8-9 San Ciriaco.” Accessed 1-3-2020 at: https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/data_sub/perez_21_34.pdf

 

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1996. Accessed 1-3-2010 at: https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastdeadlyapp1.shtml?

 

North Carolina Shipwrecks. “San Ciriaco Hurricane ~ August 1899. 3-28-2011. Accessed 1-3-2020 at: http://northcarolinashipwrecks.blogspot.com/2012/03/san-ciriaco-hurricane-august-1899.html

 

Rappaport, Edward N. and Jose Fernandez-Partagas. The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1994 (NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS NHC-47). Coral Gables, FL: National Hurricane Center, National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, January 1995, 42 pages. Accessed 8-20-2017 at:  http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/NWS-NHC-1995-47.pdf

 

Schwartz, Stuart B. “The Hurricane of San Ciriaco: Disaster, Politics, and Society in Puerto Rico, 1899-1901.” Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 72, No. 3, 1992, Duke University Press. Accessed 1-3-2020 at: http://latinamericanstudies.org/puertorico/hurricane.pdf

 

Stick, David. Graveyard of the Atlantic: Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1952.

 

University of Rhode Island. “1899 San Ciriaco Hurricane.” Hurricanes: Science and Society. 2010-2011. Accessed 11-24-2012: http://www.hurricanescience.org/history/storms/pre1900s/1899/

 

 

 

 

[1] Cites newspaper reports of the time and notes “the real number of deaths was probably much higher.”

[2] Stick, David. Graveyard of Atlantic: Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast. 1952, p. 163.

[3] North Carolina Shipwrecks. “San Ciriaco Hurricane ~ August 1899. 3-28-2011.

[4] Stick, David. Graveyard of Atlantic: Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast. 1952, p. 165.

[5] Stick, David. Graveyard of Atlantic: Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast. 1952, p. 164.

[6] Stick, David. Graveyard of Atlantic: Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast. 1952, p. 168.

[7] Garriott, E. B. “Forecasts and Warnings.” Monthly Weather Review, Vol. XXVII, No. 8, August 1899.

[8] North Carolina Shipwrecks. “San Ciriaco Hurricane ~ August 1899. 3-28-2011.

[9] North Carolina Shipwrecks. “San Ciriaco Hurricane ~ August 1899. 3-28-2011. Goes on to note: “…the real number of deaths was probably much higher.” Notes the names of

1899 — June 17-July 6, Central/So.Central TX rainfall/flooding, esp. Brazos River, TX–284  

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 3-17-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

Blanchard note: I show 284 lives lost as reported in the first three sources noted below, none of which cite a source, though I am skeptical. The earliest of the three, Bishop’s, was first written in 1952, more than half a century after the flooding. Our own search of Texas newspapers at the time, going through July, note that the loss of life would not be more than 100 (El Paso Daily Herald, 7-11-1899, 1.) Nonetheless, the specificity of 284 lives list gives us pause. If the number had been reported as 200 or 300, we would speculate that the number itself was a speculation. Thus, though we have searched the Internet, we find nothing to support 284 lives lost, or any other number other than we locate in newspapers at the time. Surely there is an original source for the number 284, which apparently has been picked up and repeated without citation or investigation, but we have not located this source.

—  284  Bishop. “Brazos Flood of 1899.” TX State Historical Assn. Handbook of Texas Online.[1]

—  284  LifeOnTheBrazosRiver.com. The Brazos River. “Floods of the Brazos River in Texas.”[2]

—  284  Texas State Library & Archives Commission. Portraits of Texas Governors.[3]

—<100  El Paso Daily Herald. “The Brazos Falling…Emptying Itself Into the Gulf.” 7-11-1899, 1.

—    45  Colac Herald, Victoria, Australia. “Awful Calamity in Texas. 6-13-1899, p. 3.

—    37  Galveston Daily News, TX. “Resume of the Flood.” 7-9-1899, p. 1.

—  0  Austin County    [Reported next day that Robert Murphy, 20, drowned, CO river.[4]]

—  0  Bell County

—  0  Brazoria County

—  3  Brazos County

—  1  Burleson County

—  3  Falls County

—  0  Fort Bend County

—  4  Grimes County

—  0  McLennan County

—  0  Milam County

–24  Robertson County

—  1  Waller County

—  1  Washington County

 

Counties most effected, north to south, based on “Map of the Flooded District.” In the Houston Daily Post, 7-7-1899, p. 1:

 

McLennan

Bell

Falls

Roberson

Milam

Brazos

Burleson

Grimes

Washington

Walker

Austin

Fort Bend

Brazoria

 

Narrative Information

 

Bishop: “Between June 17 and June 28, 1899, rainfall averaging 8.9 inches fell over 66,000 square miles, causing the Brazos River to overflow its banks and inundate an estimated 12,000 square miles. Damage to property was estimated at more than $9 million and 284 persons were known to have perished in the floodwaters; thousands of others were left homeless. The flood’s highest recorded stage was at Hearne, where, as at many points, the waters rose above all available flood gauges.”  (Bishop. “Brazos Flood of 1899.” TX State Historical Assn. Handbook of Texas Online.)

 

LifeOnTheBrazosRiver.com: “Between June 17 and June 28, 1899, rainfall averaging 8.9 inches fell over 66,000 square miles, causing the Brazos River to overflow its banks and inundate an estimated 12,000 square miles. Damage to property was estimated at more than $9 million and 284 persons were known to have perished in the floodwaters; thousands of others were left homeless. The flood’s highest recorded stage was at Hearne, where, as at many points, the waters rose above all available flood gauges.” (LifeOnTheBrazosRiver.com. The Brazos River. “Floods of the Brazos River in Texas.”)

 

Texas State Library & Archives Commission: “Jun 17-28 1899 Great Brazos Flood kills 284.”  (Texas State Library & Archives Commission.  Portraits of Texas Governors.)

 

Newspapers – Chronological

 

June 17: “Waco, Tex., June 17. – The Brazos river rose 6 feet 7 inches between 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon and noon to-day and is still rising slowly. A report reached here this afternoon that a 12-foot rise is coming down from the upper counties and will reach here to-morrow. If the present depth of the river, which is 11 feet 8 inches, is maintained and the report prove correct of a head of 12 feet coming, the flood point will be nearly reached when the freshet water from above reaches here. The situation is considered threatening enough to cause the people in the valley to keep well on their guard. If the figures given as to the flood water in the river above Waco are exactly correct the overflow will not, even when the upper flood arrives, be up to the disaster point. It is still raining in the counties northwest of Waco and the tributaries of the Brazos above Waco are pretty full. It is thought that the river can carry off all the water now in it unless the rains keep falling to-night and to-morrow. Observations are being made all along the course of the river and warnings will be sent as soon as the danger point is reached.” (Galveston Daily News, TX. “The Brazos Rising.” 6-18-1899, p. 1, col. 4.)

 

June 21: “Waco, Tex., June 21. – The Brazos river began falling at 6 o’clock this morning, after having risen 21.8 feet. Nearly 16 feet of this was Red river rise, one of the largest of that character in years. Old settlers say had the local rains continued much damage would have resulted.” (San Antonio Daily Light, TX. 6-21-1899, p. 4, col. 6.)

 

June 23: “Brazos River. Falling at Navasota. Navasota, Grimes Co., Tex., June 23. – The Brazos river has been falling rapidly all day and all fear of high water is passed.

 

“Chappell Hill, Washington Co., Tex., June 23. – The Brazos river has risen about twenty feet and has run over its banks into the old river. This is at a place where the banks are low, and no danger of a general overflow is apprehended.” (Galveston News, TX. “Brazos River.” 6-24-1899, p. 3.)

 

June 24: “The Brazos river is higher at Glen Rose than it has been since 1894 and is still rising.” (El Paso Daily Herald, TX. “Neighborhood Notes. Texas.” 6-24-1899, p. 3, col. 4.)

 

June 29: “Special to the Daily Light. Waco, Tex., June 29. – The Brazos river is on a tremendous rise and only lacks six feet of being the highest known and is rising ten inches an hour. It is feared that damage will result in East Waco, and water has already encroached somewhat on that section. The river is now twenty-seven feet above the low wat4r mark. Great quantities of hay and grain which had been shocked in the low lands passed by this morning. Every stream in this section is bank full and the same report comes from some distance above. If the river gets much higher great damage will result to the bottom farms. The basement of the Provident building, on Franklin street, was flooded last night and considerable damage was done. Some bridges are gone in the county. Over four inches of rain have fallen in the last thirty-six hours.

 

“Special to the Daily Light. Victoria Light. Victoria, Tex., June 29. – The excessive rains for the past four days caused the stoppage of east bound trains yesterday and on their arrival at Victoria, there was a detention until 1 o’clock this morning. The washouts were between Wharton and Edna.

 

Special to the Daily Light. Houston, Tex., June 29. – The Buffalo bayou is higher than for years and is still rising.

 

“Special to the Daily Light. Austin Tex., June 29. – The morning trains over the International and Great Northern and the Houston and Texas Central were seriously delayed by the heavy rain storms and washouts. The south bound International and Great Northern train is seven hours late. The rain has been heavy in this vicinity but no damage was done. The crops are fine.

 

“Special to the Daily Light. Dallas, Texas, June 29. – It has been raining here for two days and is still raining. Farmers say it is damaging corn….” (San Antonio Daily Light, TX. “Big Rains. Brazos River on a Tremendous Boom.” 6-29-1899, p. 4.)

 

June 30: “Special to the Daily Light. Waco, Tex., June 30. – 8 a.m. – The Brazos river is higher here than ever known. A number of bridges have been washed away. The water is all over East Waco. There is great damage to property, but so far no lives have been reported lost.” (San Antonio Daily Light. “Brazos On A Boom!” 6-30-1899, p. 1.)

 

June 30: “Austin, Tex., June 30. – (Special) – The terrific rains in Central Texas continue unabated and the floods in the creeks and rivers are devastating growing crops and other property with increased voraciousness. Railroad traffic on almost every trunk line in the State is paralyzed and the damage to the International & Great Northern, the Houston & Texas Central; the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, the San Antonio & Aransas Pass and the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe roads by the washing away of bridges and many miles of track will aggregate over a half million dollars. This section of the State has been completely cut off from railway communication with the North and East for the past two days and no mail from St. Louis, Chicago, New York and other Northern and Eastern points has been received since the traffic was first interrupted.

 

“The Brazos river is the largest of the flooded streams. At points its width is ten miles and it continues to rise slowly below Hearne. Its tributaries are all out of their banks and scores of costly country bridges have been washed away. The Brazos river bottom lands from Hearne to Velasco are known as the most productive cotton region in the South. It is really the cotton belt of Texas. The present unprecedented high waters have swept 100,000 prospective bales of cotton out of existence. This is a conservative estimate of the extent of the loss of cotton yield. In addition to the cotton crop loss the sugar planters in the lower counties along the course of the Brazos are suffering great damage to their sugar cane crop.

 

“H. M. Troxow, a prominent planter of Washington county, who arrived here today from the scene of the flood in that section estimates that the total losses to crops in the bottoms of the Brazos and tributaries will be fully $2,000,000 and if the rise becomes a few feet greater the loss will reach an additional million dollars. In Washington and adjoining counties there are many well to do negro planters whose possessions are entirely swept away, leaving them without the course of the river the negroes are heavy sufferers from the flood.

 

“In Sell county Leon and Nolan creeks are raging torrents of water and have washed away many houses and household effects besides destroying all crops in the course. A telephone message was received this evening from Belton stating a number of small residences there had been swept away by Nolan creek, but no loss of life is reported. The flood has also done considerable damage at Bryan….

 

“The Colorado river is also on another big rise below here and in Fayette county it is out of its banks and doing much damage. State Senator A. B. Davidson of Cureo arrived here this evening. He stated that the Guadalupe and Colorado rivers in that section are flooding the low country. The rains in that locality during the past few days have been terrific. The fall was eight and eight-tenths inches in eighteen hours. The Gulf, West Texas & Pacific and the New York, Texas and Mexican railroads are literally washed to pieces. The track of the latter road from Victoria to Richmond, a distance of eighty miles, is nearly all under water. The San Antonio & Aransas Pass road from Cuero to Wallace, a distance of 100 miles is also badly washed out.

 

At Waco.

 

“The Brazon Within Two Inches of the 1883 Record – Damage to Bridges.

 

“Waco, Tex., June 30. – (Special) – The Brazos river reached a point at 6 o’clock, this morning just two inches below the high water mark of 1885, the highest ever known. The river began falling about 7 o’clock and had fallen three feet in twelve hours. It is going down faster at 10 o’clock. The rain ceased at 2 o’clock this morning, having fallen incessantly, save for two or three intermissions of a few minutes each, just 43 hours. The damage to crops will be slight, but the damage to improvements is heavy. Fences have been blown down and washed away. The destruction of country bridges is quite heavy and the loss will be something like $50,0000.

 

“Several bridges in the city were destroyed and much damage has been done to the streets. The loss from the floods by the city will reach perhaps $10,000 or $13,000. The damage to private property cannot be estimated, but it will go up to six figures in the county and city. The damage to merchandise in East Waco will not reach over $10,000, the merchants having put most of their goods up above the water. The railroads do not pretend to run their trains on time and the Houston & Texas Central has not run a train out since Wednesday. Washouts are reported at Reagan on the Waco branch and the train which went down Wednesday has not yet returned. The San Antonio & Aransas Pass lost almost 200 yards of its track on Castleman creek, twelve miles south. The Cotton Belt is running trains over the Katy to Hillsboro, taking their own track there. The Katy can only run as far south as Elgin. The Texas Central in unobstructed and is making very good time.

 

At Brenham.

 

“Thousands of Acres Inundated – The Celebration For July 4 Postponed.

 

“Brenham, Tex., June 30. – (Special) – At 6:30 o’clock this morning the record showed that since Tuesday morning 20.08 inches of rain has fallen here. It is hard to estimate the damage to the crops. Up to the time the rain commenced the prospects were good for cotton and corn. Now it is problematical. The greater part of the crop is made in the bottom land. The Brazos river is now over thousands of acres of land, every creek in this section has overflowed and is standing on the crops and there are estimates of 50 per cent of damage to cotton with a greater damage to corn. The upland will not suffer as have the lowlands, but when it is considered that the biggest part of the crop is along the bottoms it can be seen that this estimate o the whole crop is not far off.

 

“Some of the largest farms in this county are under water, Ni trains are running through Brenham except those on the branch between Hempstead and Austin. The damage to the Santa Fe Railway in this vicinity is very heavy. Two miles of the Houston & Texas Central tracks east of here are under water….” (San Antonio Daily Express, TX. “The Floods’ Ravages. The Terrific Rains in Central Texas Continue Unabated.” 7-1-1899, p. 1.)

 

July 1: “Navasota, Tex., July 1. – The almost interminable rise in the waters of the Brazos and Navasota rivers continue unabated, though by to-morrow evening it is hoped the worst will be over. Still no more damage can be done by the rivers unless there are still left cabins covered by water and they be taken away, as many have by the water….The water is said to be four feet higher than in 1885….The News correspondent launched a boat on Chase street and rowed over streets covered with fifteen feet of water and two or three hundred feet wide for a mile. Every one living in the lower end of town is moving as fast as possible….

 

Brenham Shut In.

 

“Brenham, Tex., July 1. – Brenham is still almost completely shut in. No trains or mail for four days. The only news comes from Austin…..One mile of track and two bridges are gone near Somerville. The Yegua is three miles wide. The Brazos rose four feet since 6 o’clock this morning. Bridge Master Rogers passed through yesterday and says the Central track in the Brazos bottom is 34 inches under water. In both the Brazos and Yegua bottoms much stock huddled on high knolls will be drowned…Mayor Wilkins has every available man and team pressed into service repairing washouts in the streets. Men are assembled in knots and groups with serious faces discussing the disaster. Many farmers in the county are absolutely ruined. Business is almost completely paralyzed. No Galveston News since last Tuesday.

 

Calvert Rumors

 

“Houston, Tex., July 1. Most alarming rumors obtained circulation here to-night to the effect that Calvert had been inundated, part of it swept away and fifty or sixty people known to have been drowned. Persons here who have friends or relatives there are desperately seeking every morsel of news from there. They fear that many more are drowned that are not known of. The idea prevails here that it amounts to an unparalleled calamity for Texas…

 

High Water At Mexia.

 

“Mexia, Tex., July 1. – Another heavy shower to-day and a thunder storm is now raging west of here. Several hundred feet of track is washed away at the end of the Navassa bridge and the highest point of the water has not yet been reached, as the rain west of here to-day is yet to come down. All bridges in the county are damaged and some are entirely gone. The loss to this county is bridges alone will be several thousand dollars….

 

The River At Waco.

 

“Waco, Tex., July 1. – The Brazos river lost twenty feet in twelve hours and began to rise at 7 o’clock this morning. By sunset it had regained nearly all it lost and was in eight inches of the highest mark of the present flood. The Busque, which is a fork of the Brazos, emptying into the latter three miles above Waco, drains the western portion of McLennan, all of Bosque and all of Erath counties and has a large system of tributaries, is largely responsible for to-day’s rampage in the Brazos. In addition, the Brazos got heavy contributions from the Aquilla and other Hill county streams and the result was the biggest local head of water ever seen. The wires are down and news comes only by horsemen, who reach here drenched and tired….The railroad lines parallel with the Brazos river are under water….

 

“The rain to-day beat anything recorded in the history of the country. There were several cloud-bursts, and the water in the main Bosque went up about forty feet in a few hours. Among the towns on the Bosque and its branches are Iredell, Clifton, Valley Mills, Stephenville, Meridian and China Springs. The towns named are the centers of wealthy communities of farmers. It is a splendid grain region, and flouring mills are numerous….The wreckage swept into the Brazos by the Bosque floods consisted of trees, fences, parts of houses and drowned stock. The main Bosque descends from a mountainous region and possesses many cascades along its course. It roared to-day as it rushed along, its mighty torrents constantly augmented by the numerous confluents, and when it struck costly steel bridges it knocked them winding and beat them double with its gigantic force…..

 

Heavy Rains at Belton.

 

“Belton, Tex., July 1. – One of the heaviest rains that has ever fallen fell here yesterday evening late. The Leon river is some three feet higher than known in years and is still rising. The approaches to the wagon bridge are gone. The Santa Fe bridge is still safe, but a small bridge east of the river is gone and all trains are delayed….The bridge near Nolanville is gone, and the big iron wagon bridge across the Leon river, three miles above here, is completely gone. Reports from Salado say that several houses in that section have been washed away. The loss is incalculable.

 

Report From Sealy.

 

“Denison, Tex., July 1. – At 3 o’clock this morning the Brazos river was reported as still rising at Sealy, and fears are expressed that the bridge there will be washed away. The water at that point is above the telegraph poles….

Heavy Rains in Lee County.

 

“Tanglewood, Lee Co., Tex., June 30. – Rain now for three days and nights, overflowing the creeks and washing out dams and water gaps….” (Galveston Daily News, TX. “Results of the Flood…Property Loss Is Enormous.” 7-2-1899, p. 1.)

 

July 1: “Calvert, Texas, July 1. – This town and vicinity was visited by a veritable Johnstown flood Friday night [June 30]. The heavy rains which have been descending for several days had swollen the creeks, running into the northern and southern portions of the city, which, with the cloudburst of Thursday night have overflowed the embankments, causing widespread devastation. Destruction to property and crops in this section can not be at this time estimated. The damage to property in this city is very great.

 

“The negro settlement suffered the most loss. Five bodies of negroes have been recovered. The names are Dave White, Tom Hyson, Rosana Brown and her infant and an unknown negro. Some twelve negro houses were washed from their blocks and were distributed to a distance of some 150 yards away. Besides this thirty negro houses were flooded with water and the entire contents soaked and ruined. The rain has rendered 150 persons homeless. Prompt action was taken by Mayor Meredith in providing shelter and food for the suffering….” (Victoria Daily Advocate, TX. “Rains and Floods.” 7-7-1899, p. 2, col. 1.)

 

July 2: “The Trains. The railroad situation was visibly worse yesterday morning owing to rising water on the Navasota river below. At 10 a.m. Train Master Bisbee told the reporter that the Navasota river rose four feet Friday night and was seven feet over the track in the Navasota bottom, and the track covered for more than a mile….

 

“The Eagle reporter learned from Mr. Miller that the Austin branch of his line is under water from the big Brazos from two to seven feet for about a mile, twelve or fifteen miles west of Hempstead.

 

“Train Master Bisbee told the reporter the main line is under water from the big Brazos both north and south of Courtney, considerably over a mile at each place, the track being washed off a quarter of a mile at one place and some distance at the other…

 

“Prof. Harrington phoned Waco yesterday morning and learned they had rain there Friday night and the flood was all over East Waco. The water was over two feet deep in the Central depot there Friday night. Jule Chapman, a well known negro, was drowned in the little Brazos at the Sandy Point road crossing on Thursday, while trying to get to his family.

 

“Manager McCrea, from Judge Moore’s plantation, came in yesterday with the plantation mules which he had been holding in a lane this side of the river. He reported the water all over Judge Moore’s place and said that every foot of land in the Brazos bottom was under water except two knolls he knew of, one above and one further down. Mr. McCrea says the heavy rains flooded the bottom with water which met the overflow of the river, making it that much higher. He estimateds the rise at fifty feet above the low water and says the river was five miles side and about six feet higher than it was in 1885. Mr. McCrea lost about 100 head of hogs from the Moore farm….Mr. McCrea reported the water had fallen six inches…

 

“It was reported here yesterday that J. T. Smith, a white man living on the little Brazos at the Mumford crossing, was drowned…

 

“We…believe the backbone of the flood is broken, and conditions in the bottom will improve every hour from this on.” (Bryan Morning Eagle, TX. “The Flood.” 7-2-1899, p. 1.)

 

July 2: “News From Calvert. Reports of Great Loss of Life Seem to be Confirmed.

 

“Austin, Tex., July 2. – There is no improvement in the distressing situation in the extensive flooded districts in central and south Texas. On the contrary, the inundation is growing worst. There has been another twenty-four hours of heavy, continuous rains which have added to the already unprecedented volumes of water in the rivers and creeks of the richest agricultural region in the state. There seems to be no end to the rainfall. The sea of water now extends from the north central part of the state to the gulf, a distance of 300 miles and more, and with an average width of probably 75 miles. The great flood began nearly a week ago, and the suffering of the people in the inaccessible localities that are surrounded and completely cut off from communication with the outside world must be severe. Every possible effort is being made to rescue the unfortunate men, women and children thus situated, and all to-day rescuers plied the turbulent waters in improvised boats and rafts picking up the stranded water-bound people and conveying them to higher land.

 

“Railroad officials can do nothing to improve the situation with their damaged properties. More costly bridges are reported to have been swept away to-day, among them being that of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas road over Little river. All traffic over that division was suspended last night….

 

“Arrivals from Chappell Hill to-day state that scores of houses have passed down the Brazos river near there during the twenty-four hours. The dead bodies of hundreds of cattle, horses and other stock have also passed there, Judging from the number of residences in the river there must have been much destruction of property at points above there, It is still impossible to verify at this time the numerous reports of loss of life in the bottoms of the Brazos and its tributaries.

 

“The earlier reports of heavy loss of life in Robertson county, caused by a meeting of the waters of the Brazos and Little Brazos rivers, have been confirmed. The information received here to-day from Calvert, which is in the midst of the scene of destruction, Is meager, but is to the effect that over seventy people are missing. Nine bodies have been recovered. The floods of the two rivers came up so rapidly that the negroes living in between the water courses had no opportunity of escaping. They were caught in a trap and drowned….

 

Report From Hearne…Whole County Under Water.

 

“Hearne, Tex., July 2. – The News correspondent has spent the entire day trying to run down the many stories regarding the flood which are in circulation. The task is a great one, and so meager are the means of communication much of the real news is lost through want of authenticity. The stubborn fact, however, still remains that the events and conditions of the past few days have never had a precedent in the remembrance of living man. For more than sixty hours the clouds emptied themselves upon the earth until Thursday afternoon, when the sun for a time dispelled them and the worst was thought to be reached. During the afternoon a strong east wind blew and by nightfall the heavens had resumed their leaden hue and the rain began in earnest. From 7 p.m. until 4:30 a.m. there was not an instant’s lull, and such a rain it was that but few people in Hearne or within the scope of the downpour closed their eyes in sleep.

 

“Water poured through the tightest roofs, and from the hills came the overflowed creeks and sloughs which only halted to tear away the Houston and Texas Central railroad embankments and rush through the town on its way to the Brazos. The small amount of track left the Houston and Texas Central railroad was buried several feet in the sand. Already more than seventy cars have been shoved away and much remains. Fences and bridges were carried hundreds of yards and piled up indiscriminately; holes were washed in level streets to the depth of six and seven feet. Between this place and Bryan the Houston and Texas Central has lost five iron bridges and six or seven miles of track and embankment. Can not hear definitely, but believe the same is true between this place and Mexia on the north. The most serious damage to the International and Great Northern is four miles west of here, between the Little and Big Brazos rivers, where all of their track and embankment are gone….

 

“The Brazos valley territory contiguous to this place extends from the Anderson plantation opposite Calvert to Stone City, in Brazos county, and three-fourths of this vast valley has been under [smudged-out words] in depth from eighteen inches…feet. All of this land is under cultivation and worked by negroes whose little cabins are scattered over the plantations frequently on the banks of the river, and are insecure structures at best. Around these the water has risen, and from them the negroes have fled, seeking safety often at the risk of their lives. Reports place the number of lives lost between this place and Mumford at twenty-three, but not more than six or seven have been verified….” (Galveston Daily News. Latest Details From The Flood…More Rumors Received From Calvert.” 7-3-1899, p. 1.)

 

July 3: “From Dallas News, July 4.

 

“Calvert, Texas, July 3. – The greatest floods in the Brazos history slowly receded today and tonight the fall has amounted to about four feet. There is still from one to fifteen feet of water over the rich Brazos bottom plantations and it proved that all crops will be a total loss.

 

“The first train to reach Calvert for five days pulled in this afternoon at 7 o’clock. It was an engine and caboose bearing three passengers and a few sacks of mail. Early this morning wire connection with the outside world was restored and it was heard from the first time in four days.

 

“The loss of life so far as known here is fourteen. Four of these were drowned in the city of Calvert, all colored. Tom Tyson and Dave White, negroes, were drowned in the overflow of Tidwell creek, north of town. The water broke over the railroad embankment and came down upon their houses in a solid wall. The negros attempted to leave the houses for higher land and were drowned.

 

“Rosina Brown and child, colored, lived in a house close to the bank of the creek. The flood caught the house and carried it down stream about 200 yards, here it lodged between two trees. Rescuers visited the house and found that both mother and child were drowned.

 

“T. S. Dawson, a white man, ran a store at Port Sullivan, near where the Little Brazos empties into the main stream. The flood came upon him with such suddenness that he evidently did not realize the danger and ran out to try and save his stock. He was slightly lame and was unequal to battle with the raging torrents.

 

“Hundreds of negroes who have been driven out of the bottom lands by the floods are homeless and destitute along the edge of the water.

 

“Will A. Waters of Dallas and a party of six others arrived here this afternoon from Hearne. They came across by boats, all bridges being washed away. He reported that the bodies of a white man and seven negroes had been found lodged against the Port Sullivan bridge and that it was told him in Hearne that a white convict and two negroes had been drowned there. He said he saw a house floating down the Little Brazos whirling around in the current with a man sitting on top of it utterly unable to help himself. The water in the main street ran over the sidewalks, which are over two feet high, into the business houses….

 

“Brenham, Tex., July 3….The number of persons drowned can not now and perhaps will never be ascertained….

 

“Richmond, Tex., July 3 – More rain fell today and the river is still rising and the waters are rapidly spreading over the country. Reports from the western part of the county are to the effect that the Bernard river is up higher than it has been for over fifty years and large numbers of cattle have been lost. John Sims, a young man, was drowned in Snake creek, about eighteen miles from town yesterday afternoon, and at last accounts the body had not been recovered…

 

“Caldwell, Tex., July 3 – The streams in this county, after passing all high-water marks, have subsided….one negro boy was drowned in Davidson creek near here last night…” (Bryan Morning Eagle, TX. “Over The State. The Flood Situation and Resume of General News from Texas and Elsewhere.” 7-6-1899, p. 1.)

 

July 4: “Brookshire, Texas, July 4. – Conditions here are appalling; complete inundation of the whole country and crops entirely destroyed. Hundreds of people were caught in the flood; rescuing parties have been out during the entire night and boats are hurriedly built and manned. Many people are in trees and calls of distress are heard throughout the bottoms. Everything possible is being done to relieve the situation….thirteen drowned…

 

“Austin, Texas, July 4. – The governor today received a telegram from Brookshire asking for aid for hundreds of flood sufferers who are reported as being without food or shelter in that vicinity. Having no State funds at his disposal with which to respond to such appeals, he wired the mayors of San Antonio, Houston and Galveston to call upon the people to render such assistance as they can….

Big Rise At Wallis.

 

“Wallis, Texas, July 4. – The Post correspondent went down the river today. The flood has carried water over the San Antonio and Aransas Pass track and it has been washed off the roadbed for ten miles; much of it is lodged against trees and telegraph poles; the river at this point has risen seven inches from noon to 7 p.m. today and four feet in the last twenty-four hours. It is now six feet above the high water mark of 1885. The crops are all gone and an immense number of cattle have ben drowned. Many houses and household furniture is floating y, but the people have escaped in boats. The big San Antonio and Aransas Pass bridge will go soon, it is feared, though it is weighted down with loaded box cars….

 

“Calvert, Texas, July 4. – The river continues to fall. It is estimated that the water of the Little Brazos has fallen six to seven feet. As the flood recedes it discloses the fact that the raging water has plowed deep ravines through the plantations. The fields are strewn with lumber and household utensils and dead domestic animals. The negro tenants have lost their all….The loss of life will reach thirty or forty…

Improvement At Hearne.

 

“Hearne, Texas, July 4. – Justice W. C. Bishop was called to the Dunn place this afternoon to hold an inquest over the remains of another victim of the flood caused by the overflow of the Brazos river. In some portions of the bottom for a large area the water is still standing, making it still impossible to get an estimate of the damage in that immediate locality….

 

“Bryan, Texas, July 4. – E. Havron, who lives on the Brazos river, was in the city today and reports seeing five dead people go down the river. The bodies were closely followed by trunks, bedding and other household goods. The river has fallen but a few inches here, and everything is still covered with water….

 

“Velasco, Texas, July 4. – The backwater from the river has overflowed the greater portion of the town and the town between the Velasco Terminal railroad and within one block of the Velasco hotel is a solid sheet of water. If the water does not begin to recede in the next twenty-four hours the town will all be under water. A great many families have had to leave their houses and move into houses on the two streets not under water. No loss of life…as yet, but good prospects for considerable damage and sickness….

 

“A Young Girl’s Body Borne to the Gulf by the Colorado.

 

“Wharton, Texas, July 4. – This morning The Post correspondent was informed by a reliable citizen that Mr. Hudspeth, an aged gentleman living several miles below town, while fishing Sunday morning, discovered the body of a young white girl of about 13 or 14 years of age floating on the swollen waters…” (Houston Daily Post, TX. “Thirteen Drowned.” 7-5-1899, p. 5.)

 

July 4: “Calvert, Tex., July 4. – There were no unexpected developments in the flooded region yesterday other than an occasional report of the discovery of other missing bodies, the last being that of T. S. Dawson, a well known and highly respected grocery merchant, who lived near the Port Sullivan bridge, between the Little and Big Brazos rivers. It seems that while he was trying to save some livestock he was carried away in a current, and his remains have not yet been recovered. This makes the fourteenth body that has been accounted for as being drowned….” (Groesbeck Journal, TX. “Fourteen Bodies.” 7-6-1899, p. 4.)

 

July 5: “Caldwell, Tex., July 5. – Water in the Brazos bottom, this county, receded nearly six inches today, but there are about 200 negroes isolated without rations near Parker’s upper shore. A relief party left here this evening with provisions and boats for their rescue. There are several negroes unaccounted for. In a large mass of drift passing down yesterday could be heard the voices of children, but there were no boats available to approach it and rescue them….” (Galveston Daily News, TX. “Voices of Children.” 7-6-1899, p. 2, col. 1.)

 

July 5: “Calvert, Tex., July 5. – The mutilated, decomposed bodies of the two children of John Dallas, colored, were found to-day in Little Brazos, a short distance from where they fell from the boat several days ago when the water was at its highest. Little Brazos is still out of its banks, though the Brazos is nearing its normal state.” (Galveston Daily News, TX. “Two Bodies Recovered.” 7-6-1899, p. 2, col. 2.)

 

July 5: “Hearne, Tex., July 5. – Two more bodies were recovered to-day from the water. One was a girl, drowned on the Cramer place; the other that of Steve Block, who was drowned on the Elm Grove farm. The body of T. S. Dawson has not been found.” (Galveston Daily News, TX. “More Bodies Recovered.” 7-6-1899, p. 2, col. 1.)

 

July 6: “Austin, Texas, July 6. – In reply to the call made last night upon Secretary of War Alger for the loan of 10,000 rations for the flood sufferers of the Brazos valley, Governor Sayers today received a telegram from that official informing him that the officer in command at Fort Sam Houston had been instructed to place said rations at his disposal and, further, that the chief of engineers would order all boats available at Galveston to proceed to the overflowed district and render such assistance as they could. Subsequently, upon the receipt of further reports of destitution and destruction from the stricken territory, the governor wired for a second supply of 10,000 rations and late this evening notification was received from General Alger that they will be forthcoming….

 

“The following telegram was received here his afternoon from P. L. Brady, mayor of Hearne: ‘Five lives lost near Hearne….” (Houston Daily Post, TX. “The Governments Aid.” 7-7-1899, p.  1.)

 

July 6: “….The Brazos river spread out Tuesday all over the lower bottom and inflicted great damage to property….Yesterday the bodies of a gray-bearded white man, two women and two negroes floated past Bryan. Four bodies in a drift were seen at Calvert….” (Colorado Citizen, Columbus, TX. “Summary of the Latest News.” 7-6-1899, p. 2, col. 2..)

 

July 6: “Sealy, Austin Co., Tex., July 6. – The News correspondent returned from the Brazo river at 8 o’clock this evening. The water is on a stand. Four hundred destitute negroes are on a mound about seven miles from San Felipe….Almost one hundred people have thus far been taken from the mound, but there are still 400 there. Their homes are gone and are floating down the river…One negro has been drowned, due to his recklessness in attempting to swim a horse from the shore out.”

(Galveston Daily News, TX. “Four Hundred in Danger.” 7-6-1899, p. 2, col. 1.)

 

July 9: “Dead negroes continue to show up and ask for rations. That is, negroes supposed to have been drowned are found and want to be fed. The relief work has been systematized. Supplies are going forward from Houston, Galveston, San Antonio and several smaller towns. Relief trains leave each of the three cities each day, Probably 20,000 negroes are now being fed and will need to be fed for some time to come.

 

“The water is now falling at all points except in Brazoria county, which county borders on the gulf. The county if flat and the Brazos can find all the elbow room it wants without covering the plantations to a great depth….

 

“Owing to the greatly exaggerated reports sent broadcast as to the loss of life in the recent floods, The News has made a special effort to secure the facts from each county. Reports from the thirteen counties show a loss of thirty-seven lives from drowning.

 

“Robert Reed, one of the rescuing party from Galveston, died near Richmond from sunstroke and over-exertion.

 

“Bell, Brazoria, Milam, McLennan, Austin and Fort Bend counties report no loss of life.

 

Grimes County.

“Berry Smith.

“Three negroes – Will Norris, Will Leans and Gus Clay – while working a railroad track.

“Total – 4.

Washington County.

“A Mexican, whose name has not been ascertained.

 

Falls County.

“Three children of Robert Brockington, colored.

 

Burleson County.

“Tom Harris, colored.

Brazoria County.

“No loss of life up to date. The eight bodies found on the beach at Quintana were victims caught in counties above and carried down the river.

 

Waller County.

“Henry Johnson, colored.

Brazos County.

“Jule Chapman, colored.

“A negro man and a negro boy.

“The three bodies were recovered.

Robertson County.

The greatest loss of life was in Robertson county. The following is as complete a list as can be obtained of the drowned in that county, gotten from the various officers in the different towns.

 

  1. S. Dawson, white; body not recovered.

Joe White, white;

Joe White’s two sons, white; bodies not recovered.

Mart Turner, colored; body recovered.

Dave White, colored; body recovered.

Tom Tyson, colored; body recovered.

Rosaia Brown, colored; body recovered.

Rosaia Brown’s child, colored; body recovered.

Lulia Chop, Chinese; body recovered.

Two children of Tom Dallas, colored; bodies recovered.

Four men on Tom Anderson’s farm, colored; bodies not recovered.

Five men below Hearne, colored; bodies not recovered.

Roy Northcross, colored; Body recovered.

Total – 24.

(Galveston Daily News, TX. “Resume of the Flood.” 7-9-1899, p. 1.)

 

July 9: “Austin, Tex., July 9. – Robert Murphy, aged 20 years, who was employed in a real estate office here, met his death by drowning in the Colorado river this afternoon. He was attempting to cross the river near Montopolis bridge when he was caught in the current and swept away. His body has not been recovered.” (Galveston Daily News, TX. “Drowned in the Colorado.” 7-10-1899, p. 1.)

 

July 9: “Sealy, Austin Co., Tex., July 9 – The following was sent this morning:….

 

“Mrs. Fox, a white lady, and a negro woman named Ballinger succumbed to the heat and exposure this morning….

 

“The report to-day is that the river is thirty-six inches below high water mark, and yet fully fifty feet above its average banks. The fall is very slow.

 

“Adolph Jordan dropped to the sidewalk this morning, overcome by heat and exertion. He is resting easy this evening and expects to be at his office to-morrow.” (Galveston Daily News, TX. “Condition Is Critical. Two Deaths From Exposure.” 7-10-1899, p. 1.)

 

July 9: “Bellville, Austin Co., Tex., July 9. The greatest flood, perhaps, of the nineteenth century in the Brazos river has about completed its work of destruction, and at a late hour last night, after there was no longer a living sprig of farm vegetation to be swept in by the raging torrent, the water began to recede, and a fall of seven inches is reported at this hour – 4:50 p.m. – by Mr. Thomas Bethany of Bellville, who has just returned from the flooded district. He brought in the wife and  children of Mr. R. W. Thompson, who had been driven from their home by the hight water and whose place is now in ruins.

 

“Hundreds of people along the river here who have lost everything are so dazed and confused that they have not yet awakened to a full realization of their awful calamity. Great crowds of negroes can be seen wandering aimlessly about in the vicinity of the flooded district, some bearing little children upon their backs, and a few carrying little bundles that they succeeded in saving as they made their hasty retreat from submerged houses.

 

“Nearly all the people, both white and black, that have been driven out of the river bottom are poor renters. Many are totally without means of any kind and some have nothing in the world left but the tattered clothes on their backs, many even being in their bare feet.

 

“The citizens of Bellville met in mass meeting yesterday at 10 a.m. to devise ways and means to relieve the immediate suffering. One hundred dollars was subscribed in a short while, and provisions were dispatched this morning to several different localities adjacent to this point where scores of people are actually hungry. Owing to the great number of people in want and distress, home charity will be entirely inadequate to meet the present emergency, and without government or other outside assistance hundreds of people must stare or suffer greatly. Your correspondent spent the whole of the day yesterday in the midst of wreck and ruin. Small houses could be seen floating about and lodged up against trees and other obstructions. Large barns partly filled with corn and hay have been the means whereby hundreds of cows, calves, hogs and horses have been saved. They are thrown in without regard to kind or species, and seem to grasp the situation and live in perfect harmony….” (Galveston Daily News, TX. “Too Much for Local Charity.” 7-10-1899, p. 1.)

 

July 11: “Austin, Tex., July 11. – The great flood of the Brazos river is empty9i9ng itself into the gulf at a terrific rate, and the river will be back in its banks by the end of the week. No further deaths by drowning have been reported. The total number of persons drowned by the flood will not exceed 100. There has been no exaggeration of property loss in any of the rivers.”
(El Paso Daily Herald, TX. “The Brazos Falling. The Flood is Emptying Itself Into the Gulf.” 7-11-1899, p. 1.)

 

July 11: “Mouth of the Brazos. Fifteen Hundred Destitute People in Need of Food and Clothing.” (Galveston Daily News, 7-12-1899, p. 2.)

Sources

 

Bishop, Curtis. “Brazos Flood of 1899.” Texas State Historical Association. Handbook of Texas Online. Accessed 3-15-2024 at: https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/brazos-flood-of-1899

 

Bryan Morning Eagle, TX. “Over The State. The Flood Situation and Resume of General News from Texas and Elsewhere.” 7-6-1899, p. 1. Accessed 3-16-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/bryan-morning-eagle-jul-06-1899-p-1/

 

Bryan Morning Eagle, TX. “The Flood.” 7-2-1899, p. 1. Accessed 3-16-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/bryan-morning-eagle-jul-02-1899-p-1/

 

Colorado Citizen, Columbus, TX. “Summary of the Latest News.” 7-6-1899, p. 2, col. 2. Accessed 3-16-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/colorado-citizen-jul-06-1899-p-2/

 

El Paso Daily Herald, TX. “Neighborhood Notes. Texas.” 6-24-1899, p. 3, col. 4. Accessed 3-15-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/el-paso-daily-herald-jun-24-1899-p-3/

 

El Paso Daily Herald, TX. “The Brazos Falling. The Flood is Emptying Itself Into the Gulf.” 7-11-1899, p. 1. Accessed 3-17-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/el-paso-daily-herald-jul-11-1899-p-1/

 

Galveston Daily News, TX. “Brazos River.” 6-24-1899, p. 3. Accessed 3-15-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/galveston-daily-news-jun-24-1899-p-3/

 

Galveston Daily News, TX. “Condition Is Critical. Two Deaths From Exposure.” 7-10-1899, p1. Accessed 3-17-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/galveston-daily-news-jul-10-1899-p-1/

 

Galveston Daily News, TX. “Drowned in the Colorado.” 7-10-1899, p. 1. Accessed 3-17-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/galveston-daily-news-jul-10-1899-p-1/

 

Galveston Daily News, TX. “Four Hundred in Danger.” 7-6-1899, p. 2, col. 1. Accessed 3-16-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/galveston-daily-news-jul-06-1899-p-2/

 

Galveston Daily News, TX. “Latest Details From The Flood…More Rumors Received From Calvert.” 7-3-1899, p. 1. Accessed 3-16-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/galveston-daily-news-jul-03-1899-p-1/

 

Galveston Daily News, TX. “More Bodies Recovered.” 7-6-1899, p. 2, col. 1. Accessed 3-16-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/galveston-daily-news-jul-06-1899-p-2/

 

Galveston Daily News, TX. “Mouth of the Brazos. Fifteen Hundred Destitute People in Need of Food and Clothing.”, 7-12-1899, p. 2. Accessed 3-17-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/galveston-daily-news-jul-12-1899-p-2/

 

Galveston Daily News, TX. “Results of the Flood…Property Loss Is Enormous.” 7-2-1899, p. 1. Accessed 3-15-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/galveston-daily-news-jul-02-1899-p-1/

 

Galveston Daily News, TX. “Resume of the Flood.” 7-9-1899, p. 1. Accessed 3-17-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/galveston-daily-news-jul-09-1899-p-1/

 

Galveston Daily News, TX. “The Brazos Rising.” 6-18-1899, p. 1, col. 4. Accessed 3-15-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/galveston-daily-news-jun-18-1899-p-1/

 

Galveston Daily News, TX. “Too Much for Local Charity.” 7-10-1899, p. 1. Accessed 3-17-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/galveston-daily-news-jul-10-1899-p-1/

 

Galveston Daily News, TX. “Two Bodies Recovered.” 7-6-1899, p. 2, col. 2. Accessed 3-16-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/galveston-daily-news-jul-06-1899-p-2/

 

Galveston Daily News, TX. “Voices of Children.” 7-6-1899, p. 2, col. 1. Accessed 3-16-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/galveston-daily-news-jul-06-1899-p-2/

 

Groesbeck Journal, TX. “Fourteen Bodies.” 7-6-1899, p. 4. Accessed 3-16-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/groesbeck-journal-jul-06-1899-p-4/

 

Houston Daily Post, TX. “Map of the Flooded District.” 7-7-1899, p. 1. Accessed 3-16-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/houston-daily-post-jul-07-1899-p-1/

 

Houston Daily Post, TX. “The Governments Aid.” 7-7-1899, p.  1. Accessed 3-16-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/houston-daily-post-jul-07-1899-p-1/

 

Houston Daily Post, TX. “Thirteen Drowned.” 7-5-1899, p. 5. Accessed 3-16-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/houston-daily-post-jul-05-1899-p-5/

 

LifeOnTheBrazosRiver.com. The Brazos River. “Floods of the Brazos River in Texas.”  Accessed at: http://lifeonthebrazosriver.com/Floods.htm

 

San Antonio Daily Express, TX. “The Floods’ Ravages. The Terrific Rains in Central Texas Continue Unabated.” 7-1-1899, p. 1. Accessed 3-15-2024 at:

https://newspaperarchive.com/san-antonio-daily-express-jul-01-1899-p-1/

 

San Antonio Daily Light, TX. 6-21-1899, p. 4, col. 6. Accessed 3-15-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/san-antonio-daily-light-jun-21-1899-p-4/

 

San Antonio Daily Light, TX. “Big Rains. Brazos River on a Tremendous Boom.” 6-29-1899, p. 4. Accessed 3-15-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/san-antonio-daily-light-jun-29-1899-p-4/

 

San Antonio Daily Light. “Brazos On A Boom!” 6-30-1899, p. 1. Accessed 3-15-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/san-antonio-daily-light-jun-30-1899-p-1/

 

Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Portraits of Texas Governors. Accessed at: http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/governors/rising/index.html

 

Victoria Daily Advocate, TX. “Rains and Floods.” 7-7-1899, p. 2, col. 1. Accessed 3-16-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/victoria-daily-advocate-jul-07-1899-p-2/

 

Additional Reading

 

Clay County TXGenWeb Project. The Great Flood in Texas. Accessed 3-17-2024 at: https://www.txgenwebcounties.org/clay/newspapers/flood.html

 

United States Life Saving Service, Galveston, Texas. Report on Life Saving Service operations in relation to the 1899 Texas flooding. Accessed 3-16-2024 at:

lifeonthebrazosriver.com/FloodDuke,TexasJuly1899.htm

 

 

 

[1] Published in 1952, updated 11-1-1994. There is no source citation.

[2] No source citation.

[3] No source citation.

[4] Galveston Daily News, TX. “Drowned in the Colorado.” 7-10-1899, p. 1.

1899-1900, June-May, Tuberculosis, esp. NY/14.1K, PA/7.7K, IL/6.7K, OH/5.7K      109,750

Compiled by B. Wayne Blanchard, Dec 2012; modified Jan 2020, for website: Deadliest American Disasters and Large-Loss-Of-Life Events. https://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

 

–109,750  US Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 8, 1902, p.116.[1]

 

AL       2,666   (25,699 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 116.[2]              

AZ          152   (  1,223 total deaths). Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 116.  

AR      1,889   (22,518 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 116.

CA      3,480   (22,506 total deaths). Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 117.   

CO         874   (  7,428 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 117.   

CT       1,529   (15,422 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 122.[3]

DE          382   (  3,075 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 123.

DC         851   (  6,364 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 128.[4]

FL          557   (  6,482 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 128.

GA      2,651   (26,941 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 128.[5]

ID             86   (  1,242 total deaths). Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 129.

IL        6,786   (61,229 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 129.

–2,953  Chicago, calendar year. City of Chicago Municipal [TB] Sanitarium. 1915, p. 86.

IN        4,232   (33,586 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 134.

IA        1,805   (19,573 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 135.

KS       1,414   (16,251 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 140.[6]

KY      3,916   (27,091 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 140.[7]

LA       2,016   (20,955 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 141.[8]

ME      1,145   (12,148 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 141.[9]

MD     2,318   (20,422 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 146.[10]

MA     5,224   (49,756 total deaths). Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 146.

MI       2,438   (33,572 total deaths). Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 159.

MN     1,844   (17,005 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 164.[11]

MS      2,129   (20,251 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 165.

MO     4,107   (38,084 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 165.

MT        164    (  2,188 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 170.

NE          592   (  8,264 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 170.

NV           56   (     438 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 171.

NH         627   (  7,400 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 171.

NJ       3,392   (32,735 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 176.

—3514  Calendar year. NJ Board of Health. 31st Annual Report of… 1908, p. 10.[12]

NM        152   (  2,674 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 177.

NY    14,110   (130,268 total deaths).            Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 182.

          13,590  Calendar year. NY State Dept. of Health. 38th Annual Report of… 1918, p. 540.[13]

8,162   NYC. “     “     NY State Dept. of Health. 38th Annual Report of… 1918, p. 540.[14]

NC      2,350   (21,068 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 189.[15]

ND         246   (  2,287 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 194.[16]

OH      5,789   (53,362 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 194.

OK         288   (  3,181 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 200.

OR         433   (  3,396 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 200.[17]

PA       7,791   (90,199 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 200.
2,717   Philadelphia. Calendar year. City of Philadelphia. An. Rpt. (V. III), 1907, p. 112.[18]

RI           837   (  8,176 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 200.

SC       2,133   (17,166 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 200.[19]  

SD          425   (  3,088 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 200.[20]

TN       4,451   (30,572 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 200.

TX      2,951   (34,169 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 213.

UT          143   (  3,079 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 213.

VT          524   (  5,829 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 213.

VA      3,223   (25,252 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 218.[21]  

WA        563   (  4,910 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 218.[22]  

WV     1,273   (  9,588 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 219.  

WI      2,350   (24,928 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 219.[23]    

WY          51   (     767 total deaths).  Census. Reports Vol. IV…Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 224.  

 

Sources

 

City of Chicago Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium. City of Chicago Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium: Its History and Provisions. Chicago: 1915. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=5hhAAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

City of Philadelphia. First Annual Message of John E. Reyburn, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia with the Annual Reports of the Departments of Public Health and Charities, Supplies, Public Education, Law, City Controller, City Treasurer, Commissioners of the Sinking Funds, Receiver of Taxes, and Board of Revision of Taxes for the Year Ending December 31, 1907 (Vol. III). Philadelphia: Dunlap Printing Co., 1908. Google digitized. Assessed 12-5-2012: http://books.google.com/books?id=0ihNAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

New Jersey Board of Health. Thirty-First Annual Report of the Board of Health of the State of New Jersey, 1907, and Annual Report of the Bureau of Vital Statistics. Trenton: John L. Murphy Publishing Co., 1908. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=XDAcX3uIVssC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

New York State Department of Health. Thirty-Eighth Annual Report of the State Department of Health of New York For the Year Ending December 31, 1917 (Vol. 1). Albany: J. B. Lyon Co., 1918. Google preview accessed 6-3-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=XE49AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

United States Census Office, Department of the Interior. Census Reports Volume IV, Twelfth Census of the United States, Taken in the Year 1900. Vital Statistics Part II, Statistics of Deaths. Washington: U.S. Census Office, 1902. At: http://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] State death statistics are from Table 7. “Deaths in the United States, each State, State group and Registration city, during the Census year ending May 31, 1900, from each reported cause.” The Census year began on June 1, 1899, and ended May 31, 1900, thus the Census year and data are not reflective of the calendar year 1899 nor 1900.

[2] Leading cause of death in State in 1900, with pneumonia second.

[3] Leading cause of death in State in 1900, with pneumonia second.

[4] Leading cause of death in the District in 1900.

[5] Leading cause of death in State in 1900, with pneumonia a close second at 2,598.

[6] Second leading cause of death in the State in 1900, behind pneumonia at 1,436 deaths.

[7] Leading cause of death in State in 1900, with pneumonia second at 2,427 deaths.

[8] Leading cause of death in State in 1900, with pneumonia second at 1,945 deaths.

[9] Leading cause of death in State in 1900, with pneumonia a close second at 1,139 deaths.

[10] Leading cause of death in State in 1900.

[11] Leading cause of death in State in 1900, with pneumonia second at 1,379 deaths.

[12] “Table 6. – Showing Number of Deaths in New Jersey from Certain Classified Diseases for Twenty-Eight Years, 1879-1906.” p. 10.

[13] From: Table 19 — Movement of mortality from certain important causes of death in New York State, showing the annual number of deaths and death rates per 100,000 population: 1885-1917.

[14] From Table 21 — Comparative movement of mortality from the chief communicable diseases in New York city and rest of State, showing the annual number of deaths and death rates per 100,000 population: 1898-1917.

[15] Leading cause of death in State in 1900.

[16] Leading known cause of death in State in 1900

[17] Leading cause of death in State in 1900.

[18] Table entitled “Deaths from Consumption of Lungs, from 1862 to 1907, inclusive, by Months.”

[19] Leading cause of death in State in 1900, with pneumonia second with 1,323 deaths.

[20] Leading cause of death in State in 1900.

[21] Leading cause of death in State in 1900, with pneumonia second with 2,429 deaths.

[22] Leading cause of death in State in 1900, with pneumonia second with 379 deaths.

[23] Leading cause of death in State in 1900, with pneumonia second with 2,022 deaths.

1899-1900, Jun-May, Typhoid, esp. PA/2.8K, TX/2K, AL/GA/KY/MO/NY/OH/TN~1.7K –35,379

Compiled by B. Wayne Blanchard, Dec 2012; modified Jan 2020, for website: Deadliest American Disasters and Large-Loss-Of-Life Events. https://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

 –35,379  US Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 8, 1902, p. 228.[1]

Summary of State Breakouts

Alabama                    1,713               Oregon                          106  

Arizona                           41               Pennsylvania             2,779

Arkansas                    1,172               Rhode Island                102

California                     512               South Carolina             970

Colorado                       222               South Dakota                  73

Connecticut                  249               Tennessee                   1,709  

Delaware                         90               Texas                          2,013

District of Columbia    225               Utah                                 73

Florida                          290               Vermont                        107

Georgia                      1,685               Virginia                         914

Idaho                              37               Washington                  171

Illinois                           926               West Virginia                671

Indiana                       1,496               Wisconsin                     865

Iowa                               549               Wyoming                        16  

Kansas                          688

Kentucky                   1,669

Louisiana                   1,077

Maine                            200

Maryland                      510

Massachusetts             625

Michigan                       289

Minnesota                    386

Mississippi                 1,370

Missouri                     1,790

Montana                         42

Nevada                            12

New Hampshire             69  

New Jersey                   398  

New Mexico                  102  

New York                   1,776  

North Carolina          1,250  

North Dakota                  65  

Ohio                           1,795  

Oklahoma                     201  

Breakout of Census Year 1899-1900 Typhoid Fever Deaths by State and Sample Localities

 

AL       1,713   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 120.

                 31   Mobile, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

AZ            41   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 120.

AR      1,172   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 120.     

CA         512   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 121.

51   Los Angeles, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 78.        

                 22   Oakland, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

               135   San Fran., census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 78.

CO         222   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 121.     

                 57   Denver, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 78.

31   Pueblo, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

CT          249   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 126.  

                 11   Bridgeport, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p.79.

11   Bristol, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 80.

                 45  Hartford, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

     33   New Haven, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 78.

21   Waterbury, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p.79.

DE            90   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 127.  

                 50   Wilmington, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 79.

DC         225   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 132.

FL          290  Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 132.

                 19   Jacksonville, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 79.

GA      1,685   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 132.

            1,766   Wilson. Drugs and Pharmacy in the Life of Georgia, 1733-1959. 1959, p. 242.[2]

98   Atlanta, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

107   Savannah, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

ID             37   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 133.

IL           926   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 133.

10   Aurora, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 80.

14   Belleville, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 80.

   470  Chicago, census year. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p.78.

               337   Chicago, 1900 calendar year. Jordan. “Typhoid Fever…in Chicago.” p. 3.

17   Danville, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 80.

10   Jacksonville, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 80.

IN        1,496   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 138.

45   Evansville, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p.79.

                 77   Indianapolis, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 78.

IA           549   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 139.

                 23   Davenport, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p.79.

15   Keokuk, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 80.

18   Marshalltown, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 80

13   Muscatine, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p.80.

18   Ottumwa, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 80.

13   Sioux City, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p.79.

KS          688   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 144.

11   Hutchinson, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 80.

                 17   Wichita, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 80.

KY      1,669   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 144.

               150   Louisville, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 78.

31   Paducah, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 80.

LA       1,077   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 145.

               191   New Orleans, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 78.

30   Shreveport, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p80.

ME         200   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 145.

18   Bangor, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 80.

13   Biddeford, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 80.

                 21   Portland, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

MD        510   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 150.

               177   Baltimore, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p.78.

   189  Baltimore, 1900 calendar yr. Rohrer. “MD’s An. Typhoid Problem.” MMJ, 59.[3]

MA        625   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 150.

153   Boston, census year. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 78.

               143   Boston, 1900 calendar year. Jordan. “Typhoid Fever…in Chicago.” p. 5.[4]

19   Cambridge, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p79.

     23   Fall River, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 78.

13   Holyoke, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

     18   Lowell, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

13   Lynn, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

16   New Bedford, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 79

17   Somerville, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p79.

18   Springfield, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p79.

21   Worcester, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p.78.

MI          289   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 163.

                 54   Detroit, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 78.

34   Grand Rapids, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 79.

15   Menominee, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 80.

MN        386   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 168.

23   Duluth, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

83   Minneapolis, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 78.

36   St. Paul, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

MS      1,370   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 169.

                 27   Natchez, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 80.

MO     1,790   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 169.

               125  Kansas City, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 78.

37   St. Joseph, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 78.

               199   St. Louis, census year. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p78.

MT           42   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 174.

NE          260   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 174.

41   Omaha, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 78.

                 24   Omaha, 1900 calendar yr. Lumsden. “Report…Typhoid Fever at Omaha…” p.16.

NV           12   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 175.

NH          69   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 175.

NJ          398   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 180.

356   State, calendar year. NJ Board of Health. 31st Annual Report of… 1908, p. 10.[5]

22   Camden, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

19   Hoboken, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

46  Jersey City, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p78.

31   Patterson, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 78.

25   Trenton, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

NM        102   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 181.

NY      1,776   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 186.

1,948   State, calendar year. NY Dept. of Health. Annual Report of…1917, p. 540.[6]

41   Albany, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 78.

88   Buffalo, census year. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 78.

53   Cohoes, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 80.

594   NYC, census year. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p.78.

               372   NYC, 1900 calendar year. Jordan. “Typhoid Fever…in Chicago.” p. 3.[7]

718   NYC, 1900 calendar year. NY Dept. of Health. Annual Report of…1917, p. 544.[8]

     38  Rochester, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

     25   Syracuse, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 78.

     53   Troy, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

NC      1,250   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 193.

                 10   Wilmington, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 80.

ND           65   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 198.

OH      1,795   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 198.

               106   Cincinnati, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p.78.

               184   Cleveland, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 78.

     68   Columbus, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p.78.

45   Dayton, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

12   Ironton, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 80.

                 53   Toledo, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 78.

51   Youngstown, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 79.

OK         201   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 204.

OR         106   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 204.

                 22   Portland, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

PA       2,779   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 204.

134   Allegheny, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p.78.

18   Erie, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

20   Harrisburg, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p.79.

35   Johnstown, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p.79.

15   McKeesport, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 79.

42   New Castle, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 79.

489   Philadelphia, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 78.
449   Philadelphia, 1900 calendar yr. City of Philadelphia. An. Rpt. (V. III), 1907, p103.[9]

474   Pittsburgh, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p.78.

35   Reading, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

41   Scranton, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p.78.

14   Wilkes Barre, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 79

RI           102   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 211.  

                 12   Newport, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 80.

                 52   Providence, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p78.

SC          970   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 211.  

                 70   Charleston, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p.79.

SD            73   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 216.

TN       1,709   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 216.

TX      2,013   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 217.

                 44   San Antonio, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 79.

UT            73   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 217.

                 16   Salt Lake City, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, 79.

VT          107   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 217.

VA         914   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 222.

11   Alexandria, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p80.

17   Lynchburg, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p80.

                 27   Norfolk, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

18   Petersburg, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p.80.

66   Richmond, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 78

WA        171   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 222.

                 31   Seattle, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 78.

19   Spokane, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

WV        671   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 223.

                 26   Wheeling, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 79.

WI         865   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 223.

19   Marinette, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p. 80.

                 52   Milwaukee, census yr. Census data cited by Fulton. “Typhoid Fever,” JAMA, p78.

WY          16   Census. Census Reports Vol. IV…Vital Statistics of Deaths. Table 7, 1902, p. 226.

 

Narrative Information

 

Census on data from 10 “registration” states (CT, IN, MD, MA, MI, NJ, NJ, NY, RI, VT), DC, and 37 “registration” cities with 100,000 population or more for five years, 1900-1904: “…the death rates from typhoid fever in the United States were higher than in any of the European countries except Italy, and were very much higher than in most of those for which the figures are given. It indicates that there is room for a great improvement in the application of well-known measures for the prevention of this disease.” For example in 1900 England and Wales had a death rate of 17.3 per 100,000 population, Scotland showed 17.3, Ireland 17.0 and German 11.0. The U.S. death rate within registration areas was 35.9. (U.S. Bureau of the Census. Special Reports. Mortality Statistics 1900 to 1904. 1906, p. xxi.)

 

“The greatest mortality from this disease occurred in the cities in the nonregistration states, in which the average annual rate was 46.8 per 100,000. Excluding the District of Columbia, which is urban, the highest average rates in the registration states occurred in Indiana and Maine, and the lowest in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Jersey.

 

“Comparing the rural and urban districts of the registration states it will be seen that the mortality from typhoid fever was greater in the rural districts than in the cities in each year except 1904, in which it was very slightly greater in the cities….

 

“By far the greatest mortality from this disease in the large cities occurred in Pittsburg, Pa., the rate being more than 120 in each year, and ranging from 144.3 in 1900 to 123.8 in 1901, with an average annual rate of 137. The next highest rates occurred in the adjoining city of Allegheny [annexed by Pittsburg in 1907], being over 100 for each of the three years 1902- to 1904, and averaging 103.4 for the five-year period.

 

“Other of the principal cities in which the average annual death rate from typhoid fever was excessively high are Cincinnati, Ohio (55.8); Cleveland, Ohio (58.7); Columbus, Ohio (65.8); Louisville, Ky. (58.5); and Washington, D.C. (62.8). The average annual mortality from this disease was much below the average in Fall River, Mass. (19.8); Jersey City, N.J. (18.6); Milwaukee, Wis. (17.1); New York, N.Y. (19.2); Omaha, Nebr. (19.1); Rochester, N.Y. (14.9); St. Joseph, Mo. (13.9); St. Paul Minn. (14.8); Syracuse, N.Y. (18.7); and Worcester, Mass. (16). …

 

“…the minor cities in which the death rate from typhoid fever exceeded 100 in one or more years:” [for 1900 shows Berlin NH at 123.8; Bristol town, CT at 134.8; Charleston, SC at 132.6; Cohoes, NY at 117.1; Columbia IN at 123.0; Duluth MN at 109.5; Escanaba MI at 125.7; Findlay OH at 113.6; Fresno CA at 240.6; Johnstown PA at 130.8; Leadville CO at 104.4; Lynchburg VA at 121.8, Massillon OH at 100.5, Muscatine IA at 120.8, Newcastle PA at 138.6; Niagara Falls, NY 107.9; Paducah, KY 138.8; Richmond VA 104.6, Superior WI 115.8; Troy NY 131.9, Wilmington, NC 100.1.]

 

(U.S. Bureau of the Census. Special Reports. Mortality Statistics 1900 to 1904. 1906, p. xxii.)

 

Sources

 

City of Philadelphia. First Annual Message of John E. Reyburn, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia with the Annual Reports of the Departments of Public Health and Charities, Supplies, Public Education, Law, City Controller, City Treasurer, Commissioners of the Sinking Funds, Receiver of Taxes, and Board of Revision of Taxes for the Year Ending December 31, 1907 (Vol. III). Philadelphia: Dunlap Printing Co., 1908. Google digitized. Assessed 12-5-2012: http://books.google.com/books?id=0ihNAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Fulton, John S., M.D. “Typhoid Fever.” Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. XLII, No. 2, pp. 73-80, 1-9-1904, Chicago. Accessed 1-4-2020 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=i7VJAAAAYAAJ&q=typhoid#v=snippet&q=typhoid&f=true

 

Jordan, Edwin Oakes. “Typhoid Fever and Water Supply in Chicago.” The Journal of the American Medical Association, 12-20-1902. Accessed 12-24-2019 at: http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/10723.html

 

Lumsden, L. L. “Report on an Outbreak of Typhoid Fever at Omaha, Nebr. – (1909-1910).” Hygienic Laboratory Bulletin No. 72, November 1910. U.S. Treasury Department, Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service of the United States. Washington: GPO, 1910. Accessed 12-24-2019 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=ECdDAAAAYAAJ&ppis=_c&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

New Jersey Board of Health. Thirty-First Annual Report of the Board of Health of the State of New Jersey, 1907, and Annual Report of the Bureau of Vital Statistics. Trenton: John L. Murphy Publishing Co., 1908. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=XDAcX3uIVssC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

New York State Department of Health. Thirty-Eighth Annual Report of the State Department of Health of New York For the Year Ending December 31, 1917 (Vol. 1). Albany: J. B. Lyon Co., 1918. Google preview accessed 6-3-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=XE49AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Rohrer, C. C. G., M.D. “MD’s Annual Typhoid Problem.” Maryland Medical Journal, Vol. LV, No. 3, March 1912. Accessed 12-24-2019 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=VY9FAAAAYAAJ&ppis=_c&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

United States Bureau of the Census. Special Reports. Mortality Statistics 1900 to 1904. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1906, 990 pages. Accessed 1-11-2017 at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsushistorical/mortstatsh_1900-1904.pdf

 

United States Census Office, Department of the Interior. Census Reports Volume IV, Twelfth Census of the United States, Taken in the Year 1900. Vital Statistics Part II, Statistics of Deaths. Washington: U.S. Census Office, 1902. At: http://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html

 

Wilson, Robert Cumming. Drugs and Pharmacy in the Life of Georgia, 1733-1959. 1959. Paperback edition published by University of Georgia Press (Athens), 2010. Partially Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=bNqilBFdfJ4C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

 

[1] State death statistics are from Table 7. “Deaths in the United States, each State, State group and Registration city, during the Census year ending May 31, 1900, from each reported cause.” The Census year began on June 1, 1899, and ended May 31, 1900, thus the Census year and data are not reflective of the calendar year 1899 nor 1900.

[2] Writes this is of reported cases and that “unreported or undiagnosed cases probably a multiple of this number.”

[3] Cites: Dr. James Bosley, Health Commissioner of the city of Baltimore.

[4] Cites City of Boston Department of Health annual reports.

[5] “Table 6. – Showing Number of Deaths in New Jersey from Certain Classified Diseases for Twenty-Eight Years, 1879-1906.”

[6] From: Table 19 — Movement of mortality from certain important causes of death in New York State, showing the annual number of deaths and death rates per 100,000 population: 1885-1917.

[7] Cites New York City Department of Health annual reports.

[8] From Table 21 — Comparative movement of mortality from the chief communicable diseases in New York city and rest of State, showing the annual number of deaths and death rates p4er 100,000 population: 1898-1917. [We speculate the larger number includes all boroughs, especially Brooklyn, whereas we speculate the lower does not.

[9] Table entitled “Typhoid Fever Deaths from 1862 to 1907, inclusive, by Wards.

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