Port Arthur, Sabine Pass, TX Hurricane Winds, Sep 1897

TEXAS TOWNS RAZED.

EIGHTY-MILE WIND DOES GREAT DAMAGE AT PORT ARTHUR AND SABINE PASS.

SIX DEATHS AT THE FORMER PLACE AND THIRTY BUILDINGS DESTROYED.

SABINE PASS REPORTED ENTIRELY GONE WITH LOSS OF LIFE NOT KNOWN.

Port Arthur, Tex., Sept. 14. -- A tornado, terrible in its velocity, struck this little city at an early hour in the evening. Six people are known to have been killed, while many others were injured.
Buildings were blown down and great damage was wrought by the cyclone. The dead are:
FRANK ALBRIGHT.
GEORGE MARTIN.
An unknown man.
MAY AINSWORTH.
Infant son of W. H. JOHNSON.
FRITZ MICHAELS.
From early morning the sky was threatening and a stiff gale blew. No rain of any consequence fell until 4 p.m., and then it was accompanied by a heavy wind that increased in intensity until it reached the enormous velocity of 80 miles an hour. Every building in town is of frame construction, except on brick, the Port Arthur Banking company's building, the far end and roof of which was blown away.
The bodies of the victims have been sent to Beaumont for interment, no cemetery having as yet started here.
There were many acts of bravery and the suspense during the severity of the storm was terrible.
Nothing can be heard from Sabine Pass, as all telegraphic communication has been interrupted.
A relief train left Beaumont for Port Arthur and Sabine Pass. Ed Kirscherner, a prominent citizen, was on a Gulf and Interstate railroad train on his way to Beaumont when the storm struck this section. "Everyone on the train thought we would be blown from the track," he said. "It was pitch dark and raining and the wind was blowing like it never blew before."
It is known that much destruction was wrought at Sabine Pass, with probable loss of life.
The following telegram has been received from MR. KIRSCHERNER at Beaumont: "The relief train has just returned from Sabine Pass. It could not get nearer than eight miles from Sabine Pass. It is reported that the new town is completely gone. Nothing heard from the old town. From reports things look bad there."
Advices from Winnie, Tex., say that nearly all the houses there have been blown down and torn away. At Webb all the barns and one house were demolished.

Iowa State Reporter Iowa 1897-09-16

Transcriber's Note: This "tornado" or "cyclone" was actually a Gulf hurricane.
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!