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Article BAHAMAS.—TURK'S ISLAND. ← Page 2 of 3 →
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Bahamas.—Turk's Island.
Government . A more heartstirring , a more imperative , a more Christian duty , perhaps , has nei r er fallen to any magistracy to perform , than has been theirs in thuss relieving the mass of a labouring population from immediate hunger . It has also
become the further duty of the Eelief Committee to relieve from nakedness ; for the hurricane has not only taken from the labouring population , as Ave have said , their tenements , but likewise their clothing , so that they have positively nothing left .
Famine , disease , and death , would be as triumphant in this case , probably , as ever happened , were it not for the active humanity of those ivhose province it is to direct , control , ameliorate , and humanise what would be , in larger countries ,
under less active benevolence , anarchy and confusion . The ruin has been so general among the labourers both here and Salt Cay that it must tax , to the utmost , the resources of private individuals as well as those of the Government to sustain
them . How they are to procure houses again , within any reasonable time , to meet the commonest requirements of humanity , must , to a considerable extent , depend on that active charity abroad ivhich in these times of Christian
benevolence is seldom wanting . " We have heard of several incidents indicative of the force of the wind and of private exposure which probably cannot be surpassed in the record of similar events . Such , for instance , as the
impaling on the plant known as the ' Spanish Bayonet' a wife who , in a state of pregnancy ancl with a child in her arms , ivas forced against the plant in such a way as to be pierced through , causing almost immediate death . Again . Mr .
Walter Arthur , ivhose family was at the Hawk ' s Nest , attempted , during the lull , after the destruction of his dwelling , to reach toivn , a distance of
two miles ,. with his family , consisting of wife and five children , not only failed in so doing until the gale ivas exhausting itself , but having during the struggle succeeded in depositing three children in a new house of Mr . Nathaniel Adams , in the
subui'bs , in which there were over sixty persons , and when afterwards at a distance of only 100 yards , on the ground , his knees imbedded in the earth , to enable him to retain his wife and two children—whilst in this terrible state , with
hundreds of missiles flying over them , either one of which would have been fatal in its effects had it struck them—in this agonising struggle to save wife and children and , as we have said , only 100
yards from the new house where he had placed his youngest children , did he see that very bouse , freighted ivith its humanity , go over the wall without touching a stone , and dash , apparently , to pieces . Nor could he make the sli ghtest exertion
to look after those children : his was a death struggle to retain in their places his wife and the two children who were , as he supposed , only left to him . Among the deaths , however , occasioned by the fall of that house , Mr . Arthur ' s children
are not to be reckoned . They were subsequently found apart in different houses , under the care of friends ivho had gathered them up from the debris of the shattered dwelling , much bruised , but otherwise safe . It would take up too much time to mention numerous similar escapes : for instance , under the lee of the Avail over which Adam ' s house
was carried without touching it , were numbers of persons crouching from the storm . Had the house gone against the wall , those persons could not have escaped as they have done , with severe bruises only .
We have lost the armory , the market , the three schoolhouses , the jail ( the prisoners being at large ) , the poorhouse , the Government House at Waterloo , with a small exception , just sufficient to afford shelter to President Moir and family , the residence
and out dwellings at the lio-hthouse station and the Quarantine House—all Government property . The Government building , in ivhich are the colonia secretary's office , customs , council chamber , bank , & c , is , we believe , the only public building left ,
but very considerably damaged . The three places of public worship are also . injured . Almost all the salt exposed here ancl at Salt Cay has been . swept away . Fortunately for the colony , we have yet several hundred thousand bushels , which were
mostly in houses . These houses have been more or less destroyed , but the salt , or a large portion that was in them , remains . Salt Cay , we have reason to believe , isa scene of ruin equal to ours here . At the latter place five vessels are on the land in front of the town . The Boselia left East Harbor
with a load of salt , and ivas out the passage , but was driven back by the fury of the storm . The British schooner Elizabeth was driven from the riding place at this Cay , and destroyed on the east side of Salt Cay—one man only saved from
a crew of seven . Mr . Poloney the owner was fortunately on shore . The British schooner Henry , belonging to Yarmouth , N . S ., was driven from our roadstead , and is stranded on the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Bahamas.—Turk's Island.
Government . A more heartstirring , a more imperative , a more Christian duty , perhaps , has nei r er fallen to any magistracy to perform , than has been theirs in thuss relieving the mass of a labouring population from immediate hunger . It has also
become the further duty of the Eelief Committee to relieve from nakedness ; for the hurricane has not only taken from the labouring population , as Ave have said , their tenements , but likewise their clothing , so that they have positively nothing left .
Famine , disease , and death , would be as triumphant in this case , probably , as ever happened , were it not for the active humanity of those ivhose province it is to direct , control , ameliorate , and humanise what would be , in larger countries ,
under less active benevolence , anarchy and confusion . The ruin has been so general among the labourers both here and Salt Cay that it must tax , to the utmost , the resources of private individuals as well as those of the Government to sustain
them . How they are to procure houses again , within any reasonable time , to meet the commonest requirements of humanity , must , to a considerable extent , depend on that active charity abroad ivhich in these times of Christian
benevolence is seldom wanting . " We have heard of several incidents indicative of the force of the wind and of private exposure which probably cannot be surpassed in the record of similar events . Such , for instance , as the
impaling on the plant known as the ' Spanish Bayonet' a wife who , in a state of pregnancy ancl with a child in her arms , ivas forced against the plant in such a way as to be pierced through , causing almost immediate death . Again . Mr .
Walter Arthur , ivhose family was at the Hawk ' s Nest , attempted , during the lull , after the destruction of his dwelling , to reach toivn , a distance of
two miles ,. with his family , consisting of wife and five children , not only failed in so doing until the gale ivas exhausting itself , but having during the struggle succeeded in depositing three children in a new house of Mr . Nathaniel Adams , in the
subui'bs , in which there were over sixty persons , and when afterwards at a distance of only 100 yards , on the ground , his knees imbedded in the earth , to enable him to retain his wife and two children—whilst in this terrible state , with
hundreds of missiles flying over them , either one of which would have been fatal in its effects had it struck them—in this agonising struggle to save wife and children and , as we have said , only 100
yards from the new house where he had placed his youngest children , did he see that very bouse , freighted ivith its humanity , go over the wall without touching a stone , and dash , apparently , to pieces . Nor could he make the sli ghtest exertion
to look after those children : his was a death struggle to retain in their places his wife and the two children who were , as he supposed , only left to him . Among the deaths , however , occasioned by the fall of that house , Mr . Arthur ' s children
are not to be reckoned . They were subsequently found apart in different houses , under the care of friends ivho had gathered them up from the debris of the shattered dwelling , much bruised , but otherwise safe . It would take up too much time to mention numerous similar escapes : for instance , under the lee of the Avail over which Adam ' s house
was carried without touching it , were numbers of persons crouching from the storm . Had the house gone against the wall , those persons could not have escaped as they have done , with severe bruises only .
We have lost the armory , the market , the three schoolhouses , the jail ( the prisoners being at large ) , the poorhouse , the Government House at Waterloo , with a small exception , just sufficient to afford shelter to President Moir and family , the residence
and out dwellings at the lio-hthouse station and the Quarantine House—all Government property . The Government building , in ivhich are the colonia secretary's office , customs , council chamber , bank , & c , is , we believe , the only public building left ,
but very considerably damaged . The three places of public worship are also . injured . Almost all the salt exposed here ancl at Salt Cay has been . swept away . Fortunately for the colony , we have yet several hundred thousand bushels , which were
mostly in houses . These houses have been more or less destroyed , but the salt , or a large portion that was in them , remains . Salt Cay , we have reason to believe , isa scene of ruin equal to ours here . At the latter place five vessels are on the land in front of the town . The Boselia left East Harbor
with a load of salt , and ivas out the passage , but was driven back by the fury of the storm . The British schooner Elizabeth was driven from the riding place at this Cay , and destroyed on the east side of Salt Cay—one man only saved from
a crew of seven . Mr . Poloney the owner was fortunately on shore . The British schooner Henry , belonging to Yarmouth , N . S ., was driven from our roadstead , and is stranded on the