Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 August 1899 — DEATHS WILL REACH 2,000. [ARTICLE]

DEATHS WILL REACH 2,000.

General Da viaße porta Appalling Condition in Porto Kico. The appalling conditions existing in Porto Rico were made more fully known to the War Department Wednesday by Gen. Davis in a dispatch which says the deaths outright in the island will reach 2,000. while many are dying daily from injuries and privations. According to a special cable from San Juan, Porto Rico, hundreds of people are dying of starvation on the stricken islands. The dispatch gives new details of the recent hurricane and describes the terrible scenes witnessed in the Bayamon and Arecibo districts. Arecibo was devastated by the hurricane and later was Hooded by the Arecibo and Manati rivers. Two hundred bodies have already been recovered and it is thought that hundreds more of persons missing have been swept out to Sea by the flood. The town was inundated to a depth of six feet. When the water subsided dead bodies were found everywhere. They were buried where they were found. The town is now filling up with starving people from the rural districts.