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THE CAIRNS CYCLONE
A NEW EXPERIENCE
HOUSES DEMOLISHED
ROOFS & VERANDAHS
FLY
TREES TORN AND UPROOTED.
HEAVY DAMAGE TO PROPERTY.
NELSON NEARLY WIPED OUT.
THE MILL UNROOFED.
A HEAVY BILL TO MEET.
SOME NARROW ESCAPES.
REDLYNCH AND FRESHWATER
DAMAGE IN THE HARBOR.
THE TOM FISHER ASHORE.
A BIG VESSEL GROUNDS.
BEACONS SWEPT AWAY.
SOME CYCLONE INCIDENTS.
At 1 a.m. on Saturday when it
was noticed that the large standard
vertical barometer in the Post Office
recorded a drop of 330 points, from
29.750 to 24.420 in about half an
hour, heavy weather disturbances
were anticipated, the barometer
continued to fluctuate, and at 9 a.m.
the reading was 29.582, after that
there was a steady and continuous
drop and at 3 p.m. the register was
29.278, and at 8 p.m. 29.152, rising
afterwards to 29.170 at 10 p.m.
At about 2.30 p.m. a strong gale
started from the south-west, rising
to hurricane force about 6 p.m.
Thereafter until about 1 a.m. the
hurricane continued to blow with
terrific force, some of the gusts
threatening to demolish the whole
town.
Roofs were torn off a large num-
ber of places and many buildings
were shifted off their piles or smash-
ed like egg shells. The trees on the
Esplanade and in the streets were
stripped of branches and leaves and
in many cases large trees were snap-
ped off like carrots or torn up bod-
ily by the roots. In front of the
Police Barracks the Esplanade yes-
terday was almost impassable owing
to the heaped up branches of trees.
Sheets of iron were flying in all di-
rections and many people sought
shelter inn other hosues which were
more strongly built than their own.
So far as we can learn there was
one casualty in Cairns that of Mr J
O'Connor who lives near the ceme-
tery. He was standing under his
house which was built on 8ft piles,
when the piles snapped off close to
the ground and the building fell on
him. lt seems miraculous that O'
Connor escaped with his life as the
building is a six-roomed one. He
was much bruised and hurt specially;
about the hips, but had no bones
broken and is now progressing
favorably in the Hospital.
Heavy rain fell at intervals, but
nothing compared to that which fell
in the outside districts, only 2.42in.
being recorded in the local metero-
logical office.
Opinions differ as to whether the
disturbance was of a huricane or
cyclonic nature, but the fact re-
mains that it was undoubtedly the
heaviest blow since 1878 when the
Railway Hotel was partly demol-
ished and numerous other buildings
suffered.
Mr. J. J. O'Leary, Superintendent
of the Mulgrave Tramway, is of op-
inion that the storm in 1878 was
the more violent of the two, but it
did not last nearly as long as the
one under review and much less dam-
age was done.
Starting as it did from a S.W. by
S. direction, the hurricane veered
round during the night until it blew
from N.W. by N., and it was then
that it seemed to attain its greatest
height so far as the town was con-
cerned. In the suburbs and in the
Mulgrave district the full force of
the storm was experienced during
the afternoon and the damage done
in that locality was much greater
than that in town.
After midnight the storm died
down and when dawn broke on Sun-
day morning there was nothing to
indicate that Cairns had experien-
ced her record hurricane except the
litter of boughs and leaves in the
streets and the roofless or partly
roofless buildings which could be
seen on all sides.
When the Wyandra arrived in port
on Saturday morning Captain Grahl
stated that on the way down from
Cooktown his barometer had fallen
dangerously low, 28.900 being re-
corded and he told Mr. J. Hansford,
manager of Burns, Philp & Co.
coming.
The Wyandra was moored to B. .P.
and Co.s wharf by a 6in. and a 4in.
steel springs and three 6in. Manilla
cables all which carried away
about 3.30 p.m.
Capt. Grahl had kept steam up all
day in anticipation of the blow and
when his boarding lines and springs
parted he steamed into the middle
of the Inlet and let both anchors go.
Here the Wyandra rode out the
storm snugly, steaming up to her
anchors when necessary.
lt speaks volumes for the stability
of Burns, Philp's wharf that it sho-
uld have stood a strain so great
that it tore the forward mooring
chock made of 5in. steel clean out
of the steamer's side.
THE DAMAGE.
Starting at Lyons' sawmills a des-
cription of the damage wrought by
the storm is as follows :-
The sawmills were partially un-
roofed and several small houses had
their roofs carried completely away.
At the Adelaide wharf, several
sheets of iron were swept off the
main shed and the offices were shift-
ed 4 inches, but fortunately remain-
ed on the blocks.
Howard Smith's shed had sheets
of iron blown off.
The front of Walsh and Co.'s ship-
ping sheds was stripped and sheets
of iron torn off, while the kerosene
store was laid flat.
The building recently occupied by
Mr. A. R. Preston (Hobson's old
store) was completely demolished,
only a portion of one wall and the
floor remaining standing. This was
one of the most complete wrecks in
the town. This place is the proper-
ty of the Q.N. Bank, and the loss
will be almost a complete one.
Jack and Newell's office had sev-
eral sheets of iron stripped off and
the back wall was blown in several
inches, while the whole building was
canted over.
from Keating's hotel to
Shields-street escaped with but
little damage.
J. W. Walton's kitchn was dam-
aged and the chimney carried away,
while Burns, Philp's stables were
blown down.
Mr J. Rogers' kitchen suffered
severely and the passage between
the retail and bulk store at Walsh
and Coy's was unroofed.
The balcony of Mr. Finemore's
premises suffered some damage and
the building nearly collapsed once or
twice during the heavy gusts, sway-
ing and rocking like a ship at sea.
The 16ft, balcony in front of the
premises of the "Morning Post" was
blown away, and the whole of the
French lights at the Imperial Hotel
were broken.
The big fig trees at the back of
the Post office, in the police yard,
and in front of Wilkinson's place
were almost stripped of leaves and
nearly all the top branches were bro-
ken off, leaving them mere wrecks
and skeletons.
The verandah of Mr. D. Dean's
house was partially carried away
and sheets of iron were removed
from the main building.
St. John's Church was shifted sev-
eral inches on its blocks, but other-
wise suffered no damage.
At the Council Chambers the wind-
mill was blown down and part of
it was carried by a heavy gust in-
to the yard of Mr. H. Ross.
At the Council corner a large tree,
was snapped off close to the ground
and in its fall broke the telephone
wires.
The Gordon Hall was partially
carried off its blocks and canted over
towards the south-east, while the
front was smashed in.
Nearly all the trees in the school
ground were torn up or smashed off
and a hole was torn in the building
by flying debris.
Mr. J. K. Walker's kitchen was
completely demolished and the front
of the house was blown in, while the
front verandah of Mr. D. Miller's
house is a complete wreck.
From there on to St Monica's
corner little damage was done.
The galvanized iron fence round
Mr. Hodge's house was blown flat
and some iron taken off the kit-
chen
The Hospital fence is nearly all
down and the passage going to the
women's ward was unroofed.
LAKE STREET.
Turning into Lake-street the
same scenes of destruction were
apparent.
The house of Mr. H. Emmons
had the front verandah carried
away and a small house next door
to the Masonic Hall was partially
unroofed and the whole of the
verandah was carried away.
The Tennis pavillion was partially
unroofed and a number of sheets of
iron were taken off the Fire Bri-
gade station. The whole of the
big trees in the station yard were
torn up by the roots and the back
fence of St Johns rectory was al-
most flat.
Foster's blacksmiths shop was
partially unroofed.
Mrs. Hides hotel seems to have
experienced the full force of the
gale. The whole of the wide bal-
cony at the northern end of the
hotel was carried away and a por-
tion of the roof of the front bal-
cony. Minor damages were also
sustained by the building.
The roof of Mr. Lyne Brown's
studio was smashed by flying deb-
ris from Hides hotel and the ver-,
andahs in front of Messrs W. Len-
non's and Mudford and Craig's of-
fices were carried away.
On the other side of the street
sheets of iron were torn from the
roofs of Joe Clarke's, Elias Azar's
and Miss Aplin's premises and the
sign boards were torn off the front
of Mr. Dean's machinery store,
Messrs G. R. Mayers and Coy's
old store had a large plate glass
window blown in and some sheets
of iron were carried away.
SPENCE STREET.
Spence Street was no more fortu-
nate than other portions of the
town.
The roof of the new offices being
erected by the Bank of North
Queensland collapsed. It had not
been completed by the contractors.
At the Federal Boarding House
large windows were smashed and
other minor damage done.
rooled and the balconies were car-
ried away while the stables were
laid almost flat. Early on Sat-
day morning the hotel looked a
complete wreck but as with other
buildings of which B.P. and Coy.
are agents or owners an early
start was made to repair the dam-
age, nearly every available plum-
ber and carpenter in town having
been secured by Mr. Hansford.
At the back of Rhodes, a small
house tenanted by a man named
Kingstreet, was unroofed.
A number of houses on the Rail-
way Reserve were unroofed or par-
tially unroofed.
SACHS STREET.
In spite of the Chinese New Year
and the special prayers and adora-
tion of Joss Chinatown suffered
severely, especially on the eastern
side.
Kwong Sue Duck's verandah was
unroofed and No. 2 Joss House
had part of the roof removed as
well as the verandah.
Four shops belonging to Sam Sing
from See Lee Chan's to the cook
shop were all partially unroofed and
all the verandahs were carried
away.
Wah Lee's verandah was blown
down and other places suffered
more or less damage.
Strange to say the west side of'
Chinatown escaped with little dam-
age.
The big stables at the rear of the
Crown Hotel were blown level with

the ground, and Caughlin's black-
smith's shop was partially unroofed.

The Methodist Church was carried
offthe blocks and deposited at an
angle of 45deg. on the southern
side. The vestry rooms at the back
were turned over and smashed.

At Mr. R. A. Tills residence the
windmill was carried away and the
chimney toppled over.

A considerable portion of the Recr-
eation reserve fence was blown flat.

SHERIDAN STREET,

In Sheridan St. Northage's house
had the verandah roof carried away.

Mrs Stewart's boarding house

was among the most unfortunate in
town. The whole of the verandahs

were carried away bodily, the roof

with rafters, etc., was blown off and

the kitchen was a wreck. Mrs Stew-

art is a heavy loser as furniture,
etc., were spoiled by the rain.

The other houses in this street es-
caped with comparatively little dam-
age, although in most places as

other parts of the town outhouses

were overturned

The west side of Smellie's new
premises were blown in and the

building was partially unroofed, and
Hanson's blacksmiths shop was un-
roofed.

A big tank at the rear of Doherty's
factory was lifted up
and deposited in front of the front

gate. J. Castles' house was parti-
ally unroofed and two cottage be-
longing to Mr. F. Lyons and at the
rear of his residence were completely
unroofed and one is almost a total
wreck, only the bare walls standing.

Gregory's blacksmiths shop was

partly unroofed and a two-storied
house owned by him further towards

the wharves had the iron stripped
from one side of the roof.

NEAHRTHE TRAMWAY.

The Vulcan Foundry had its roof
partly torn off and suffered other

damage.

Mr. W. J. Hanneysee's Tramway
Hotel had the whole of the balconies
stripped and some sheets of iron
taken off the roof.

Duffin's soap works were unroofed

and Barnard's house was stripped of

its iron.

At the Railway Station outhouses
were overturned and a big tree in
front of the goods shed was torn up

by the roots.

Mr. H. A. Tills sawmills looked a
complete wreck. Nearly the whole
of the roof was carried away and
the big chimney stack was blown

overr while the timber was piled in
fantastic heaps by the wind.

Mr. T. Griffith's place came off bet-

ter but the main building was
partly unroofed and other damages

were sustained.

AT SANDY GALLOP.

In Bunda-street a house owned
by Sergeant McKiernan and occu-
pied^ by W. Ross was carried off its
6ft. piles and left almost a wreck.

A house occupied by Mrs. Col-
lins at the back of Bunda-street
was swept off its blocks and smas-
hed in like an egg shell.

In Lumley-street five houses be-
Ionging to Mr. Johnson had their
roofs either completely or parti-
ally carried away.

Sims' laundry had its roof partly
demolished. Mr. Sims had a nar-
row escape. The roof of a back
shed flew before a gust of wind and
narrowly missed Mr. Sims who was
standing in the yard.

Glenroy Club recently established
by Archdeacon Campbell is a com-
plete wreck only two of the walls
having been left standing while the
library, etc., was destroyed by the

rain.

In Scott-street a big wattle tree
broke and fell across F. Butcher s

cutting it nearly in two

house further away and McKen-

zie's house in Canton-street had half

the roof torn off.

A house belonging to Mr. Barr in
Warrego-street had the roof lifted up
and deposited on some ponciana
trees where it still remains.

The Queen's Hotel had the iron car-

ried away from the balconies and the

northern side of the roof of the main
building.

Dunn's place in McLeod-street had
the roof taken off the verandah.

Near the cemetery the only house

to suffer was that occupied by Mr J.
O'Connor. The 8ft.sawn piles snap-
ped off at the ground like carrots
and the floor of the building is now

lying on the ground. The kitchen
was overturned and wrecked. As
previously mentioned, Mr. O'Connor
was standing under the building at
the time it collapsed and had a mir-

aculous escape.

ON THE ESPLANADE.

The Esplanade escaped with but

little damage.

The kitchen at Mr. C. Lilley's re-
sidence was unroofed.

Many of the cocoanut trees at In-
victa were blown over.

The washhouse at Mr Archibald's
place was blown right over the fence
without touching the latter.

The floating baths were sunk and
the roof carried off the verandah of

the ordinary baths.

Walsh's rice mill had the northern
side blown in.

IN THE HARBOR.

The first light in the harbor car-
ried away, the mast carrying the

light snapping off short at the stag-
ing. A temporary light has been
rigged by Captain Nelson.

The Dolphin light was not damag-
ed in any way but several of the
beacons were blown away.

Early this morning a large two
masted vessel was seen stationary
betweeu theBarron spit and the
Dolphin light but as the tide rose
she steamed away south. It is as-
sumed she was aground on the Bar-

ron shoal.

The schooner Tom Fisher, owned
by C. Hartlung (captain) and G.
Gunnnow of Thursday Island, left
Cairns on Friday, but owing to
light and contrary winds was only
10 miles from Rocky Island when
Captain Härtung

decided to make for Rocky Island
and anchor, but when the wind shif-
ted to the north-west there was no

hope of riding out the storm so the
captain slipped his anchors and
beached the vessel in Mission Bay
and she is now high and dry, but
without any damage. All hands
got ashore.

ALONG THE MULGRAVE ROAD.

W. Jones' place on the Mulgrave
road is almost completely demolish-

ed.

Fairview, Mr. W. J. Munro's place,
has some of the iron taken off the
roof, while immediately below Fair-
view Mr. J. Lavis's house was flat-
tened out and his wife and children

had to take refuge in his cab where
they remained all night.

Mr. A. Keeble's house at West Cai-
rns was flattened out like a pancake
and now looks like a heap of fire-

wood. The cow sheds were also un-
roofed, and altogether Mr. Keeble's
experience of the hurricane will be

an expensive one.

The whole of the buildings at the

Show grounds have been levelled to

the ground.

The roof was lifted off the large

dining room of Mr. W. Cannon's
hotel at the Four Mile and the kit-
chen at the rear was overturned.

Mr. Cannon's private house at
Greendale dairy had the roof taken
off the back portion. The whole of
the cowsheds and dairy buildings
were unroofed and the windmill was

blown down. Mr. Cannon will be
a heavy loser by the storm.

The next place along the road to

suffer with the exception of China-

men's.houses and banana planta-

tions which were laid flat in the ma-
jority of instances, was L. Hartill's
where the windmill was blown down.

Hambledon escaped comparatively
lightly. A few sheets of iron were
swept off the mill building and the
locomotive shed collapsed, falling on
top and covering the locomotives
sheltered beneath.

At Sawmill Pocket the storm seems
to have raged the most. Hon. E.
Demoleyn's house was levelled with
the ground and Mr. Cochrane's (cane
farmer) house was demolished.

Nearer the Mulgrave road Mr. L

J. Grimshaw's house became a total
wreck and Mr. T. Carne's house was
unroofed.

On the road at Hambledon Junc-

tion Mr Moroney, a lenghtsman had
his place smashed like an egg shell.

At Emerald Park Mr. W. H. Col-

linson saw his back verandah demol-
ished;, while the Wright's Creek pro-
visional school was blown off its 8ft
piles.

At C. Hive's place a detached cot-
tage was capsized and the windmill
became a complete wreck, the angle
iron of the supports being twisted
like rope. Gordon and Cowan's
place (G. - Emery's old house) was
flattened out, while Mr. T. Maree's
outbuildings were blown down or
unroofed.
Ar farm Mr. Draper's stab-
les and men's quarters were unroffed
but the other buildings escaped.

AT NELSON.

The township of Nelson seems to
have had to bear the full brunt of
the storm, and the scene there is
one of desolation indeed. Where

ever one looks there is nothing but
sheets of iron, joists, rafters, etc.,
and it is safe to say that leaving
out of consideration the damage
done to standover cane, the dam-

ages sustained by the people at the
Mulgrave are at least twice as
much as those caused by the storm
in the whole of Cairns.

It was about noon when the hur-
ricane started, and it made short
work of the majority of the build-
ings in our local sugar centre. Gal-
vanised iron, branches of trees and
building material flew in all direc-
tions. Tents were blown away or
torn in shreds, and for hours the

hurricane raged in all its fury.

About 2 p.m. a big tree fell with

a crash across a tent humpy occu-

pied by a man named Jackson, his
wife and family, but all escaped in-
jury by what appeared a miracle.

About 4 p.m. the roof of the
splendid mill building went with a
crash that could be heard miles
away, and was blown towards the
Mulgrave River. The building was
stripped of nearly every sheet of
iron, and looks like a wreck.

The roof of the Mill Office also

suffered, only about half of it being
now on the building.

The roofs of nearly all the mill
cottages were either entirely or
partially blown away.

Spencer's cottage was blown off
the blocks and smashed and the
furniture was also destroyed. A

worse smash up than this cannot
be seen anywhere..

Carr's hotel lost its roof and was
shifted about 2ft out of plumb.
The stays inside the building are

bulged or broken and it will cost

about £100 to restore the building

to its proper state.

Mr. J. Cannon's hotel had the
roof carried away and the place
looks like a big bath room.

erected by Mr. Cannon was al-
most stripped of its roof.

At Muir's hotel the roof was
blown away and the hall and bil-
liard room were canted over to-
wards the river. It will cost a
tidy sum to repair damages at this
place.

The roofs of the cottages occu-
pied by Messrs G. and A. Johnson

are roofless and Mr. John Gor-,

don's houses with the exception of
the one he is living in were un-
roofed.

Mr. P. King's cottage was canted
over and is nearly off the blocks.

Mr.. E. O'Neill's cordial shed

had the roof blown off.

Mr. J. O'Neill's store was parti-
ally unroofed and some of the
stock was damaged, while Townson
and Stricklands store and contents
were also damaged.

The roof of Carey's store was

blown clean off.

Part of the tramway station
roof went by the board and the
platform roof was blown away.

The back verandah of Wyes
place was partly unroofed, while
Messrs Ulliry and Thumb's places
were partially unroofed.

Messrs Norris and Mrs Grimes

houses were flattened out and the
furniture was destroyed as well as

the houses.

The Chinamen's stores were

blown side ways and about £200
worth, of damage was done to the

stock and buildings.

The new Masonic Hall in course

of erection lies flat on the ground

and most of the other houses in
the township sustained more or
less damage.

About the only houses that esca-
ped were those occupied by
Mr Mighell, E. Sue, Mrs. Boylel
Mr. Wren, Nevin's, Greenwood's
and G. Townson's.

In nearly every case windmills
were blown down and wrecked
completely.

A particularly strong gust took.
about 50 trucks out of the

The Mulgrave afternoon tram was

unable to reach the Nelson station

for sometime and it was blown
back about 50 yards before it fin-
ally pulled up at the station.

The police office was blown com-
pletely away and the official and
other papers were scattered to the
four quarters of the earth. Great

trees were crashing down in all
directions and the telephone wires
were broken in several places. It
would take almost as much to
clear the road of fallen timber as
it did originally to clear the road.

Mr. J. Gordon, one of the oldest
residents in the district asserts
that nothing ever approaching

such a hurricane has ever been ex-
perienced in the district before.

The damage done to stand over

cane is considerable as the whole

of it was flattened to the ground
or snapped off by the furious wind.

The Mulgrave River rose 23 feet
and covered the whole of the

bridge.

The scrub forest trees for miles
have been torn, broken, twisted
and stripped of leaves and bran-

ches and on the hills the trees look

as if it were winter time in Eng-

land. '

LILLYBANK, FRESHWATER AND

REDLYNCH

With the exception of banana
plantations levelled with the gro-
und and some Chinamen's houses

unroofed, little damage was done

along the Freshwater Creek road
until Redlynch was reached.

The mango and other orchard
trees at Lilybank suffered severely
but not even an outhouse suffered
at Mr. A. J. Draper's residence.

At Redlynch the Railway station
verandah was partially 'unroofed;
Salàthiel's kitchen was blown down
and sheets of iron were blown from

the top of other buildings, but Mr.
Salathiel assures us that the damage
inflicted by the storm to buildings
in this locality are comparatively
light.

Messrs H. Wade and R. Matthews
who came down by the 6. p.m. train
stated that the first sign they saw
that a hurricane had struck the
place was at Redlynch where the par-
tially roofless buildings and destroy-
ed banana plantations showed with
what force the wind had blown.

AT ALOOMBA.

Owing to the flooded state of the
river on Saturday and yesterday the
train could not cross and the tele-
phone wires were down, but as far
as we can gather the damage done
to buildings in this localty comprise
the blowing down of Mr. P. Neil-
son's place and the partial or com-
plete unroofing of some Chinese hum-
pies and stores.

PURELY LOCAL DISTURBANCE.

The telegraph lines between Cairns
and Junction Creek were broken and
Cairns was out of communi-

cation from the south until äböüt
8 p.m. when communication was re-
stored with Junction Creek. About
10.30 p.m. communication with Bo-
wen was restored and it was then
learned that the storm was a stric-
tly local one and was apparently

confined within 100 miles radius of
Cairns.

At Townsville and Bowen fairly
strong wind blew on Saturday, but
nothing approaching even half a
gale.

Port Douglas and Cooktown have
nothing to report so that it may be
assumed that nothing out of the
way has occurred at these places.

Even at Kuranda there was no in-

dication that a hurricane of consid-
erable force was raging in Cairns,
and in a westerly direction the storm
seems to have been confined to below
the range. How far its effects to
seaward were felt it is hard to say,
but if we take the Range to the
West, Double Island to the North
and the Russell River to the South
we shall have presumably obtained
at least three of the boundaries of
the hurricane unless Geraldton too
experienced its full force and has
been cut off from telegraphic com-
munication with the south and the
same thing has happened to Port
Douglas.

HEAVY RAIN.

If it did not blow to any extent
over the range, Herberton, Chillagoe
Mt. Garnet and other places made
up in water whatever they lost
in wind. For the 24 hours ended 9
a.m. yesterday 11in. of rain fell at
Herberton, 10.70in. at Irvinebank,
6-34in. at Mt. Garnet, and over 5in.
at Chillagoe. Even Lilybank scored
over 5 inches, while Cairns reports
only 2.42in.

Last night heavy rain set in at
Cairns about midnight when there

was every appearance of a coming
deluge.

SOME INCIDENTS.

A narrow escape from drowning
occurred yesterday at Skeleton Creek
Mr. and Miss Kelleher and Miss
Neary were driving along the Mul-
grave road into town and when
crossing Skeleton Creek the stream
came down a banker and swept the
horse and sulky and its occupants

away. Miss Neary was washed out
of the buggy and while Mr. Kelleher
was trying to save her Miss Kelleher

was washed out of the vehicle. For-

tunately Mr. F. Gates came aling in Gato» Ci. in o along in
his cab at the time and helped the
party struggling in the water to
safely land. The horse and sulky
were washed down stream and have
not since been seen. This proves
that very heavy rain must have fal-
len at the head of the creek as com-
paratively little rain fell along the
Mulgrave road yesterday.

While walking over a bridge near
Nelson on Saturday, Mr. Wren of the
Mulgrave was blown off by the hurri-
cane. He fell some distance and
broke his arm. The river lay be-
tween him and his home and he dare
not face the bridge again so he sat
all night in the wind and rain nurs-

ing his broken arm and dodging the
dying branches of trees that whirled
about him.

While the hurricane was at its

height at Nelson a flying sheet of
galvanised iron from one of the hou-
ses struck a man named Dewar on

the arm, cutting it to the bone and
inflicting a wound about six inches
long. He is now under medical care

in Cairns.

Mr and Mrs Arthur Keeble and
family had a narrow escape when
their home tumbled about them like
a pack of cards. They had just
succeeded in getting out of the house
when it collapsed and they then
took refuge under the silo shed whi-
ch was the only structure at the
West Cairns dairy which kept its

roof intact.

The marvellous escape of Mr. J.
O'Connor is related elsewhere.

A number of people in Cairns and
at Nelson had just left their houses
for safer shelter when the places col-
lapsed

What might have proved a seri-
ous fire, owing to the high wind
was prevented by Messrs G. Muntz

(Mossman) and Barnard. Some

of the live coals in the stove at

Captain Brown's residence were

blown on the floor and the kitchen
was soon ablaze. These two gen-
tlemen noticing dense smoke issu-
ing from the kitchen rushed to the

place and extinguished the flames
before they had got a controlling
hold of the premises. With the
hurricane then blowing from the

once got a firm hold on the build-

ing.

Yesterday Abbott-street and the
Esplanade were littered, feet high
in many places with branches of
trees and other debris, but it is
presumed that the Council work-
men will soon remove from the
streets these evidences of what will

be talked of in the future as the
Cairns great cyclone.

THE LATEST
Wires received last night state

that a heavy wind blew at Herber- ;
ton shifting the iron roofing from

some of the verandahs.

Heavy rain fell at Townsville on
Saturdày and a half gale was
blowing.

It is believed that communica-
tion with Port Douglas and Gerald-
ton has been cut off.

If this proves true the disturb-
ance may have extended further

than indicated ahove.

The Marloo leftTownsville at 9

a.m. yesterday, but there was no
sign of her at midnight.

$