THE QUEENSLAND CYCLONE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 70, 23 March 1903, Page 3

THE QUEENSLAND CYCLONE.

GBAPHIC ACCOUNT OF

THE DISASTER

DEVASTATION AT THE

HOSPITAL

The following account of the Queensland cyclone is taken from the TownsYille "Bulletin" of March 10: The first hint given of the fact that the disturbance was a dangerous one was the destruction of a fine plate-glass window in one of Cowley's new shops, Flinders street. Soon after this the wellknown flagstaff of Messrs. Aplin, Brown and Crawshay came down with a crash. Business people taking the hint, premises were speedily closed. At all events, an y goods exposed for sale outside were ouickly removed within. Soon afterwards it was ascertained that the residence of Mr. W. Tait, Stanton Hill, had been partially unroofed. Then came news that Whalley and Sons' store had been damaged, the roof carried away from the Museum, and iron was being stripped from the roof of the new Church of the Sacred Heart. Then things commenced to look serious indeed. By one o'clock the glass had fallen to 28.912. Then calamities began to follow in quick order. Between one and two o'clock an awful amount of devastation was caused amongst private residences. It was thought that such fine brick buildings as the School of Arts, new Custom-house, Burns, Philp & Co.'s new premises, the new portion of the Queen's Hotel, etc., were capable of resisting any disturbance, hut events proved that such calculations were erroneous. Apart from the collapse of more or less imposing buildings many ordinary wooden dwellings, whether three rooms or six, simply melted away before the force of the hurricane as if made of cardboard.

At two o'clock the disturbance appeared to have reached its height, the barometer marking 28.G40. Sheets of iron, rafters and other material that had become detached from buildings floated about in a "way that constituted a serious menace to public safety. At 2.15 matters were even -worse, the reading showing 28.586. Many buildings that hitherto, withstood the force ol the gale had perforce to give way. Then, fortunately, the barometer commenced to rise. At 2.50 it stood at 28.612, at 4.15 29.118. Then some relief was experienced in the matter of the wind. It had started from the north-west as the cause of the trouble, but as the barometer rose it shifted towards the east. At times during the day the rain was fairly heavy, and rendered blinding by the force of the gale; it is estimated that the fall totalled about two inches

When the cyclone was raging at its titmost severity thoughts all turned to the hospital. Although the fear was generally felt that it must have suffered, few were prepared for the awful news of the disaster which had occurred. When a representative of the Townsville "Bulletin" visited the institution some time in the afternoon the sight was appalling. Patients were huddled in every nook and corner on the ground floors in different parts of the buildings. Refugees and convalescents were in an affinity of misery, gathered together, foodless and wet, yet' strangely calm. Shortly after 11 o'clock in the morning the roof of the kitchen collapsed, and the building was shortly afterwards levelled to the ground. Dr. Bacot, fearing that the roof of Harvey ward,, a detached brick two-storied building to the north of the grounds, would be stripped,' ordered the removal of the fever patients, 14 or 15 in number, who were in the top ward, to the surgical wd. Not long atferwards the roof, as feared, went whirling. This was expected, but the disaster which followed could not have been anticipated. Without the .lightest warning the Hxpostd. 14-mch brick walls collapsed, the wooden ceiling being carried bodily by a terrible gust a distance of fully 80 yards. The heavy brick work, falling on the second floor crashed in. The whole of the fore part of the building collapsed, five or six patients being buried in the debris. The patients in this ward were chiefly old patients, suffering from more or less incurable complaints, or recovering ****"*»? ous injuries. There were at this time in the ward 17 or 18 patients It is remarkably fortunate that the death roll *a_ not greater. There were two nurses> in the ward, Nurses Grant and Smnott. The latter had a miraculous escape. The telephone system proving useless the doctor despatched messages to the brigade office and police, who quickly arrived, and lent their aid to the group, which under the direction of Dr. Bacot were working heroically to release the buried men. The work was effected as can be imagined, under great difficulties, with some danger from flying sheets of iron. Three dead bodies were recovered after arduous toil. The names of these victims were Charles Moores, Hugh M'Donald, and Walter Evans, hvans may be uaid to have been alive at the time of his recovery from the heap of masonry, but he very shortly afterwards breathed his last. Deceased had recently come from New Guinea, and was being treated for a bad arm. When his body was extracted the lower portion was found to have been smashed into pulp. Hugh M'Donald, another of the deceased patients, was a fireman from one of the steamers. He was being treated for a burned arm. Moores was at the same time a patient and employee of the institution. Just previous to the accident he was talking to Nurse Grant on the walk just in front of Harvey Ward, and it is a striking evidence of the sudden catastrophe that both were victims of the fallen debris. Moores was killed right out, while the devoted nurse suffered cruel injuries, sustaining a broken leg and a fractured skull.

Among other sufferers in tlie Harvey Ward were a little boy named Willie Herrington, aged S years, and Thomas Hopkins, about 25 or 26. In the former case the poor little fellow was withdrawn with his arm nearly severed, hanging by but a strip of skin. Hopkins, who was being treated for chronic rheumatism, had both legs broken. It is also almost certain that a patient named Kennedy O'Brien, suffering from