Gettysburg Compiler (Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania)
November 6 Page 4, Georgetown,
Oct. 5
We really feel incompetent to the task of describing
the melancholy effects produced in this town and the neighborhood,
by the late dreadful Hurricane we had intended to give at least, a
summary account of the damage sustained within the town, but it has
been so general and the buildings exempt from serious injury, so
few, that we must content ourselves with stating that our town
exhibits, at this moment, a scene of ruin and desolation, never
surpassed in this State. The wind appears to have been full as
violent as it was at North Inlet the tide, however, certainly
did not rise so high. The Court house has sustained very serious
injury and many of the records in the Clerks office
destroyed.
The Sheriff's Office had every door and window
blown in and the records and papers destroyed. The chimnies of
the Jail have been blown down and the buildings in other respects
much injured. Many of the tiles have been blown down from the
roof of the Bank. The Building over the Market, occupied by
the Town Council, is nearly down, every pillar which supports it
being fractured. We have yet had no particular accounts of the
injury sustained in the crops, but it must necessarily be very
great, as much of the (?...) which was harvested, has been
blown out of the Barn-yards and dispersed“ many negroes have been
killed, and most of the Barns and Mills have been unroofed and
otherwise injured, and the banks and trucks torn to pieces.
The schooner Little jack, Captain Thomas Davis, which was up the
Waccamaw River, taking in a load of rice, nearly foundered at her
anchors, and when she parted her cables was driven on shore and
bilged. From the number of trees which have been thrown across
the roads they are rendered impassable. Planters who have visited
their plantations 8 or 9 miles from Town have been 3 or four hours
in reaching them, being obliged to pursue their way through the
woods, the road being literally blocked up. contributed by
Nancy Piper
Republican Compiler (
Gettysburg , Pennsylvania September 6,
1826
Georgetown,
S.C., Aug. 11
About three weeks ago Mr. Flutt’s negro man Abner, who
was convicted and confined to Williamsburg Gaol, for highway robbery
made his escape. One of the patrol in pursuit of him hailed a
negro fellow belonging to P. G. Gourdin, Esq., and as he did not
answer he was shot dead on the spot, mistaking him for the
convict.
On Sunday last, Abner was
overtaken by the Patrol. He was likewise hailed and shot and
before he expired was taken to the gallows and hung on Monday.
The Colfax chronicle., July 31, 1886, (Colfax, Grant Parish,
La.)
The two little sons of the Widow Harrison of Georgetown
County, South Carolina, were wrestling in the woods, when a tree
that was being cut down fell and killed them both. This happened
while their mother was at the bedside of her dying father. The
Colfax chronicle., July 31, 1886, (Colfax, Grant Parish,
La.)
Power of the Cyclone
....... But I know of an
instance where every leaf and the entire bark were taken from a tree
in full vigor of growth, and at least ten inches in diameter at the
butt. This occurrence was during the month of July , 1869, in
Georgetown county, South Carolina, and can be substantiated by more
than a score of prominent and reliable residents of that county who
visited the scene soon after it transpired. It remains to this day a
mooted question whether the violence of the wind or some electrical
power performed the wonderful feat. The exact location of the
remarkable event here described is about 14 miles back from the
village of Georgetown, the county seat, at the head of Winyaw bay,
which is 15 miles inland from the outer bar of the
harbor.
This cyclone was about one hundred and fifty feet in
width only. It laid flat in the twinkling of an eye scores of huge
live oaks, which for more than a century had withstood all other
storms, and shaded the long avenue leading up to the plantation
house of Dr. Fishburne. It jumped over the house, and sweeping down
among the huts of the hands, demolished them and killed a number, as
also several head of live stock. It then shot out across the broad
acres of the plantation with nothing to obstruct its course until it
reached the single hickory tree before mentioned, which stood near
the center of the field. The bark was entirely taken from this tree,
even to the smallest twig, without breaking any of its branches. I
visited it the afternoon of the occurrence, and can vouch for the
phenomenon. The superstitious hands looked upon the occurrence as a
visitation of the Almighty, and the number of genial old planters in
that vicinity was not small who believed the gyrating wind twisted
the bark off. Others believed that it was done by electricity, and
cited the fact that the twigs and branches were not broken to
substantiate their theory. The color of the wood was left in its
natural state, and without stain of any kind. The Elk County
advocate., September 19, 1878(Ridgway, Pa.)
Georgetown - The
Times records the following sad accident: "On Tuesday afternoon,
about half-past 6 o'clock, a fine little boy, Archibald Thomas, aged
six years, the son of Richard C. Wallace of this town, fell off the
market dock and was drowned. It seems that after he fell in the
water he never rose. In a few seconds after the accident several of
our young men dove down to the bottom of the dock hoping to recover
the body in time to resuscitate it, but they failed to fine it. The
body was also dragged for but without success, and up to the time of
writing has not been found." [The Charleston daily news., July 03,
1871, (Charleston, S.C.)]
Georgetown: Ben. Duncan, an
epileptic, was found floating in the Sampit River on Wednesday.
Verdict, "accidental drowning"
[The Charleston daily news., June
19, 1871]